Reese McGuire

29-Year-Old CatcherC

Free Agent

2024 Stats

AVG

.209

RBI

Rest-of-Season Projections

AVG

RBI

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2024 Fantasy Outlook

McGuire has found a nice home in Boston servicing as the backup catcher for a club that appreciates what he can do behind the plate while being understanding of what he cannot do at the plate. McGuire is a perfectly fine catcher if you need a one category catcher who hits for average as long as you understand that there is more pop in a t-shirt cannon firing Red Sox shirts into the stands between innings than there is in McGuire's bat. The former first round pick has never seen 275 plate appearances in a regular season and that is unlikely changing anytime soon. Fantasy manager in AL-Only leagues can use their last pick or last dollar on McGuire's batting average as long as they do not need to chase late power. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

Rest of Season

From Preseason

#365

ADP

Bats L

Throws R

40 Man No

Height 6'0"

Weight 215

DOB 3/2/1995

Born Seattle, WA

College None

Drafted 1st Rd 2013 PIT

Elects free agency

CFree Agent

October 1, 2024

McGuire elected free agency Monday.

ANALYSIS
McGuire initially remained in the Boston organization after being outrighted to Triple-A Worcester back in August, but with the minor-league season over, he's now on the free-agent market. The veteran catcher is a career .252/.300/.364 hitter over parts of seven big-league seasons.

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Batting Stats

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2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2024 MLB Game Log

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2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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2019 MLB Game Log

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2018 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2022

+3%

OPS vs LHP

2024

+9%

OPS vs RHP

2023

+37%

OPS vs LHP

2022

+14%

OPS vs RHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022vs Left	.664	92	15	1	15	1	.277	.315	.349
Since 2022vs Right	.647	541	35	6	41	5	.250	.299	.348
2024vs Left	.533	20	3	1	5	0	.167	.200	.333
2024vs Right	.581	138	7	2	13	3	.215	.292	.289
2023vs Left	.875	26	5	0	6	1	.391	.440	.435
2023vs Right	.639	176	10	1	10	1	.250	.291	.348
2022vs Left	.605	46	7	0	4	0	.262	.295	.310
2022vs Right	.691	227	18	3	18	1	.271	.309	.382
More Splits→	View More Split Stats

Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2022

+4%

OPS on Road

2024

+100%

OPS on Road

2023

+40%

OPS at Home

2022

+2%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022Home	.636	303	18	1	24	2	.255	.301	.335
Since 2022Away	.662	330	32	6	32	4	.253	.302	.360
2024Home	.375	74	3	0	4	1	.138	.205	.169
2024Away	.751	84	7	3	14	2	.270	.345	.405
2023Home	.781	97	8	0	9	0	.323	.351	.430
2023Away	.559	105	7	1	7	2	.213	.272	.287
2022Home	.668	132	7	1	11	1	.265	.318	.350
2022Away	.683	141	18	2	11	0	.273	.297	.386
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Stat Review

How does Reese McGuire compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.33

BB Rate

8.2%

K Rate

24.7%

BABIP

.260

ISO

.086

AVG

.209

OBP

.280

SLG

.295

OPS

.575

wOBA

.261

Exit Velocity

84.0 mph

Hard Hit Rate

25.0%

Barrels/PA

4.4%

Expected BA

.226

Expected SLG

.349

Sprint Speed

22.3 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

43.0%

Line Drive %

18.0%

Fly Ball %

39.0%

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

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Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Reese McGuire See More

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205 days ago

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208 days ago

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2023

2021

2020

2019

2016

2015

2014

McGuire was crowded out of a busy catcher room in Toronto last season and was shipped to the White Sox shortly before Opening Day. He struggled to a .546 OPS in 53 games before being flipped to the Red Sox at the deadline. His new home seemed to agree with him, as he closed the year with an .877 OPS in 36 contests for his new team. Altogether, he hit .269/.307/.369 (good for a 90 wRC+) with three homers in 274 trips to the plate, a fine but forgettable performance for a part-time catcher. When combined with his good framing numbers, that could be enough to make him a low-end starting catcher, a role he could fill in Boston this season if the team doesn't bring in a more proven option. If the playing time is there, that would make McGuire an acceptable deep-league catcher, as his 20.5 K% for his career means he should at least provide a decent average. Don't expect much pop, however, as he owns a career 3.0% barrel rate.

Heading into last year, some viewed McGuire as being on equal footing with Danny Jansen, with either capable of earning more playing time. While Jansen's play was poor in its own right, McGuire's .073/.073/.146 line earned him an early-September demotion to the Blue Jays' alternate training site, where he spent the rest of the regular season. Nothing went right for McGuire, from a 24.4 K% with no walks in 41 PA to an 82.1 mph average exit velocity. McGuire's prospect pedigree doesn't portend to anything more than a backup receiver, though he's above-average defensively and a .914 OPS in a 2018 cup of coffee lent hope for more. With the emergence of Alejandro Kirk, McGuire could be third in the pecking order. He could theoretically leapfrog one of them with a strong spring. Even in a weak catcher pool, McGuire merits little attention.

McGuire had an .872 OPS and 128 wRC+ in 105 plate appearances with Toronto last season and even gained the playing-time edge in September, logging 47 at-bats to Danny Jansen's 33. However, in his larger samples at the Triple-A level in 2018 and 2019, McGuire was 14% and 27% worse than league average by wRC+. He puts bat to ball with good consistency, but McGuire's walk rates have been just OK and Statcast says he overachieved in the slugging department by nearly 125 points last year. To his credit, McGuire was a plus behind the plate and nearly as valuable as Jansen by fWAR in 77 fewer games. With that, it looks like an open competition for the primary catcher role heading into spring training. It's better to use something closer to McGuire's Triple-A numbers (.239/.314/.350) as an offensive baseline rather than what he's done so far at the major-league level.

McGuire made his big-league debut in September as a 23-year-old, going 9-for-31 with a pair of homers in 14 games. That's far too small a sample to draw any meaningful conclusions from. His much larger 96-game sample with Triple-A Buffalo saw him hit an unimpressive .233/.312/.339. McGuire projected as a backup or low-end starter as a prospect, showcasing good defense and decent contact but very little power. His small-sample slugging percentage of .581 is promising, but he'll have to show power over a much longer period to really raise his stock. It's hard to see him playing a major part in Toronto this season, with Danny Jansen, a higher-rated prospect, taking over the starter's job. McGuire will battle Luke Maile for backup duties in spring training.

The 21-year-old has shown good plate discipline (66:102 BB:K ratio in career) but hasn’t shown much power (3 HR, 648 OPS). He’s hit for a decent average (.271), but it’s a defense-first philosophy that’s earned him accolades — McGuire has thrown out 34 percent of baserunners. A strong Arizona Fall League performance figures to boost his confidence at the plate. He’ll likely start the season with High-A Bradenton, shooting for a possible midseason promotion to Double-A.

A former first-round draft pick (14th overall in 2013), McGuire put up spotty offensive numbers for Low-A West Virginia last season. He batted .262/.307/.334 with three homers in 389 at-bats, showing little extra-base power. McGuire is a premier defensive handler, and Pittsburgh is focusing on his defensive skills first because, at age 20, he has plenty of time to worry about offense. He collected just one extra-base hit (a triple) versus left-handed pitching in 110 plate appearances last season, compiling a .520 OPS against southpaws. McGuire is looked upon as the team's primary catcher of the future, but he has plenty of areas to improve upon.

The Pirates selected McGuire with the 14th pick of the 2013 draft. A high school catcher with big-time defensive skills, it remains to be seen whether the California product will hit. He got off to a fine start, posting a .323/.380/.380 slash line in 192 at-bats, primarily in the Gulf Coast League. The left-handed hitter went homerless but projects average power. He stole six bases, something which could help fantasy owners down the road. McGuire, who becomes the sixth catcher selected by Pittsburgh in Round 1, has a fairly easy road to the majors and could compete with fellow first-round pick, Tony Sanchez, in a couple years.

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Outrighted to Worcester

CBoston Red Sox

August 2, 2024

The Red Sox outrighted McGuire to Triple-A Worcester after he cleared waivers Friday, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports.