Blue Jays sign CJ Stubbs to a Minor League contract

The Blue Jays have signed C.J. Stubbs to a minor league deal, according to the catcher’s MLB.com profile page. The contract apparently does not include an invite to Toronto’s big league Spring Training camp, as Stubbs was not included on the Jays’ spring invite list released earlier this week.

A 10th-round pick for the Astros in the 2019 draft, Stubbs was let go by Houston in May 2024 and quickly signed a new minor league deal with the Nationals. This stint in the Nats organization resulted in Stubbs’ first taste of Major League action, albeit a small one. Stubbs’ MLB resume consists of one game, in which he went 0-for-3 while starting behind the plate in Washington’s 2-0 victory over the Marlins on September 1. Andreas Alvarez also made his big league-debut and Stubbs guided Alvarez (over five innings) and four Nats relievers to a two-hit shutout.

This remarkable game earned Stubbs no more playing time, and he opted for minor league free agency after being cut from Washington’s 40-man roster in late October. Alejandro Kirk And Tyler Heineman are locked into the Blue Jays’ catching duties, but Stubbs’ cup of coffee on the Show is still enough to make him the only other catcher in the organization with any MLB experience. Depending on whether or not the Jays offer other help on a minors deal, Stubbs currently projects the first call-up if Kirk or Heineman gets injured.

The 29-year-old Stubbs doesn’t have much experience even at Triple-A, having played 45 games and 145 at-bats over parts of three seasons with the top clubs the Astros and Nationals. He’s hit .222/.366/.453 with six home runs over that little Triple-A monster, and Stubbs has a career minor league slash line of .206/.315/.396 over 1854 PA. Stubbs has hit 72 home runs in the minors and even stolen 52 bases (on 20 attempts), but he has struck out in 648 of his 1854 PA.