The Los Angeles Dodgers made the signing of Hyeseong Kim to a three-year contract official on Friday, and in order to make room on their 40-man roster, designated Diego Cartaya for assignment.
It’s an unceremonious development for Cartaya, who once was a former top Dodgers prospect in the organization. Among other challenges, he’s battled a back injury and a learning curve behind the plate over recent years.
Cartaya hit just .189/.278/.379 with 10 doubles, 19 home runs and 57 RBI over 93 games for Double-A Tulsa in 2023. He continued to show elite power, but struck out at a 29% rate.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes both voiced confidence in Cartaya being able to bounce back in 2024.
“He’s a really naturally talented player who’s coming off a down year,” Friedman said. “I’ve seen that a lot in the past with really good players, the ones who have really good makeup, bounce back from that. And so it wouldn’t surprise me at all Diego comes out this year and has a really good year.”
However, he continued to largely underwhelm with the Drillers despite some improvements.
Cartaya nevertheless earned a promotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City in June, and the organization planned to have him catch upwards of three games per week despite also having Hunter Feduccia on the roster.
Cartaya batted .208/.293/.350 with eight doubles, six home runs and 25 RBI in 49 games.
In 2022, Cartaya was named the Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year by the Dodgers, he was ranked by MLB Pipeline among their top 100 prospects.
What’s next for Diego Cartaya?
The Dodgers now have seven days to potentially trade Cartaya if he were to get claimed off waivers. Should the 23-year-old clear, the Dodgers would have the option to send Cartaya outright to the Minors while still keeping him off their 40-man roster for the time being.
Dalton Rushing’s development seemingly made Cartaya somewhat expendable.
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