The Seattle Mariners placed catcher Kelly Shoppach on waivers on June 20th with the intention of giving the 33-year-old, nine-year veteran his unconditional release after they signed free agent catcher Henry Blanco. Shoppach, who split the 2012 season between the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets, signed with the Mariners this past winter and had a .196/.293/.346 line with seven doubles and three home runs in 35 games and 125 plate appearances with Seattle before they placed him on waivers. According to an announcement by the Washington Nationals on Twitter this afternoon, the Nats signed the one-time Red Sox, Indians, Rays, Mets and Mariners' backstop and assigned him to their Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse:
The #Nationals today agreed to terms with C Kelly Shoppach on a minor-league contract. Shoppach, 33, will report to Triple-A Syracuse.
— Nationals PR (@NationalsPR) July 3, 2013
Over the course of his career, Shoppach has posted a .224/.312/.413 line. His best season came with Cleveland back in 2008 when he put up a .261/.348/.517 line with 27 doubles and 21 HRs in 112 games and 403 PAs. Since then, in mostly part-time work, Shoppach has put up just a .205/.306/.376 line with 46 doubles and 39 home runs from 2009-13.
In other Nats' catching news, Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo updated everyone on Wilson Ramos on this morning's edition of 106.7 the FAN in D.C.'s The Mike Rizzo Show, telling hosts Danny Rouhier and Grant Paulsen that the 25-year-old backstop is close to returning to the majors after catching nine innings with the Nats' High-A affiliate last night. "He caught a full nine innings last night," Rizzo said. "The plan is for him to DH nine innings tonight and then we'll evaluate him and see where he's at after that." Word from Nats' skipper Davey Johnson earlier this week was that Ramos could return to the majors as early as tomorrow barring any setbacks or hiccups in his rehab from the hamstring injury that's sidelined him since May 15th.