Forgotten Pittsburgh Pirates: Catcher Jason Jaramillo

In the early 2010s, catcher was a revolving door for the Pittsburgh Pirates. One of the players to see time behind the dish was Jason Jaramillo, who has since been forgotten by many Pirate fans.

On December 10, 2008, the Pittsburgh Pirates moved on from a player that at one time looked like the team’s long term answer at catcher. On this day, the team traded Ronny Paulino to the Philadelphia Phillies. In return, the Pittsburgh Pirates received another catcher – Jason Jaramillo.

Jaramillo would make his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 9, 2009. This would start a three-year run for Jaramillo with the Pirates. These three seasons would also prove to be the only ones he would spend at the MLB level.

In his three MLB seasons, again, all with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jaramillo hit for a .235/.295/.327 slash line and a 66 wRC+ in 366 plate appearances across 119 games. He owned a negative fWAR in each of these three seasons, finishing with a career fWAR of -1.8.

In addition to struggling offensively, Jaramillo also struggled defensively. He posted a negative dWAR in each of his three seasons, finishing with a -7.5 dWAR. He also had a negative Defensive Runs Saved each season of his MLB career, posting a -6 DRS in total.

In 2011, Jaramillo helped the Pirates make history. He was one of a franchise record eight catchers the Pirates used that season. Jaramillo was joined by Ryan Doumit, Michael McKenry, Chris Snyder, Eric Fryer, Wyatt Toregas, Matt Pagnozzi, and Dusty Brown behind the dish that season for the Pirates.

The Pirates designated Jaramillo for assignment on December 7, 2011. Later that offseason, he would sign a minor league free agent contract with the Chicago Cubs. After being released by the Cubs in March 2012, Jaramillo would sign with the Milwaukee Brewers. He played in the minors for the Brewers and and Oakland Athletics in 2012, and the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros in 2013 before hanging up the cleats.