After starting the season off the New York Mets 40-man roster, Jose Lobaton was called into action with the injuries to Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki.
Lobaton’s journey to the big leagues began at the age of 17 when he signed with the San Diego Padres. After seven years bouncing around the minor leagues, he finally made his debut in 2009 with the Padres. The Tampa Bay Rays claimed him off waiver 17 at-bats and had three hits with the Padres. Lobaton’s career involved him bouncing around from team to team as most backup catchers do in their career.
He played the rest of the 2009 and 2010 seasons in the Rays minor league system. Lobaton returned to the big leagues in 2011, but still struggled to find success with the bat. He only hit .118 in 2011 and showed his defense would be what kept him in the big leagues. He had an above average 30 percent caught stealing rate in his small sample size.
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Lobaton’s Career in Tampa
2012 was Lobaton’s first real season of earning a job at the big league level where he played in 69 games from the end of May. Lobaton hit .222 and had an impressive .323 on base percentage. He played 100 games for the only time of his in 2013 and hit .249 with a career high seven home runs. Lobaton also drilled a walkoff home run in the ALDS against Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara.
In the offseason the Rays traded Lobaton along with Felipe Rivero and Drew Vettleson to Washington Nationals for Nathan Karns. Lobaton found a nice home in Washington where he spent four years as the team’s backup catcher. He only hit .210 and played in 200 games over his four season in Washington.
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The Mets signed Lobaton to a minor league deal before Spring Training and was expected to spend a majority of the year in Triple-A. After the Mets lost Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki for an extended period of time, he was called up to assume the everyday catcher role. The Mets have thought about acquiring another catcher but he seems to be the one who will have the job for now.