The game of musical chairs with the current roster continues.
Announced just a moment ago, the Dodgers have called up veteran catcher Miguel Olivo from Albuquerque. Tim Federowicz has been sent back down to AAA. Per a Dodgers press release:
The Los Angeles Dodgers today selected the contract of Miguel Olivo from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned catcher Tim Federowicz to Triple-A Albuquerque. To make room on the 40-man roster, the club transferred right-handed pitcher Chad Billingsley to the 60-day disabled list.
Olivo, who is a 10-Year Major League veteran catcher and has a .241 batting average with 145 home runs and 488 RBI, will make his Dodger debut after signing a minor league contract with Los Angeles this season. The Dominican Republic native has fared well in 15 games at Albuquerque, posting a .390/.438/.661 slashline with four homers and 18 RBI. As a non-roster invitee with the club in Spring Training, Olivo batted .263 (5-for-19) with two doubles and three RBI.
Federowicz appeared in 13 games for Los Angeles after his recall on April 8.Considering TFed was batting a lowly .109 this season, I guess we shouldn't be surprised by the news. Even with Federowicz primarily valued for his defensive, batting at that clip just doesn't cut it.
Olivo has been in the Majors since 2002, and is likely to be just fine behind the plate. And, with him showing a resurgent bat in Albuquerque, maybe the Dodgers can catch some fire while it's hot.
In celebration of Olivo officially becoming a Dodger today (we are his 7th Major League club) I made the above fantasy card for him. I used a photo grabbed from Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014 taken during Spring Training and the always great 1987 Topps Baseball card design.
UPDATE: I was checking out Olivo's Wikipedia page and came across a strange/funny story about him:
Olivo made headlines in early 2010 for having to leave the Rockies' April 29 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at the beginning of the eighth inning to pass a kidney stone. Remarkably, he was able to re-enter soon after and finished the game.Holy Moly!
Below are Olivo's career stats, via Baseball-Reference:
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