Royals Sign Veteran Catcher Elias Díaz to Minor League Deal

Surprise, Ariz. The Kansas City Royals signed veteran catcher Elias Díaz to a minor league contract on Friday, with the 11-year big league player set to report to major league spring training camp next week.

Díaz, a 35-year-old from Venezuela, brings extensive experience behind the plate. He began his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, spending his first five seasons there before joining the Colorado Rockies for the next four. The Rockies traded him to the San Diego Padres midway through the 2024 season, where he remained through last year. In 106 games with the Padres in 2025, Díaz batted .204 with nine home runs and 29 runs batted in, marking his lowest career average in seasons with at least 250 at-bats. Over his career, spanning exactly 2,800 plate appearances, he has hit .247 with 71 home runs and a .683 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

His standout year came in 2023 with the Rockies, when he earned an All-Star selection and was named the All-Star Game's most valuable player. That season, Díaz hit .267 with 14 home runs in 141 games. He has posted three seasons with double-digit home runs, including a career-high 18 in just 106 games during the 2021 season with Colorado,...