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The Kansas City Royals are signing veteran catcher Austin Nola to a major-league contract, a source told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.Completion of the one-year deal is pending a physical, a source told Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Financial terms are not yet known.Nola returned to the open market earlier Thursday when the Milwaukee Brewers granted his release. He signed a minor-league deal with Milwaukee in January, but the Brewers' addition of Gary Sánchez this week left Nola as the odd man out of their 2024 catching plans."With the addition of Gary Sánchez and our other depth at the catching position, we thought the chance at a new opportunity would be the right thing to do for Austin," Brewers general manager Matt Arnold told Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.Nola, 34, spent most of the last four seasons with the San Diego Padres, where he served as one of their primary catchers. He's coming off a career-worst season in which he hit .146/.260/.192 with one homer and eight RBIs in 52 games. Though he's been a reliable defensive catcher throughout his career, Nola also struggled with the glove in 2023, tallying minus-3 defensive runs saved and minus-3 catcher framing runs.In Kansas City, Nola will likely become the primary backup to Royals stalwart Salvador Perez. His primary competitor for playing time is Freddy Fermin, the only other catcher on the Royals' 40-man roster. Both Fermin and Nola have minor-league options remaining.Nola can also help the Royals' depth thanks to his overall versatility. While catcher remains his primary position, he's bounced around the diamond at various points throughout his career and has experience playing first and second base in the majors.Nola is a lifetime .249/.326/.370 hitter with 24 home runs and 136 RBIs over parts of five big-league seasons with the Padres and Seattle Mariners.
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