Jair Camargo #85 of the Minnesota Twins looks on during a spring training game against the Washington Nationals on March 10, 2024, at the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
The Minnesota Twins called up Colombian catcher Jair Camargo from Triple-A St. Paul, Hablo Deportes, a Colombian media platform, reported on April 13.
Camargo, 24, was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, and has played eight seasons in the minor leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2016-19 and has been with Minnesota since the 2021 season.
Camargo batted .238 in spring training and played in nine games with 22 plate appearances, smacking five hits, two doubles, one home run, five RBI, one walk, and five strikeouts. He was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul on March 12.
Camargo began 2024 with Triple-A St. Paul. He played in 11 games and hit .268 with 47 plate appearances, ripping 11 hits, two doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, five walks, and ten strikeouts before being promoted on April 13.
To start the 2024 season, he played seven defensive games as a catcher and caught 61 innings. He had 73 chances, 69 putouts, four assists, one double play, one pass ball, no errors, and threw out three runners out of six opportunities.
Camargo played in LIDOM with the Tigres del Licey and Liga Profesional De Béisbol Colombia during this past winter league season with the Caimanes de Barranquilla. With Tigres del Licey, he played in five games with 15 plate appearances, hitting .071 with one triple, one walk, and three strikeouts.
In Colombia with the Caimanes de Barranquilla, Camargo played in 22 games, batting .293 with 87 plate appearances, recording 22 hits, three doubles, one home run, 11 RBI, eight walks, and 12 strikeouts.
Last season, Camargo played in 90 games with Triple-A St. Paul and batted .259 with 368 plate appearances, smacking 86 hits, 16 doubles, one triple, 21 home runs, 63 RBI, 29 walks, 119 strikeouts, and a .826 OPS.
In 2023, Camargo started in 71 games and appeared in 72 games at the catcher position in 2023 and caught 614 innings, with 665 chances, 621 putouts, 38 assists, six errors, five double plays, a .991 fielding percentage, seven pass balls, and gunned down 16 runners out of 49 stolen base attempts.
During his eight seasons in the minors, Camargo has a lifetime average of .252, playing in 438 games with 1,747 plate appearances and has 404 hits, 74 doubles, eight triples, 65 home runs, 251 RBI, 24 stolen bases, 101 walks, 534 strikeouts, and a .735 OPS.
Camargo will be listed as the third-string catcher for the Twins, with Ryan Jeffers being the backup to starting catcher Christian Vazquez.
The Twins catching core will have to work with the damage of the team’s pitching staff, with five of their relief pitchers, Daniel Duarte, Caleb Thielbar, Josh Staumont, Jhoan Duran, and Justin Topa, on the 15-day injured list, and three pitchers on the 60-day injured list, starting pitcher Anthony DeSciafani, Josh Winder, and Zack Weiss, to begin 2024.