Angels Release Veteran Catcher

Feeling that he's still worthy of a major league job, 11-year veteran catcher Austin Romine has parted ways with the Los Angeles Angels.

Some more context on this: Austin Romine opted out of his contract to test the open market.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) June 1, 2022

Romine, as noted by Angels beat reporter Sam Blum, opted out of his contract to test the free agent market.

With new rules put in place by the collective bargaining agreement, since Romine had signed a minor league contract over the winter—and had six-plus years of big league service—he was free to exercise an opt-out.

Romine was behind Max Stassi, Kurt Suzuki, Chad Wallach and Matt Thaiss on the Angels catching depth chart.

Major league catchers are always in demand, so it's likely the 33-year-old will find a better opportunity to get playing time at the big league level. In 11 seasons—eight of them with the New York Yankees—he's got a .238 lifetime batting average, a .634 OPS, and had some decent seasons with the Yankees, hitting .281 as recently as 2019.

Photo Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports