Catcher Alex Jackson Clears Waivers, Heads to Triple-A St. Paul

The Twins outrighted catcher Alex Jackson to Triple-A St. Paul on Wednesday, completing a quick and tidy end to a four-month Minnesota tenure that never got off the ground.

The final roster move was to designate Jackson for assignment, creating a 40-man roster spot for reliever Cody Laweryson. Minnesota also placed righties Travis Adams and David Festa on the 15-day IL due to a triceps strain and shoulder impingement, respectively. Although Minnesota had announced Wednesday morning that Jackson had been designated for assignment, it appears they began the waiver process earlier in the week. He cleared waivers rather quickly and will now head to St. Paul.

When the Twins traded Payton Eeles to Baltimore in exchange for Jackson, it was to ensure better backup options behind Ryan Jeffers for 2026, after Christian Vazquez hit free agency. But then, after some weeks passed, Minnesota found an opportunity to upgrade at catcher again by signing Victor Caratini to a two-year deal. Suddenly, there were too many cooks behind the big league dish. Caratini became the new backup to starting catcher Ryan Jeffers, leaving Jackson with no path to a 26-man roster spot.

The Twins had been shopping the out-of-options Jackson in recent days but didn't find a taker. The math behind why no team came calling was straightforward. Jackson's lack of production, lack of minor league options and $1.35 million salary created a good chance he would pass through waivers unclaimed. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment to the minors but not enough service to do so while retaining his guaranteed salary. As such, once he cleared, he accepted an assignment to Triple-A and will open the season in St. Paul.

The offensive profile that made Jackson so easy to pass on is well documented. In 440 plate appearances dating back to his 2019 MLB debut, he has slashed just .153/.239/.288 and struck out in a disastrous 40.7% of plate appearances. Jackson draws good marks for his pitch framing and throwing, but his anemic offensive profile makes him better suited to be a third or fourth catcher on any team's depth chart. His 2024 stint with the Tampa Bay Rays illustrated the gap starkly: in 58 major league games, he hit .122/.201/.237 with three home runs, and his 29 wRC+ ranked 392nd among 393 players with at least 150 plate appearances that season.

The 40-man spot Jackson vacated went directly to Laweryson, the 27-year-old righty whose own path back to Minnesota was anything but conventional. Laweryson made his big league debut with the Twins last season, holding opponents to a run on four hits and no walks with seven punchouts, a nice follow-up to his 2.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate across 44 Triple-A innings. The Angels claimed him off waivers during the offseason, then designated him for assignment in February and released him, at which point he returned to the Twins on a minor league pact. He allowed one run on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 spring innings before claiming the last bullpen spot on the Opening Day roster.

Jackson, once the sixth-overall pick in the 2014 draft, has played parts of six seasons in the majors for five different teams. St. Paul will be his eighth organization overall. His defensive tools have kept him employed across all those stops; his bat has kept him from sticking. Whether a strong Triple-A showing changes that calculus before the 2026 season is over remains the only open question for a player who has spent his entire career chasing a foothold he has never quite secured.