Former Michigan catcher Christian Molfetta joins Detroit Tigers on minor-league contract

Christian Molfetta, who has degrees from Stanford University and the University of Michigan, signed a minor-league contract with the Detroit Tigers.

He played baseball at U-M in 2021.

Molfetta, a 27-year-old catcher, is scheduled to report to minor-league spring training in Lakeland, Florida. He has been assigned to Double-A Erie and will likely begin the 2024 season with the SeaWolves.

"It seems to me like the Tigers have a new wave of momentum going," Molfetta said Thursday. "I want to be a part of it, help out as best I can and then see what happens. The whole thing I've always wanted in my baseball career is the opportunity to see what will happen, and that's kind of all I expect."

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Molfetta spent the past three seasons with the Los Angeles Angels after signing as an undrafted free agent, competing in 13 games for Double-A Rocket City in 2021, 60 games for High-A Tri-City in 2022 and 11 games for Triple-A Salt Lake in 2023.

He spent most of the 2023 season on the development list, meaning he practiced and caught bullpens with Triple-A Salt Lake but wasn't active for games. He hit .129 with three walks and nine strikeouts across 34 plate appearances in 11 games.

The Angels released Molfetta at the end of September.

"No one is going into the season wanting to ride the development list the whole year and get like 30 at-bats," Molfetta said. "I played with so many guys that have some unbelievable experience, so being around them for a year, whether I played 10 games or 150 games, I felt like the experience and the development that I got was invaluable compared to the year before."

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In the Angels' organization, Molfetta developed a relationship with Dylan Axelrod. The Tigers recently hired Axelrod, who spent the past four seasons in player development with the Angels, as their new pitching performance and integration coordinator.

Axelrod, a former MLB pitcher with a strength and conditioning background, will facilitate the collaboration between the strength and conditioning coaches, the pitching coaches and the pitchers in the Tigers' organization.

"He is a great dude and a great baseball mind," Molfetta said. "He is very analytical and very data driven, but he still has that experience, obviously, pitching in the big leagues. Everybody that I know loves him."

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The best season of Molfetta's baseball career took place in Ann Arbor. In 2021, the sixth-year college catcher ended up playing a full season at third base to fill a need on the roster because of a preseason injury.

He hit .277 with six home runs, 23 walks and 30 strikeouts across 46 games. It was by far the most games he played in a single season during his college career.

"When I went to Michigan, I felt freed up," Molfetta said. "(Head coach Erik) Bakich really allowed me to be myself on the field. ... I just fell in love with the game again at Michigan, and I tried to carry that over into pro ball. Pro ball is hard."

Molfetta was recruited to play for Michigan as a graduate transfer by pitching coach Chris Fetter. He has a relationship with Fetter, who left the Wolverines in November 2020 to become the Tigers' pitching coach.

There's also a relationship with former Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge, who played 13 MLB seasons and has worked for the Wolverines as a volunteer assistant since 2021.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who hired Fetter, played college baseball at Stanford in the mid-1990s and graduated with a degree in psychology before embarking on his seven-year MLB player career and his ongoing 10-year MLB managerial career.

Stanford is where Molfetta played his first five seasons in college, but he played in just 70 games with 174 total plate appearances in those five years compared to 46 games and 211 plate appearances in one year at Michigan.

"With the Tigers, I'm excited to meet some new guys and develop even further," Molfetta said. "I don't know how long my opportunity is going to be, and I don't know what that opportunity is going to look like until the season starts, but I'm just excited for spring training."

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Molfetta, a .187 hitter with one home run in 84 minor-league games, feared his baseball career would come to end after the Angels released him. He is stoked to join the Tigers on a minor-league deal, but even after his playing career, he wants to continue working in baseball.

That's noteworthy because Molfetta could work in many different industries. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford in science, technology and society, with a focus in politics and policy. He has a Master of Science degree from Michigan in sport management.

But Molfetta is a baseball junkie.

"Stanford is a great place to come from," Molfetta said, "but there are a lot of guys that go into pro ball out of Stanford that pull the chute pretty early because they have so many opportunities. ... That's not how my brain is wired. My goal is to stay in baseball."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Michigan catcher Christian Molfetta now in Detroit Tigers minors