Indians give outright release to C Rene Rivera

The Cleveland Indians released veteran catcher Rene Rivera on Friday, six days after he was designated for assignment.

Rivera, 37, was taken off the active roster Saturday when catcher Roberto Perez was activated off the injured list. Cleveland is crowded at catcher with Ryan Lavarnway and Wilson Ramos both at Triple-A.

Rivera batted .236 with two home runs and nine RBIs in 21 games this season. In 13 seasons he is a career .221 hitter with 43 home runs and 176 RBIs over 538 games for nine different teams, starting with the Seattle Mariners in 2004.

Indians catchers are last in the major leagues with a .174 batting average and 29th out of 30 teams with a .559 OPS.

(Field Level Media)