Dodgers reacquire catcher Ben Rortvedt in deadline day trade with Mets

The Dodgers didn’t go into trade deadline day looking for another major addition to their big-league roster.

But on Monday morning, they did wind up reacquiring a notably familiar face.

For the second deadline in a row, the team traded for catcher Ben Rortvedt in a deal with the New York Mets –– bringing back the veteran journeyman who became an unexpected playoff hero for the team last year.

At the start of the 2025 playoffs, Rortvedt was the Dodgers’ starting catcher for each of their first four postseason games, filling in for Will Smith while he recovered from a hand fracture and shepherding the Dodgers’ pitching staff to four-consecutive victories.

The Dodgers lost Rortvedt in a roster crunch this winter, twice designating him for assignment as they went into the year with a catching tandem of Smith and Dalton Rushing.

However, the need for added catching depth has arisen again this summer, with Smith currently making a slow recovery from a neck injury that has sidelined him since the start of June, and Rushing suddenly battling an arm/elbow problem that forced him to miss Sunday’s game.

In exchange for Rortvedt, who had been on the Mets’ triple-A roster, the Dodgers sent recently DFA’d pitcher Chayce McDermott back to New York.

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It was not immediately clear if Rortvedt would be added to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster and/or active roster. Because he wasn’t on the Mets’ 40-man roster at the time of the trade, the Dodgers could stash him in triple-A for now as an insurance policy for the remainder of the season.

His immediate status will likely depend on the health of Rushing, whom Roberts said Sunday night was day-to-day with what the team described as “minor forearm irritation.”

Rortvedt has not appeared in an MLB game this season, but was hitting .235 with six home runs and 26 RBIs in 48 games with the Mets’ Syracuse affiliate.

Last year, Rortvedt was not expected to become a key contributor when the Dodgers got him in a three-team trade from the Tampa Bay Rays. Initially, he was simply seen as a depth addition to replace prospect Hunter Feduccia (one of the players shipped out in that three-team deal) as the team’s primary catcher in triple-A.

But over the rest of the fall, circumstances changed.

Smith missed the final three weeks of September with his hand fracture, which lingered into the beginning of the playoffs.

Rushing, meanwhile, struggled as a rookie on both sides of the ball, opening a pathway for Rortvedt to become the team’s fill-in starter.

Rortvedt was more productive offensively than anticipated upon arriving in Los Angeles, hitting 10-for-34 over his first 13 games with the team (well above his career .190 batting average in four big-league seasons).

His real impact, however, came from behind the plate, where he quickly built a strong rapport with the Dodgers’ starting rotation, in particular.

He caught all 18 innings of the team’s two-game sweep of the Reds in the wild-card series, then started Games 1 and 2 of the National League Division Series, allowing Smith to be eased back into action as a late-game replacement in both of the Dodgers’ series-opening victories over the Phillies.

For the rest of October, Rortvedt was the Dodgers’ primary back-up, though he didn’t see the field again.

In the wake of their championship, he became something of a cult hero –– leading the Dodgers to make repeated efforts to keep him in the organization this winter.

First, the team quietly signed him to an above-market contract of $1.25 million in November, before immediately attempting to slip him through waivers.

The Reds claimed him then, but later DFA’d him in February, allowing the Dodgers to pluck him back off waivers.

Alas, when the Dodgers DFA’d him again days later –– opening a roster spot for their re-signing of Evan Phillips –– he was claimed by the Mets, who also DFA’d him in March but were able to keep him in their organization.

Now, however, he is back with the Dodgers, who checked off their deadline-day need for catching depth with someone who will need no re-introduction in his return to the organization.