A 24-year-old catcher formerly of the San Diego Padres system. Lobaton will be placed on the 40-man roster, apparently he'll head to Montgomery.
Lobaton did little to inspire in his short major league stint but that shouldn't worry you in the least. He's a switch hitter who spent his entire career in the Padres organization. Finally reaching Triple-A this year he hit .241/.292/.353 in a little under 150 plate appearances. The previous season he hit .259/.338/.422 in Double-A and in 502 High-A plate appearances hit .246/.341/.411. He walks, strikes out, and shows a little pop. B-Ref has his caught stealing rates at 27% and 25% over the last two seasons and Baseball America named him the best defensive catcher in the Padres system two years running.
No idea what, if anything, this means for any of the Rays higher level catchers. Shawn Riggans and John Jaso are currently in Durham and of course Dioner Navarro and Michel Hernandez man the fort in St. Petersburg. Could be simply for depth, could be foreshadowing something else. We'll see.