Overview

• Rating: 7.58 [distribution: poor (3-) 0%, excellent (8+) 55%]

• 2025 Stats
• 83 Games, .285/.353/.433 (BA/OBP/ SLG), 117 OPS+, 1.6 bWAR
• Date of Birth: 2/14/2000
• 2025 Earnings: Pre-arb
• Performance Based Bonus $386.6 K
• 2026 Status: On 40-man roster.  First year of Arbitration.

2025 Review.

An Injury. In June, he suffered a hairline fracture of his right index finger. He missed over two months of playing time. He overcame that injury.

Batting. Moreno was an outstanding batter (OPS+ of 117). Notable improvements compared to the previous season follow. The noted statistics are also predictive of continued excellent results next season. Data from Baseball Savant.

• Hard hit percent improved from 41.0% to 43.4%.
• Barrels per PA improved from 4.8 to 5.2.
• xwOBACON improved from .331 to .382.
• Although his K% and BB% regressed, they continued to be better than 2023.

Defense. In 2023, he won a Gold Glove.  He is a great defender.

In 2025, he made two improvements compared to the previous season. They were framing runs (2 to 6), and blocking runs (1 to 5).

On the other hand, his throwing runs fell from 4 to 1. The telling statistic is that his caught stealing second base percentage fell from 48% in 2023 to 24% in 2024 to 21% in 2025. I’m not overly concerned because most bases are stolen off pitchers, and the Diamondbacks promoted many less experienced pitchers due to injuries. Another reason to be optimistic is that two newly acquired pitchers (Kohl Drake and Mitchell Bratt) have talent in preventing stolen bases per this website. Their estimated/predicted stolen base success rate is less than the average success rates in 2023 and 2024.

Pitcher Performance Comparison.

The following table shows that in 2025, with Moreno catching, three pitchers improved their OPS against, while three pitchers worsened their OPS against. That did not count Kelly and Gallen, who are now free agents, and were not much changed in 2025. In 2025, league average OPS was .719. Data from Baseball Reference.

Mental Strength.

“…I feel it’s [developing catching style and hitting] gonna take a little bit longer. But I always do it and that’s what I feel happy [about at the end of the season] because every effort that I, when I put [in work] in the cage, when I catch bullpens, everything is valued….I want [to be] the best player and best catcher in the league…” — Gabriel Moreno, April 2025

2026 Outlook.

Moreno and McCann will be the Diamondbacks catchers.  Perhaps some starting pitchers will perform better depending on who catches, which could impact which catcher plays in each game. For more details see the following table. At the time of writing, three of these pitchers were free agents (Kelly, Gallen, and Crismatt). Data from Baseball Reference.

Moreno is the youngest primary catcher in the NL West. His youth adds luster to the Diamondbacks outlook beyond next season. The following table shows the ages of catchers per FanGraphs Roster Resource.