TAMPA, Fla. -- The Rays on Thursday announced the signing of veteran free-agent catcher Danny Jansen to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026.

Terms were not announced, but Jansen is guaranteed $8.5 million, sources told MLB.com, with an $8 million salary for next season and a $500,000 buyout on a $12 million mutual option for 2026.

President of baseball operations Erik Neander has made it clear since the outset of the offseason that the Rays must get more production from behind the plate, a point he reiterated not long before the deal with Jansen came together.

¡°The desire to improve at that spot is certainly no secret,¡± Neander said Thursday night. ¡°A lot of time and energy has gone into that in particular.¡±

That effort led them to Jansen, a right-handed-hitting 29-year-old who is expected to share time behind the plate with returning catcher Ben Rortvedt.

Jansen has spent seven seasons in the Majors, but he might be best known for the strange corner of baseball history he carved out this past season. Jansen started a June 26 game against the Red Sox as the Blue Jays' catcher, then played the remainder of the suspended game for Boston when it resumed on Aug. 27. That made him the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.

He played 91 games overall in 2024 for the Blue Jays and Red Sox, who acquired him from Toronto in a late-July trade, after opening last season on the injured list due to a fractured right wrist. He hit .205/.309/.349 with nine homers and 24 RBIs for the Jays and Sox.

However, Jansen was an above-average offensive catcher for the Blue Jays for the previous three seasons. He hit 11 home runs with a 105 OPS+ over 70 games in 2021, 15 homers with a 142 OPS+ over 72 games in ¡¯22 and 17 homers with a 114 OPS+ over 86 games in ¡¯23.

The Rays are hoping he can return to that level of production, lengthening a lineup in need of more power, in their temporary -- but hitter-friendly -- home at Steinbrenner Field.

Rortvedt got on base at a .317 clip last season, but the Rays received very little offensive production from their catching group. Tampa Bay¡¯s backstops hit just .194/.272/.291, good for a .563 OPS that ranked ahead of only the Marlins and White Sox catchers.

The Rays previously moved on from Opening Day catcher Ren¨¦ Pinto and Alex Jackson, who spent most of the season backing up Rortvedt. Rookie Logan Driscoll remains on the roster and figures to be their top depth option until No. 13 prospect Dominic Keegan is ready for the Majors.

As much as they¡¯d like to get more offense out of the position, the Rays have always set a high bar for their catchers¡¯ defense. Jansen mostly grades out as a solid defender, but he was the game¡¯s best behind the plate in one regard last season. He was the top blocking catcher in the Majors in 2024, leading all catchers with +14 blocks above average, according to Statcast.

Originally a 16th-round Draft pick by Toronto in 2013, Jansen is a career .220 hitter with 74 home runs and 220 RBIs in 500 games. He was the youngest catcher on the market this winter, as he enters his age-30 season in 2025. He and Carson Kelly were the only free-agent catchers who were still in their 20s last season.