Correia and Doumit: A Bad Pitcher-Catcher Combo

Remember back in 2011 when the Twins didn't have Ryan Doumit? Or Kevin Correia? The good old days some would say....but not many. After that horrendous 2011 season for the Twins, Ryan Doumit finished had his career as a Pittsburgh Pirate and was looking for a possible new home. In that season he played 77 games (in 60 of those games he played catcher. The other we're a combination of RF/1B/PH) with a .303 AVG, 8 HRs, and 30 RBIs. Not that impressive.

Kevin Correia on the other hand made 24 starts that season, going 12-11 with an ERA of 4.79 in 2011. Again not that impressive. And if memory serves correctly Doumit and Correia played together back in 2011. With Doumit catching for Correia in 7 out of his 24 starts that year.

Which begs the question were they a good pitcher-catcher combination? Truthfully,they were so-so. Their first start together was surprisingly Opening Day 2011 against the Chicago Cubs. In that game Correia went 6 innings, allowed 7 Hits, 3 Runs, 2 Earned Runs, 1 Walk, with 3 Strikeouts and won the game 6-3.

Their second game together was 5 days later against the soon to be World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals. This game Correia proved to be crucial to the Pirates victory against the Cardinals. He went 7 strong innings, 5 Hits, 0 Earned Runs, 0 Runs, 2 Walks and 3 Strikeouts. Quite impressive if you ask me.

After those two starts Correia went on to lose his next game. Then they wouldn't play together until May in which Correia went 2-1 and an ERA of 4.26. So basically his career averages. Once May had finished Doumit wouldn't catch for Corriea until August. Where Correia lost both of his starts and ended the year on a bad note. To sum it up, it started strong and faded as the season went along with a 4-2 record and an ERA of 3.69

Now as we fast forward 2 years to 2013 in Minnesota, Doumit and Correia are once again teammates except this time Mauer is doing all the catching and letting Doumit look around at beautiful Target Field. Which in my opinion is the right move by Gardy. By doing this, it not only gives each starter and reliever a gold glover behind the plate, but it keeps his MVP type like bat in the lineup.

But now this is what is critical to every baseball fan, stats. In Correia's first start as a Twins and in the American League he faced the reigning AL Champions, the Detroit Tigers. For that game Mauer caught for him. In which Correia went 7 innings, 2 Earned runs, 2 Runs, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts while getting the Win as well. Not too shabby. Through Correia’s next 4 starts he lasted at least 7 innings for all of them (with one going into the 8th), going 4-1 and only giving up 9 Earned Runs while having an ERA of 2.22. Which in the Twin’s case is their best case scenario they were hoping for.

Now as you probably remember last saturday (May 4), was Correia’s most recent start, against the Cleveland Indians, with Ryan Doumit catching instead of Mauer. Which as the stats tell you was a bad move by Gardy. In that game Correia pitched his shortest outing of the season (5 innings), gave up 2 Home Runs, and gave up the most Earned Runs he has given up in this young season (4 Earned Runs). All in the 7-3 loss to the Indians.

Even though Doumit has only caught for Correia in one game this season, that stats argue that Correia should stick with Mauer as his full time catcher. And more importantly leave Doumit as the DH.