Dan Rohlfing - 2014

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Dan Rohlfing

Position: C/Utility

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 220 lb.

Age: 25

 

As a 14th round draft pick in 2007, Rohlfing is now in his 8th year in the Twins minor league system. It took him until he was 22 years old to make it to AA New Britain, and since then, his play has picked up, albeit somewhat. Rohlfing was promoted to AAA last year, and is now part of a 3 man catching rotation at AAA Rochester. First, let's take a look at how he did last year.

 

New Britain: .253/.336/.315/.651 (.BA/.OBP/.SLG/.OPS) 1 HR

Rochester: .314/.402/.430/.832 2 HRs

 

Wow. He sure improved when he got promoted. Or did he...? He had 3 times as many PAs at AA (329 to 103). I think we can say that his batting in Rochester was clearly a bit flukey. At age 25 and now stationed at Rochester, Rohlfing will need to replicate those numbers again and try to win the catching job away from Eric Fryer - or win a corner outfielder spot. Let's talk about his fielding abilities.

 

With Eric Fryer the starting catcher at AAA and Chris Herrmann there too, Rohlfing's opportunities at catcher will be very few. Fryer or Herrmann will likely get called up at least once this season, so Dan will get a shot later in the year. Until then, he will support the team at LF and at 1B. Rohlfing has caught 123 games in the last 2 years in the minor leagues and has had a fielding percentage of .993. That stat doesn't mean a lot for catchers, as that is about average. He did have 5 errors in 59 games he caught in 2013, so that isn't a great sign. That's about all I can do with analyzing his catching ability.

He's a capable 1B with almost no track record. He's played 15 games in his career there with no errors. His LF numbers aren't great and he would be a below average option in LF.

 

Let's be frank. If Dan Rohlfing made the Twins, he'd be a Drew Butera-like catcher will some good catching ability but that'd be about it. There isn't a ton of potential at age 25, however, there is hope after batting .314 in Rochester last year. When the injury bug bites and if Suzuki or Pinto go down the majors, Rohlfing could be a potential add to the 40 man roster. If he ever makes the Twins, he'd have to grab his chance and run with it. The chances are small, but hey, so are the Twins' chances of making the playoffs. Anything can happen. Let's see if Dan Rohlfing can light up AAA.

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Quick Update - April 16th

 

Rohlfing has played 4 games at catcher and is batting .364 with 3 singles and a double. With Chris Herrmann off to the majors, it's just him and Fryer at catcher, which means Dan should see around 40% of the games as starting catcher. He has also thrown out one of two base-stealers. Let's hope he hits his first home run soon!

[Danchat]

Quick Update - June 17th

 

It's been slow for Dan Rohlfing - he hit his first HR of the year, but he is batting a dismal .197/.302/.291. He has a K/BB ratio of 32/18. Now, .302 OBP isn't bad, but that .291 SLG will need to change. He's done a good job avoiding pass balls at catcher, but he's only caught 6 runners stealing out of 23 attempts. That's only good for 26%, which isn't close to Eric Fryer's 44%.

 

Opportunities opened up when Herrmann started playing CF and Fryer went to the majors... but this means Josmil Pinto is playing full time C at AAA. And he should be, by all means. Rohlfing is going to remain the backup catcher until he can prove he can bat. Let's hope Rohlfing can find his swing and bring that .197 BA up!

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Update August 12th

 

Dan Rohlfing hasn't done much to separate himself from Josmil Pinto. His batting line reads .209/.312/.323. He's been able to draw 26 walks but is lacking in power with 17 2Bs and just one HR. He's also having a problem with strikeouts totaling 49 already. That's a K for every 4.78 ABs.

 

I don't have any way to tell how good is catching is, at least with just Baseball Reference, but he's thrown out 11 baserunners out of 31, which is 35%. That's currently better than Pinto's 25%. Rohlfing has made just one error at catcher. He's also played 1B for six games and is a decent emergency option there.

 

It doesn't appear like he'll be advancing any time soon. He (obviously) needs to hit better and get that slugging percentage up if he ever wants a shot at getting on the 40-man roster.

[WLFINN]

What about his pitching?

[Danchat]

End of Season Summary

 

I know AAA ended a month ago, but I'm writing the final piece on Dan Rohlfing right now.

 

Rohlfing ended up being the main catcher in Rochester-or at least he commanded the most starts at catcher. He ended up playing 58 games at C, 6 at 1B, and 4 in the outfield.

Dan looked like a competent catcher. He caught 39% of baserunners stealing, which was second on the team next to Fryer's 44%. He only made 2 errors catching.

 

However, he's been having problems at the plate. He ended the season batting .205/.307/.311. In 219 ABs, he hit 17 2Bs and 2 HRs. When Rohlfing arrived at AAA in late 2013, he hit .314 with 2 HRs. Unfortunately it looks like AAA pitching has adjusted and Rohlfing hasn't been able to adjust. .205 was the lowest average on the Red Wings for anyone that had over 100 PAs. There isn't many ways to look at his stats and find anything positive. He did get 28 BBs, which helped him have a mediocre OBP of .307, but he also had 56 Ks.

 

Dan Rohlfing will turn 26 by the start of 2015 and will enter into his 9th season in the Twins system. That is, if he returns at all. I actually have no idea about his current contract status. He doesn't appear to have a chance at making the majors unless he begins to hit AAA pitching. It would also require him to hone his catching and framing abilities.

 

And yes, Rohlfing did pitches two innings for the Red Wings, both scoreless. He only gave up two hits. I recently pitched my two innings ever in my inter-mural baseball league and I gave up 7 runs, so kudos to Rohlfing, who was able to get 6 outs without any runs against AAA hitting.