Article: Backup Backstops

[Seth Stohs]

In 2015, the Minnesota Twins got very little production from their catchers. Kurt Suzuki logged a lot of innings behind the plate. Chris Herrmann and Eric Fryer were the backups, but it was clear that Paul Molitor had little confidence in either as they would play about once a week.

 

The Twins acquired three new catchers by early December clearly indicating it was a position they felt they needed to improve.According to Terry Ryan, it was something that was important to them, and he’s been generally pleased with what he’s seen from the new guys.

 

“Yeah. I think we’ve done OK here as far as that depth and choices and so forth. Catching is always a major concern for every organization. I don’t care who you are. You can be the World Series defending champs like the Royals. We all worry about catching. It comes and goes. The injuries. When you find a catcher that’s got the total package, you’ve got something. That's nice to have. So we kept looking and trying to acquire and continue to add. We’ve added a fair amount here. We lost a fair amount. It’s encouraging.”

 

Soon after the World Series Terry Ryan traded Chris Herrmann to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league outfielder Daniel Palka. Herrmann is competing for a starting job, and regular playing time, with the team. A day later, he traded centerfielder Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees in exchange for 24-year-old catcher John Ryan Murphy. Eric Fryer was a free agent and chose early to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals where he has a good chance to be their backup. By early September, the Twins announced that they had signed 26-year-old veteran Juan Centeno.

 

Murphy comes to the organization after spending parts of the last three years as a backup to Brian McCann in New York. He put up decent offensive numbers considering his limited playing time. Defensively, he is generally regarded as average, or a little better than average, across the board in all categories. Average offense and defense from the catcher position would be a nice improvement.

 

John Hicks has been regarded as a potential average hitting catcher and a very good athlete with a strong arm behind the plate.

 

Juan Centeno has been one of this spring’s fun stories. He has a .636/.667/1.182 (1.848) line on offense. Sure, he’s got just 11 a- bats, but he’s 7-11 with three doubles, a homer and six RBI. The 26-year-old from Puerto Rico has played in 24 big league games over the past three years. He has a .408 OPS in 66 plate appearances in that time. However, in three seasons of AAA - all in the Pacific Coast League - he has hit a combined .298/.335/.367 (.692). Note, however, that he’s averaging just under 58 games a year which means that despite hitting ‘alright’ for a catcher he has primarily been a backup.

 

While he has just three home runs in over 1600 minor league at-bats in his nine seasons, he has looked good at the plate this spring. What he has done this spring is take really good at-bats. He’s driven the baseball.

 

As Molitor said after Sunday’s game, “Good at-bats. He’s been that way since he’s been there. He’s one of those left-handed guys who can slice it out there and battle. He handles himself really well. You can tell he’s had some experience.”

 

When asked about what kind of reports the Twins had on Centeno’s defense before signing him, Molitor indicated that they were positive. “Overall reports before came were a plus receiving. We’re watching how he calls pitches and handles pitchers. Part of that, at the beginning, he’s learning the pitchers. I would say (he has a) plus arm.”

 

Molitor said that it was definitely an area they needed to focus upon. “It was a point of emphasis for us. Prospects that we might have are starting to climb. The urgency at this level was somewhat obvious. Between Murphy, Hicks and Centeno, I think we’ve protected ourselves well there.”

 

That brings us to the likes of Stuart Turner and Mitch Garver. Where do they stand? There’s no doubt that the Twins really like both catchers. They feel Turner brings a little more defensively, though Garver has greatly improved the last year or two. Both have very strong arms.

 

Last week on The Ride with Reusse on 1500 ESPN, Patrick Reusse was joined by Chattanooga manager Doug Mientkiewicz. When asked some of the players he might have in a Lookouts uniform this year, he mentioned both Garver and Turner.

 

I’ve advocated for giving Turner another half-season (or even a full season) in the Southern League. He has the size, strength and takes decent at-bats. I think that extra time at a level he’s played at could be beneficial for a guy who skipped Low A and struggle in the first half at Ft. Myers.

 

In acquiring Murphy, they have a 24-year-old who they can control for five more seasons. Hicks has two option years remaining and only a little over a month of service time. Centeno is still young too. Turner and Garver are guys to continue to hope for and believe in.

 

As Ryan said, it’s hard to find catchers. It can be a position of attrition with all the foul tips, the drain of a long season and such. When you find a guy who can play good defense behind the plate and work well with pitchers there is a lot of value. If you can find that guy, and he can hit, you have something to really like.

For now, The Twins have several quality young catchers who could become something as they start the season with Kurt Suzuki as the starting catcher. Depth is very important at the position and the Twins feel good about theirs.

 

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[brvama]

Thanks for an interesting article. While the proof is in the pudding, it at least looks like our pending defense at catcher has the potential to improve with the backup candidates, and maybe add some offense. It's interesting that a couple of our "cast-offs" are in the mix for roster positions on two playoff caliber teams. I hope they make it.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Soon after the World Series Terry Ryan traded Chris Herrmann to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league outfielder Daniel Palka. Herrmann is competing for a starting job, and regular playing time, with the team. A day later, he traded centerfielder Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees in exchange for 24-year-old catcher John Ryan Murphy. Eric Fryer was a free agent and chose early to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals where he has a good chance to be their backup. 

Herrmann is competing for a starting job in Arizona?  Seems unlikely, they are returning their 2015 starter Welington Castillo (116 OPS+).  Herrmann has received some at-bats this spring, but not many games at catcher (only 5th most on the team).  I could see him beating out Gosewisch for the backup job, although Arizona seems like the kind of team that would like an old-school backup guy like Gosewisch.

 

And now that Molina has returned to game action for St. Louis, I doubt that Fryer has a "good chance" at the backup up job there.  Molina will start as long as he is remotely able, they signed Brayan Pena to a 2 year, $5 mil deal this winter to be the backup, and they also have an interesting prospect Mike Ohlman on their 40-man roster who could soon make a good platoon partner with Pena if Molina goes down again.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

It's interesting that a couple of our "cast-offs" are in the mix for roster positions on two playoff caliber teams. I hope they make it.

See my post above -- I think Seth overstated their chances a bit, although they could certainly sneak onto those rosters.

[dxpavelka]

I don't see a Johnny Bench in the bunch but I don't see a Hermann or Fryer either.

[Thrylos]

I'd definitely add 26 year old Carlos Paulino whom the Twins acquired as a MiLB FA before last season and spent last season between Chattanooga and Rochester to the equation.  Really like the way he has been handling pitchers and he can do ok with the stick.

[Rosterman]

It is always nice to know that there is someone down on the farm to step up if need be, not just to be backup but potentially to be a line-up placesetter. All you need is a chance, sometimes. And all you need is that one good season fo success when given the chance.

 

The organizational prospects are actually a good year away from even stepping into backup roles with potential lineup replacement. So good signings by Ryan.

 

Of course, we also had Allen de san Miguel all last year getting what, a handful of at bats?

Edited March 17, 2016 by Rosterman

[sane16]

The Twins did a great job defensively upgrading a defense-first position.
Murphy, Hicks and Centeno are big defensive upgrades over Fryer and Herrmann.
As far as Fryer and Hermann battling for backup jobs for their new teams, often a team's FUTURE starting catcher is NOT the current MLB backup catcher.
The future starting catcher is in often currently getting more reps in the minors to prepare himself for his awaited promotion