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Jason Castro’s 2018 season ended on May 4. From that point on, I found myself campaigning for Garver to get the lion’s share of reps behind the plate. Despite being 27 years-old, it’s not as if Garver has never had real prospect stock. He has been included among the Twins top 30 regularly over the past couple of seasons, and as a ninth-round pick, the previous regime saw some significant promise in the kid from New Mexico.
Posting a .928 OPS across 88 games with Triple-A Rochester in 2017, Garver found himself in the big leagues for 23 games to end the year. He mustered just a .636 OPS across 52 plate appearances, but for a guy whose bat has always been his calling card, the expectation was that there was more there.
From the time Castro’s season ended through the month of May, Garver mustered just a .580 OPS. Having operated in a rotational capacity with the Minnesota starter, he was obviously just looking to find his footing. The Twins brought Bobby Wilson into the mix on May 6, and despite being a known commodity who brings nothing to the table at the plate, Garver’s opportunity to develop and take hold of the position was seemingly stunted.
Fast forward to today, and Garver’s bat has completely arrived. Since June he’s slashing .312/.396/.484 with nine extra-base hits and three home runs. Reflective of his approach on the farm, Garver is a disciplined hitter at the dish, and doesn’t bail pitchers out. He’s able to work counts, draw walks, and capitalize on the pitches he should mash. The good news is that for the last two months, he’s been doing exactly that for Minnesota. The bad news however, is that the amount of playing time is still unacceptable.
Since June 1st, the Twins have played 48 games, of which Garver has drawn just 27 starts (56%). Bobby Wilson has drawn 24 starts over that same time span, which is one more start than Garver has made behind the plate. For his efforts in the lineup, Wilson is slashing a terrible .181/.244/.236 over that time. Garver’s 1.0 fWAR is 5th best among Twins position players, while Bobby Wilson’s -0.7 fWAR is dead last.
There must be some reason why the Twins are willingly putting themselves in a negative position 50% of the time, right? Well, behind the plate, obviously defense weighs heavily on the position. Wilson has been worth 3 DRS to Garver’s -7 mark. Bobby’s 1.2 framing runs also ranks 25th in MLB while Garver’s -4.4 mark checks in at 89th among 99 catchers. So, there’s a very clear divide in defensive quality, but the question is how much weight does each side of the game hold?
It’s more than fair to see the value in players like Martin Maldonado or Yasmani Grandal. Both are among the elite defensive catchers across the entire league. While Grandal is actually a very good, well-rounded player, Maldonado draws his opportunities solely on his defensive prowess. The problem with putting Wilson into that argument is that he’s a black hole at the plate, and while better than Garver behind it, he’s only slightly above league average.
Last season, the Twins offense found themselves seventh in runs scored across all of baseball. Shrinking it down to just the American League, they were fourth. This season the offense has climbed up to 12th but sat 14th heading into the All-Star break. In the early part of the season that positioning was even worse. Given the slight defensive advantage that Wilson may provide behind the dish, it’s hard not to acknowledge the significant net negative by any semblance of offense from that position in the lineup.
Evaluating the Twins where they are now, as sellers, it’s time to put forth a development focus of sorts. Over the course of a season in which you’d hope to compete for a postseason berth, it’s fair to be skeptical as to whether Garver can work behind the plate. For now though, it’s become inexcusable to stifle an OPS nearing .900 because of how a guy with 51 career starts at catcher has responded on defense.
Guys like Willson Contreras and Gary Sanchez are notably poor on defense, but their bat has carried them to new heights. While Garver is not close to the company of either of those players, the same process needs to be explored by Minnesota. Catcher isn’t a position many teams are rich in, and the Twins are no exception. Short of trading for the Marlins' J.T. Realmuto, there isn’t going to be a perfect remedy to the situation any time soon either. It’ll be great to have Castro back next season for defensive purposes, but not pushing Garver to be better defensively while capitalizing on his bat seems like poor planning.
It’s great to have a guy like Bobby Wilson around to spell whoever the Twins want to start. Right now, Garver needs to be getting at least 75% of the opportunities regardless of whether Molitor or the pitching staff have differing opinions.
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