Let's talk about Austin Nola

Austin Nola is still the starting catcher of the San Diego Padres. Are we sure that's the best choice for both him and the team?

I can’t believe I need to do this, but let’s start here…

I love Austin Nola as a player. When the San Diego Padres traded for him, I had visions of former all-star catcher Jason Kendall running through my head.

A tough-as-nails catcher that reinvented himself, is a hard out at the plate, and pitchers love throwing to him? What’s not to like?

Well, I feel like I’m also driving the bus against Austin Nola playing a major role with the Padres going forward. I lost hope before many others and I think this season is going to be when everyone catches up to where I’m at, but let’s dig in before I make any bold predictions.

Who Austin Nola is

Before reinventing himself as a catcher, with some help from his brother Aaron Nola, Austin spent eight seasons in the minor leagues of the Miami Marlins as a weak-hitting middle-infielder.

The Seattle Mariners took a chance on the newly-minted catcher in 2019 and got an OPS of .796 in his first season in the majors. Hilariously, the Mariners played him almost exclusively at 1B/2B that season, with him appearing at catcher in just 7 of 79 games.

Still, this was enough to prove to the Mariners that they had found a starting catcher. After the season, the team quickly traded away Omar Narváez to the Brewers and prepared to enter the season with Nola as their starter.

In 29 games as the Mariners’ starting catcher in 2020, Nola posted a .903 OPS and an OPS+ of 151. Seattle cashed in at that point, when his value was as high as it was ever going to be, and traded him to the Padres (along with Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla) in exchange for Ty France, Andres Munoz, Luis Torrens and Taylor Trammell.

Who Austin Nola isn’t

It’s not often you get a chance to find a catcher that can be a plus on both offense and defense, and A.J. Preller felt like he had to jump at the opportunity to get one.

Unfortunately, Austin Nola broke his foot shortly after getting to San Diego, leading him to post just a .705 OPS in 19 regular-season games for the 2020 Padres (you don’t want to know what it was in the postseason). It would be a sign of things to come, with Nola’s body continually breaking down under the rigors of the catching position.

He returned in 2021, foot healed, and quickly broke his middle finger in spring training. Just when that had healed, he sprained his knee and missed two more months. After playing in 56 games, his season finally ended with a thumb injury.

To summarize, Nola has been nothing but injury-prone since become a starting major-league catcher for the Mariners in 2020. While he may be a good player when healthy, he’s currently blocking the path of Luis Campusano, someone with even more promise as a two-way player and more of a history of playing catcher without constant injury.

I have nothing against Austin Nola. This is one of those “I hope I’m wrong” takes, but I don’t think Austin Nola is a catcher. I don’t think his body will ever let him do it more than occasionally without him missing serious time, and MLB rosters don’t really have room for part-time starters.

I would be excited at the prospect of keeping his bat in the lineup by opening him up to other positions and having him play more of a utility role for the Padres. That would probably be easier if the team didn’t already have two utility infielders on the roster making a ton of money.

What happens next

The Padres are already rumored to be shopping one of the four catchers they have on their roster in trade, but the rest of baseball would be silly to put much value on any of them not named Luis Campusano. Jorge Alfaro and Victor Caratini are defense-first catchers that are better suited for backup duty, and everyone knows by now that Nola is an injury waiting to happen.

I live in fear of the team once again hitching its wagon to Nola-at-catcher, with Caratini and Alfaro working as duel backup plans. But, it doesn’t appear that the team is ready to give up on the Nola dream just yet.

I imagine we’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and Nola to run into yet another injury, before the team adjusts its long-term plans for the position. I do hope I’m wrong, though, because even without much in the way of power, Nola is a very valuable player when he’s healthy and in the lineup.