The perfect backup catcher
The backup catcher position has become more important in MLB than ever and the San Diego Padres may have found the perfect guy to fit the role.
For no specific reason, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what the perfect backup catcher (and perfect backup quarterback) would be.
Now, this is a tricky question. The most important rule is that the backup catcher can’t be so good that they threaten the starter’s job. At that point, they’re just an okay starting catcher option and no longer a perfect backup catcher.
So, what makes for a perfect catcher?
First and foremost, the perfect backup catcher needs to be a defensive stud. Someone that the pitchers really love throwing the ball to, and someone that opposing runners have to fear on the basepaths.
Your backup catcher can’t be both an offensive stud and defensive stud, because then he’d just be a starter, and it’s my opinion that a bad defensive catcher can really screw up your team on days when he’s in the lineup. Give me the defensive stud backing up the starter behind the dish.
But not Austin Hedges
Austin Hedges is a defensive stud and definitely not an offensive stud but he is not the perfect backup catcher for two reasons.
He doesn’t hit enough
He ruffled feathers by saying he felt he should be starting
I’m using Austin Hedges as a stand-in here to explain how difficult my construct of the perfect backup catcher is to find in baseball.
He has to be good defensively, but not so good that people wonder if he should be starting. He should be good offensively, but not so good that he threatens the starter’s job, so that he doesn’t drag down the offense when he’s in the lineup.
A big reason why the backup catcher can’t be poor offensively is because he will occasionally get drafted into the starter’s role, for a week or two, due to injury. This guy needs to be good enough to get those starts without the team missing a beat.
And it’s important that the backup catcher is okay with being the backup catcher. In today’s MLB, backup catchers are getting around 30% of the starts or more, which shows how important it is to have someone in that role that makes a positive impact and isn’t bitter over wanting more.
One more thing
The perfect backup catcher should bring something to the table that the starting catcher doesn’t. And now is when I reveal who I am really writing about…
Victor Caratini is the perfect backup catcher.
He is great defensively, the pitchers love throwing to him. He is slightly above average offensively (his OPS+ is 102), which means he will never hurt the team when in the lineup but that the team will always have (or be looking for) someone better to be the starting catcher.
And the thing he brings to the table that Austin Nola doesn’t?
Victor Caratini is a switch hitter, meaning he’s a solid option against left-handed and right-handed pitchers in the lineup and as a pinch-hitter.
Caratini also has playoff experience, playing in a couple of playoff series with the Chicago Cubs and even getting a start, but here’s the funny thing….
We used to value playoff experience a great deal when talking about players that the Padres are bringing in via trade or free agency. It used to be something of a trump card. “He has playoff experience, and this team is going to need that!”
Most players on the San Diego Padres now have playoff experience because of last year. That’s where Austin Nola got his, same as Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth and Chris Paddack and pretty much everyone on the roster.
So, while the playoff experience isn’t something that the starter doesn’t have, it’s a nice thing to have that someone like Austin Hedges doesn’t have.
At the end of the day, it’s just another box for Victor Caratini to check as he fills out his application for the perfect backup catcher.
Oh, I almost forgot
All of the stuff I just wrote matters a lot when a team is picking their backup catcher, but one thing matters most and I haven’t mentioned it yet.
The backup catcher has to be cheap. Austin Hedges now makes over $3 million a year, which might make him too expensive to be the backup catcher. Especially one that can’t hit at all.
Victor Caratini makes $1.3 million this year and is arbitration eligible for the next two years. That’s cheap! Not Francisco Mejia cheap, but cheap nonetheless.
For a guy that was thought to be something of a throw-in, Yu Darvish’s personal catcher that had to be in the deal to keep Yu Darvish happy, the Padres really have found the perfect backup catcher in Victor Caratini.