Are the Twins Starting the Wrong Primary Catcher?

[Hunter McCall]

With Christian Vazquez struggling at the plate and making questionable plays in the field, should the Twins consider adjusting who they start at catcher on a daily basis?

Image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

On December 16, the Minnesota Twins signed Christian Vazquez to a three-year $30 million deal to have him take over as the team's primary catcher. The two-time World Series champion Vazquez got off to a hot start at the plate and behind the dish. Since then, however, he has cooled off and made some questionable plays defensively. Is it time to adjust the catching timeshare and give Ryan Jeffers more playing time?

So far this season, Vazquez has appeared in 27 games to Jeffers' 20. A few of Jeffers' appearances came by way of pinch-hitting, which is why Vazquez has 85 at-bats to Jeffers's 48 at-bats. Over those at-bats, Vazquez boasts a putrid .531 OPS and 0.0 WAR compared to Jeffers's .872 OPS and 0.3 WAR. The stats suggest that Jeffers has been far more effective for the Twins than Vazquez at the plate. However, that is not the most essential aspect to consider.

Vazquez wasn't brought in for $10 million per season for his bat. He has a career .690 OPS, which is below league average. Instead, the 32-year-old catcher has always made his money defensively. Vasquez has been the primary catcher on two World Series teams. He has gathered a plethora of experience and caught some of the highest-quality pitchers on the planet in the most important games. Vazquez remains an asset defensively, as he currently ranks in the 76th percentile in pitch framing, but even that isn't Vazquez's most important skill he brings to the table.

The Minnesota Twins' pitching staff has been excellent in 2023. The starters have kept them in games, and the bullpen has finished them off when needed. The staff has generated a ton of swings and misses and soft contact. It isn't a coincidence that this revelation came at the same time the Twins signed Christian Vazquez. Vazquez calls a great game behind the plate. His ability and feel for the game and approach with each batter are second to none. Ryan Jeffers is a fine defensive catcher, but there are few in the league that call a better and more consistent game than Vazquez.

While Vazquez has been frustrating at the plate and has made some somewhat questionable defensive plays over recent weeks, it's important to remember why he's here. He brings a championship pedigree to the team and understands what pitches to throw to any given hitter in any given situation. His value goes far beyond the value calculated by the stats and analytics. For this reason, the Twins would be wise to continue giving Vazquez the majority of starts behind the plate and pencil him in the lineup around 65-70% of games.

What are your thoughts? Is it worth sacrificing offense for Vazquez's ability behind the plate? Let me know in the comments! Go, Twins!

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[Craig Arko]

I’d be fine simply rotating them every game. Some of the starting pitches may have a preference and that can be honored, when feasible. 

[Major League Ready]

Talk about full circle.  A couple months ago a whole lot of people were quite down on Jeffers and said he had no business being the primary catcher.  

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

Talk about full circle.  A couple months ago a whole lot of people were quite down on Jeffers and said he had no business being the primary catcher.  

That is true... there was some anti-Jeffers sentiment during the off-season... no doubt. 

Personally, I was concerned about Jeffers himself after last season and... and concerned about the set back in catcher development that would occur if they moved off of him. I was probably more concerned about the catcher development organization wide and therefore hopeful that they would give Jeffers another shot. 

Here we are in May and if it was my call. I'd reverse the current catcher rotation for the time being for offensive help no matter how little that help may be. 

Play Jeffers 2 out of 3 and Vazquez 1 out of 3. If Jeffers cools down and Vazquez heats up you can always switch back. 

I still hold a dream that the Twins can develop a Sean Murphy type talent with high trade value. Jeffers is a long way off from that but still the closest. 

[jorgenswest]

Way too early to believe slash stats have meaning for the future. I don’t believe they will be sacrificing very much offense by going forward with Vazquez. 

[USAFChief]

I think Jeffers has earned a more equal distribution of playing time. 

 

[stringer bell]

Vazquez has been brutal at the plate since the first week. I think there is a case to be made to at least even up the playing time. Thursday-Friday was a great time to catch Jeffers in consecutive games--day game on Thursday with a lefty starting for the opponents on Friday. 

Jeffers hasn't been awesome, but he's gotten on quite regularly and he is the greater power threat. I really don't think the difference in defense is that much, even in the running game.

[stringer bell]

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

I think Jeffers has earned a more equal distribution of playing time. 

 

Concur

[wabene]

Vasquez has 82 plate appearances with 12 against leftys.

Jeffers is at 36 and 22.

So Jeffer's far superior OPS should be tempered slightly. Looking at their career numbers Jeffers has wider platoon splits and Vasquez, while hitting leftys better, is more neutral. 

[wabene]

Got interrupted there, but I'd like to see the team go with the hot hand. They should make these adjustments quickly, on merit and without playing favorites. So yes I'd look for every opportunity to get the most impact at the plate from the catcher position. 

[sun]

They both have upside & downside. If Vasquez continues to slump with his bat then an adjustment with his PT can be made. Jeffers is probably just picking up the slack for the high salaried vet. I'm happy for Jeffers for  as many hits as he can muster. Everything the Twins catchers do averages out, After all it shows that they're working in tandem together like real Twins. Rocco simply needs to work out the issue of PT and play it by ear. 

[dxpavelka]

Have to assume that some of the improvement in our pitching, especially the starting pitching, can be attributed to him but also can't ignore an OPS barely over .500 when the rest of the lineup is scuffling and the other guy is pushing .900

[jorgenswest]

I have to echo this here also.

I couldn't disagree more. Our understanding of the meaning of those stats moving forward is very different. I think slash stats are virtually meaningless at this sample. At this point they offer no support for Jeffers being the better hitter moving forward.

Did you know that Vazquez has a better DRC+ than Jeffers (81 vs 76) according to Baseball Prospectus? That measure factors in quality of opposing pitchers and quality of batted ball contact. 

I wish that slash stats were not available until much later in the season. They should not be used in support of any decision about moving forward with playing time or the line up. I wish that they weren't so heavily relied upon by broadcasters and writers.

[DFlow]

Vazquez gets more starts because of how well he manages the pitching staff. This is night and day compared to last year. The Twins are fine with a below average hitter in the lineup if he manages the guys as strongly as he has so far. 

This is not a dig by any means on Jeffers, but more so Vazquez happens to be excellent at this aspect of his craft. I’ll take this trade off any day of the week at the catcher position.

[ashbury]

I truly don't know how to judge the work a catcher does behind the plate, so I'm guilty of going with whatever is obvious and sticks in my mind.  An aggressive throw that goes wrong looks worse than it probably was, and yet that's what I remember. 

If the talent evaluators think that Vazquez is doing the job, I'm fine to let the batting numbers slide a little longer and continue to view him as the starter. 

But, if it was up to me and I had no access to better scouting, probably I'd make the change to Jeffers getting 60% of the work for a while.

[Linus]

To answer the question: no. There is more to catching than hitting. 

[FlyingFinn]

Though I'm disappointed in Vasquez' defense so far this year, I believe if we suddenly gave him the most AB's against LH's, the stats would flip the other way, and thus I'm not as concerned about his hitting. The way our starters are pitching, I'm not changing much with our catchers, as they are handling the pitchers great.

[umterp23]

12 hours ago, Linus said:

To answer the question: no. There is more to catching than hitting. 

So everyone makes it sound like Vasquez is so much better than Jeffers on defensive side and or calling a game:

Vasquez - 15 wins / 12 losses as starting catcher, 8 assists, 2 DP's, .986 Fldg %, 4 - 18 caught stealing for .222 CS %, ranked 18th in MLB in catching defense category

Jeffers - 10 wins / 8 losses as starting catcher, 5 assists, 2 DP's. 1.000 Fldg % - 5 - 12 caught stealing for .417 CS %. ranked 14th in MLB in catching defense category

So it looks like Jeffers isn't as crappy as majority think on the non-hitting side of the position.  Quality backup that has given way to a $10MM starter.  Jeffers has earned more playing time than just being a get-away day catcher as he is positioned now.  

By no means is he the weakest link or catcher is weakest link on the team at the moment.

[Hunter McCall]

23 hours ago, Craig Arko said:

I’d be fine simply rotating them every game. Some of the starting pitches may have a preference and that can be honored, when feasible. 

Absolutely! Most pitchers have a say in who catches their games!

[Hunter McCall]

23 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

Talk about full circle.  A couple months ago a whole lot of people were quite down on Jeffers and said he had no business being the primary catcher.  

I've always been a fan of Jeffers' bat and he's a fine fielder. He just isn't near as polished as Vazquez behind the plate. Good point!

[Hunter McCall]

22 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

We need offense.  Whichever catcher is hitting should be starting. There is not enough defensive differences to outweigh our need for offense.  For those worried about game calling, since Gray calls his own pitchers, Jeffers can definitely catch him.

Jeffers could stand to get more at-bats, but as I stated, the defense Vazquez supplies is irreplaceable. I think his bat will be better than it is now.

[Hunter McCall]

22 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Way too early to believe slash stats have meaning for the future. I don’t believe they will be sacrificing very much offense by going forward with Vazquez. 

I agree! Vazquez will hit better than he is now. It's hard to hit much worse. Keep wheeling him out there and take his high level defense. His bat should end up right around league average.

[Hunter McCall]

21 hours ago, USAFChief said:

I think Jeffers has earned a more equal distribution of playing time. 

 

I think he could see more at-bats, but I think Vazquez should remain the primary catcher. He's just so polished behind the plate I think the pitching staff would see regression if he started to lose starts.

[Hunter McCall]

21 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Vazquez has been brutal at the plate since the first week. I think there is a case to be made to at least even up the playing time. Thursday-Friday was a great time to catch Jeffers in consecutive games--day game on Thursday with a lefty starting for the opponents on Friday. 

Jeffers hasn't been awesome, but he's gotten on quite regularly and he is the greater power threat. I really don't think the difference in defense is that much, even in the running game.

There's certainly a case to be made, absolutely! I'm just of the opinion that Vazquez should continue to see the lion's share of starts because of his ability to call games. His bat is due for some positive regression here soon.

[Hunter McCall]

21 hours ago, wabene said:

Vasquez has 82 plate appearances with 12 against leftys.

Jeffers is at 36 and 22.

So Jeffer's far superior OPS should be tempered slightly. Looking at their career numbers Jeffers has wider platoon splits and Vasquez, while hitting leftys better, is more neutral. 

Absolutely right. Jeffers thrives against lefties. The stats become a little skewed by that fact. Good point.

[Hunter McCall]

20 hours ago, sun said:

They both have upside & downside. If Vasquez continues to slump with his bat then an adjustment with his PT can be made. Jeffers is probably just picking up the slack for the high salaried vet. I'm happy for Jeffers for  as many hits as he can muster. Everything the Twins catchers do averages out, After all it shows that they're working in tandem together like real Twins. Rocco simply needs to work out the issue of PT and play it by ear. 

You're right, this will likely be something that is worked out as the year progresses. It's likely to change month to month. It would also be interesting to see if Jeffers sees any at-bats as a DH later in the season if Buxton ever moves to the outfield. It's an abnormal thing to play both your catchers in the starting lineup, but as we saw with Sanchez and Jeffers last year, they aren't afraid to do it. I doubt it will happen, but something I've thought about as a possibility during a stretch run.

[Hunter McCall]

20 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Have to assume that some of the improvement in our pitching, especially the starting pitching, can be attributed to him but also can't ignore an OPS barely over .500 when the rest of the lineup is scuffling and the other guy is pushing .900

You're right, the offense has been abysmal. I think it's due to improve, hopefully soon. If he is still hitting this poorly by mid-June, I think that is where they shift the playing time a bit more heavily toward Jeffers. Jeffers is currently seeing primarily lefties, so he has gotten the benefit of those matchups compared to Vazquez's righty vs. righty matchups.

[Hunter McCall]

20 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I have to echo this here also.

I couldn't disagree more. Our understanding of the meaning of those stats moving forward is very different. I think slash stats are virtually meaningless at this sample. At this point they offer no support for Jeffers being the better hitter moving forward.

Did you know that Vazquez has a better DRC+ than Jeffers (81 vs 76) according to Baseball Prospectus? That measure factors in quality of opposing pitchers and quality of batted ball contact. 

I wish that slash stats were not available until much later in the season. They should not be used in support of any decision about moving forward with playing time or the line up. I wish that they weren't so heavily relied upon by broadcasters and writers.

You say you disagree but then came to the same conclusion that I did. I agree that Vazquez should remain the primary catcher. His defense is irreplaceable and his bat will improve. Early slash lines are misleading, I agree, but the .500 OPS a month into the season is not great regardless of how early it is. As I said though, I think he should still start 65-70% of games.

[Hunter McCall]

17 hours ago, DFlow said:

Vazquez gets more starts because of how well he manages the pitching staff. This is night and day compared to last year. The Twins are fine with a below average hitter in the lineup if he manages the guys as strongly as he has so far. 

This is not a dig by any means on Jeffers, but more so Vazquez happens to be excellent at this aspect of his craft. I’ll take this trade off any day of the week at the catcher position.

Absolutely. I believe whole-heartedly that the pitching staff is as good as they are because of Vazquez's prowess behind the plate. He's a polished defensive catcher who brings an invaluable ability to the team. Jeffers is fine defensively, but he's not Vazquez.

[Hunter McCall]

16 hours ago, ashbury said:

I truly don't know how to judge the work a catcher does behind the plate, so I'm guilty of going with whatever is obvious and sticks in my mind.  An aggressive throw that goes wrong looks worse than it probably was, and yet that's what I remember. 

If the talent evaluators think that Vazquez is doing the job, I'm fine to let the batting numbers slide a little longer and continue to view him as the starter. 

But, if it was up to me and I had no access to better scouting, probably I'd make the change to Jeffers getting 60% of the work for a while.

I think when we look at the pitching staff's strong start, we should give a lot of credit to Vazquez for the work he does calling games. They could potentially shift the starts a hair in order to give Jeffers more at-bats, but as I noted I think Vazquez should remain in the lineup often. I appreciate the perspective!