The Big Question for the Minnesota Twins' Catchers: Can They Do That Again?

[Theodore Tollefson]

Last year, the Minnesota Twins enjoyed their healthiest season from two catchers in nearly 30 years. Was that a mere stroke of luck, or is it a replicable feat, thanks to their unique usage of them?

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Last year, the Minnesota Twins enjoyed their healthiest season from two catchers in nearly 30 years. Was that a mere stroke of luck, or is it a replicable feat, thanks to their unique usage of them?

For the first time in almost three decades, the 2023 season saw Twins have only two catchers on the roster for the entire season. Ryan Jeffers exceeded expectations, but Christian Vázquez did not meet the ones set by his three-year free-agent deal.

Through good and bad, though, Jeffers and Vázquez posted every day of the campaign. The last season the Twins saw that happen was back in 1995, when the likes of Matt Wallbeck and Matt Merullo shared the bulk of catching duties.

That shows what a rarity it is to have two healthy catchers all season in baseball, especially in today’s game. It’s doubtful the Twins will see Jeffers and Vázquez remain healthy all season again in 2024, which is why the 40-man roster now has a third catcher: Jair Camargo. 

Camargo provides the third, stabilizing leg of the team's catching tripod, but by using an extreme alternating approach to keep each of the primary backstops fresh, the Twins will hope to run the whole of their marathon on just two legs once again.

Ryan Jeffers
Jeffers put back-to-back disappointing seasons at the plate behind him in 2023. He and former teammate Mitch Garver led all catchers in MLB with a minimum of 300 plate appearances, with a 134 OPS+. 

Jeffers stood alone as the best-hitting catcher for batting average on balls in play, with a .359 BABIP good for third-best on the Twins, behind Edouard Julien's team-leading .371 and Donovan Solano's .366.  

These numbers are just small indicators of the massive leap Jeffers took for himself in 2023 and where he’s set himself up to be in 2024. A year after the team spent $30 million to push him out of the primary gig, Jeffers is (if the Twins will have such a thing) the starting catcher, at a quarter of Vázquez's annual salary.

Of course, injuries can always change this up at some point in the season. Still, the 27-year-old has finally landed himself in the role he showed the potential to seize when he first broke into MLB.

The hope is for Jeffers to keep climbing the offensive ladder with more playing time and a fully healthy season. With more plate appearances expected to come his way, there's every reason to believe Jeffers can reach 20 home runs on the season and hit for a slightly better average.

The one part of his hitting approach that can still see growth in 2024 is his ability to draw walks and cut down on his strikeouts. Jeffers fanned in 27.8 percent of his plate appearances last year, which hardly made him an outlier in the team's whifftastic mélange but did temper the enthusiasm of advanced metrics and projection systems.

Following his 2023 performance Jeffers is likely to be the Twins' Opening Day catcher for 2024. 

Christian Vázquez 
Vázquez’s story in 2023 was the complete opposite of Jeffers's. He arrived in Minnesota fresh off a World Series championship with the Houston Astros, the second ring of his career. He also had a solid season at the plate (for a catcher) in 2022, posting a .274/.315/.399 slash between the Astros and Red Sox.

Those numbers would have been a delight to see, compared to his actual 2023 results: .223/.280/.318. His OPS+ was second-worst among catchers with at least 300 plate appearances in the league, at a measly 65. 

Vázquez arrived at camp in what he’s claimed to be “the best shape of his life”, as he told reporters upon his arrival. He spent the offseason training at Driveline’s facilities in Washington, retooling his approach at the plate and improving his conditioning. 

There is reason to believe his time with Driveline over the winter will permit a turnaround from the veteran's worst season in the majors. The time he put in at the Mecca of baseball training facilities will effect changes in his approach, but time will tell how these changes to his swing and routine pay off in the 2024 season. 

The edge in playing time behind the plate will favor Jeffers to start the season. Manager Rocco Baldelli believes in keeping his catchers fresh and healthy by balancing their workload; that's unlikely to change.

Jair Camargo 
Camargo’s on the doorstep of making his MLB debut in 2024, and it’s more a matter of 'when' than of 'if'. He had his best professional season with the St. Paul Saints in 2023, playing in a career-high 90 games, hitting 21 home runs with 63 runs batted in, and posting an .826 OPS in 368 plate appearances. 

His bat speed caught some momentum in 2023, leading to more power at the plate. Having a hitter-friendly ballpark for half the games at CHS Field was another helping hand in getting more power established. 

The one area at the plate where Camarago could still see growth while he’s getting more at-bats is drawing walks. He only had 29, to his 119 strikeouts 

Camargo has not had the opportunity to show if he can replicate these numbers in the majors yet. His role with the Twins in 2024 will be that of the third-string catcher, waiting at one end of the Green Line for the call from the other. Camargo will begin 2024 with the Saints, and as long as his performance is similar to last year's, he'll be the first call-up if Jeffers or Vázquez misses time. The big question is whether that will happen, or whether these two durable vets will continue to show up ready for work each day, thanks to an aggressive style of catcher time-sharing.

All three of these catchers present strong outlooks for their 2024 seasons. If all goes as it did for the Twins behind the plate a year ago, they shouldn’t need more than these three all year.

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[RpR]

So far, Vazquez has thrown out 5 to Jeffers 2 but Jeffers bat is in the lead.

[JD-TWINS]

Good news is Vazquez looks good at the plate and behind the plate this Spring.

He’s got a few strikeouts but his average (in a small set of 25 AB’s) is .280. His DRIVELINE experience seems to have sharpened him up physically & mentally.

Got in better shape so he’s personally motivated as well!

[Rod Carews Birthday]

No.  That was good rest combined with a little bit of luck so it's probably not happening again as someone will get a little dinged up sometime (hopefully not a lot dinged up).  But that's OK.  We have a guy who should be a solid #3 in St. Paul to fill in.  He will gain valuable experience by stepping in and the team will be better for it in the long term. 

 

[Parfigliano]

Jeffers should be entering his prime years.  If Driveline worked their magic on Vazquez and he can push his OPS up around .690 that would be huge.

[Fatbat]

Nothing better than a 2 headed monster at the C. Much like a goalie in hockey, if you are going 3 or 4 deep because of injuries or poor performance, you will miss out on a winning season.  Jeffers/Vasquez could and should be the best tandem in MLB in ‘24. If we get to late August and Camargo is still watching mpls skyline sunsets from the east side of the river, look for a cameo appearance just to show the kid what the big show tastes like. Vasquez could be a hot commodity coming of his 3rd WS appearance/championship next offseason. 

[bean5302]

It's an unusual take to treat a really high BABIP as a positive skill for a hitter. Generally, high BABIP is largely luck driven and a red flag for regression. Such is the case with Ryan Jeffers. There's a 99% chance he will not repeat last year's performance, and if he does get that 1% season, it'll be luck based again. There's not really a question in that regard.

Jeffers has huge raw power, and well above average game power, but it comes with lots of swing and miss, and he doesn't hit much in the way of line drives. Combined with his lack of speed, his batting average should probably hang out in the .230ish area. I expect Jeffers will produce at a .235/.315/.445 or so pace through his prime. Good for a wRC+ of 105ish. He's about equivalent to Gary Sanchez with a little less power and a little more hit tool.

I think Vazquez could bounce back to 2022 levels with the offseason work, but he's probably in the twilight of his career as a catcher entering his age 33 season. 

[Doctor Gast]

Quote

The hope is for Jeffers to keep climbing the offensive ladder with more playing time 

Unlike the Twins (who prioritize hitting), most serious teams prioritize defense at catcher. If Jeffers can maintain average defense, it's a step in the right direction and the Jeffers/ Vazquez tandem ranking would be higher. Our catching prospects depth are not ranked because of lack of defense development. I hate to see what condition our catching will be when Vazquez leaves or gets hurt for any substantial amount of time.

[GKuehl]

Hopefully Vazquez has used his benching throughout the playoff run last year as extra motivation to fuel a much more productive 2024 campaign. It would be great if he could return to a .700 OPS -- making his contract much less of a negative value. If Vazquez is able to put together a solid 2024 and Camargo shows he's ready to step in as the #2 catcher in 2025, Vazquez could be flipped for a low-level prospect to shed his $10 million salary in 2025. 

[ToddlerHarmon]

Whatever the catcher rotation ends up being (60 Jeffers/40 Vazquez is my guess), I hope that they give Jeffers DH days whenever he has a day off catching and they face a lefty. It would only be 15-25 more games, but we could use all the help we can get.

[ToddlerHarmon]

8 hours ago, Fatbat said:

If we get to late August and Camargo is still watching mpls skyline sunsets from the east side of the river, look for a cameo appearance just to show the kid what the big show tastes like

I strongly endorse this idea. It combines late-season rest for the regulars, postseason prep in case Camargo is needed, and lets us consider whether a Vazquez trade is survivable.

[jkcarew]

3 hours ago, ToddlerHarmon said:

Whatever the catcher rotation ends up being (60 Jeffers/40 Vazquez is my guess), I hope that they give Jeffers DH days whenever he has a day off catching and they face a lefty. It would only be 15-25 more games, but we could use all the help we can get.

I agree with this, but Rocco has been very hesitant when he only has two catchers on the 25-man. At no point in 2023 did they have 3 catchers active…and Jeffers got 6 starts at DH all season, despite being desperate for right-handed bats against lefties. I’m sure it’s all about avoiding the risk of losing the DH if Vasquez was to get dinged up during the game. Maybe, Rocco will be talked off that ledge more frequently this year.

 

[RpR]

42 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

I agree with this, but Rocco has been very hesitant when he only has two catchers on the 25-man. At no point in 2023 did they have 3 catchers active…and Jeffers got 6 starts at DH all season, despite being desperate for right-handed bats against lefties. I’m sure it’s all about avoiding the risk of losing the DH if Vasquez was to get dinged up during the game. Maybe, Rocco will be talked off that ledge more frequently this year.

 

Hope not.

[bean5302]

42 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

I agree with this, but Rocco has been very hesitant when he only has two catchers on the 25-man. At no point in 2023 did they have 3 catchers active…and Jeffers got 6 starts at DH all season, despite being desperate for right-handed bats against lefties. I’m sure it’s all about avoiding the risk of losing the DH if Vasquez was to get dinged up during the game. Maybe, Rocco will be talked off that ledge more frequently this year.

 

Shouldn't really be a problem. Kyle Farmer has also been a catcher at the MLB level.

[jkcarew]

28 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Shouldn't really be a problem. Kyle Farmer has also been a catcher at the MLB level.

Right you are…appeared in a handful of games at C as recently as 2019. You’d think that would be doable for a few innings as a worse case. Still, there was much hesitancy last year to plug Jeffers in at DH…we’ll see if that changes.

[Rosterman]

 Twins were so friggin' lucky last year, not even carrying an extra catcher on the 40-man. You still always run the risk of Jair getting injured in St. paul and how you would cover any roster addition then if you need to add back someone signed for depth.

I'm really curious to see if the Twins do team up Jeffers or Vasquez as personal catchers for any particular starter, especially with one having a betetr throwing arm than the other for base stealers.

[h2oface]

30 years, eh? How soon we forget.

Seems 2005,2006,2007,and 2008 with Mauer and Redmond was pretty damn good, and depending on how you discount stats, even better than last year. 15-20 years ago..... And Mauer was a work horse.

Maybe there weren't just 2 on the roster all year, but they were a consistent duo and their production was pretty awesome. Mauer in his prime and Redmond hitting .300/ Morales added some in 2009, too. Vazquez being durable really wasn't a plus last year in a lot of ways. I would rather see Camarago get a shot than suffer through a healthy but deficient bat from Vazquez again all year. 

[Doctor Wu]

the Twins were freakishly lucky with the health of their two catchers last year. I doubt we'll be so lucky this year, so good to have Camargo ready and willing at AAA. I also expect some regression from Jeffers at the plate, but hopefully it's not too steep a drop. Then again, maybe both Jeffers and Vasquez prove to be iron men and help to propel us to to another World Series. Gotta keep hoping!

[stringer bell]

11 hours ago, Rosterman said:

 Twins were so friggin' lucky last year, not even carrying an extra catcher on the 40-man. You still always run the risk of Jair getting injured in St. paul and how you would cover any roster addition then if you need to add back someone signed for depth.

I'm really curious to see if the Twins do team up Jeffers or Vasquez as personal catchers for any particular starter, especially with one having a betetr throwing arm than the other for base stealers.

I agree that the Twins were fortunate to go through the season with two catchers and few even minor injuries. I don't think the situation would have been that bad if Jeffers or Vázquez missed ten days or so due to injury. There are lots of René Rivera/Sandy León types out there who can competently defend and bat ninth in the event of an injury. 

[bean5302]

7 hours ago, h2oface said:

30 years, eh? How soon we forget.

Seems 2005,2006,2007,and 2008 with Mauer and Redmond was pretty damn good, and depending on how you discount stats, even better than last year. 15-20 years ago..... And Mauer was a work horse.

Maybe there weren't just 2 on the roster all year, but they were a consistent duo and their production was pretty awesome. Mauer in his prime and Redmond hitting .300/ Morales added some in 2009, too. Vazquez being durable really wasn't a plus last year in a lot of ways. I would rather see Camarago get a shot than suffer through a healthy but deficient bat from Vazquez again all year. 

Vazquez has some up and down seasonal performances recently, and he's not quite old enough to write him off completely. Just have to hope this is one of his "up" years, I think.