Twins Catching Depth: An Honest Look

[DocBauer]

With all due respect to the TD writers who are doing their best to provide content and context, and to TD members who share their opinions about the Twins current catching situation, I'm utterly fatigued at this point with the banter being presented. So here's an honest look about the depth.

Jeffers and Vazquez provide a good game calling, durable, adequate defense overall performance behind the plate. Debate the value of each in regard to what they provide behind the plate as you will. Jeffers is far superior offensively, with upside, and Vazquez is what he is offensively, with hope he can be slightly better in 2025 if kept.

Gasper is, pun intended, a last gasp for depth as what he is is a 1B contact hitter with limited power who COULD catch if needed.

So then we come to the crux of an ongoing arguement about "who's next".

That means, currently, Camargo and the recently acquired Cartaya. Ironically, both came from the Dodgers organization. And both are of similar age, Camargo is 24yo, and Cartaya is 23. Camargo was a secondary offering in a trade a couple years ago that nobody really paid a lot of attention to, and Cartaya was a top 100 prospect a couple years ago that fell on hard times when he hit AA.

But for some reason, various opinions have Camargo as an easy drop from the 40 man if needed, and the recently acquired Cartaya as a potential steal of a prospect despite his downfall in prospect rankings and only being a year younger than Camargo. 

I'm not sure I understand the logic behind this. Also, to be fair, I have NO information to tell me that EITHER is far superior in game calling or handling a staff, which is the most important part of being a backstop. Nor do I have definitive information that either is just better behind the plate in regard to blocking the plate, which is a bit arbitrary depending on what defensive metric you choose to look at. But while "caught stealing" is open to interpretation depending somewhat on the pitcher and opportunity,  Camargo has a MILB career % of 31% and Cartaya has a career % of 20.

Cartaya pretty much raked at A ball levels with power, a great OB% and solid AVG. Meanwhile, Camargo began to perform better at AA.

CARTAYA since 2022:

.254/ .389/ .503/ .892 A BALL

.189/ .278/ .379/ .656 AA BALL

.221/ .323/ .363/ .686  AAA BALL

CAMARGO since 2022:

.262/ .310/ .483/ .793 AA BALL

.259/ .323/ .503/ .826 AAA BALL 

.212/ .290/ .403/ .717 AAA BALL

To be 100% fair, there are some splits in these seasons, but I've posted the combined numbers for both players each season and listed their levels based on where they spent the majority of their years/seasons played.

Also being fair, it's been reported that Cartaya has had some back issues that might have affected his performance to some degree. If I'm not mistaken, to be fair, I believe Camargo had a minor injury that might have hindered his 2024 numbers somewhat. 

I am not in any way trying to discredit the Twins acquiring Cartaya as a flier who has potential to maybe turn around his career. It was a smart deal. Nor am I saying Camargo is a superior prospect. But the numbers do state, IMO, that Camargo is not to be dismissed as some easy cut if the Twins need a 40 man spot. In fact, i say "shame on the FO" for having a POTENTIAL backstop who they have too easily dismissed as a possible ML backstop. 

I chose 2022 numbers in comparison very deliberately. I did so not only because it was where Cartaya had his last good season, and Camargo took off, but because the Twins brought Noah Cardenas on. And then in 2023 they selected Andrew Cossetti. Cardenas is a quality catcher with a 28% CS in his young career but his bat disappeared at AA the same way Cartaya's bat disappeared. Cossetti needs defensive work, but his bat disappeared also in 2024 when he hit AA.

There's hope for Cartaya to get his bat right. But there should also be some hope Cardenas and Cossetti will get their bats right. The Twins haven't ignored the catcher position the last few years, it just hasn't turned out right so far.

Meanwhile, they actually have a possible ML catcher with a good arm and power and SOME bat potential they just keep ignoring. 

Dismissing potential talent on hand and giving them a legitimate opportunity is my one major grievance with the FO.

 

[stringer bell]

First of all, Camargo turned 25 in July. He’s more than two years older than Cartaya.

The other fact in evidence was the handling of Camargo when he was on the big league roster. Everyone plays when Baldelli is calling the shots, but not Camargo.

I don’t claim to have any special insight and as long as Camargo is in the organization, I hope he excels. I really believe the third catcher will be determined by the players’ work in Fort Myers. If I’m handicapping, I’d give Cartaya a slight advantage. 

[Doctor Wu]

4 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Everyone plays when Baldelli is calling the shots, but not Camargo.

That was indeed a mystifying thing. Why call up a player and then hardly use him at all? At least give the kid a  fair opportunity. But anyway, very good article. I still think our  catching depth is fairly shallow. but at least with the addition of Cartaya (and maybe even Gasper) we have additional options going forward. In any case, I think we need to hold on to Vasquez for now. 

[Linus]

I had similar thoughts.  I don’t think Camargo is a great prospect but he has shown more IMO than Cartaya has yet many posters / writers are ready to kick him to the curb.  I think it’s the shiny new toy syndrome that has people excited about Cartaya.  And as Doc noted many players don’t hit at AA.  Sometimes it’s an aberration but most of the time it means the end of the line which is why I would be skeptical of Cartaya.