Can Alex Jackson Do Something That's Never Been Done?

[arby58]

6 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Nearly all of Jackson's "production," came during 5-6 game stretch, so yeah, in a 100 PA sample size that's going to skew things. If you fed him another 100+ PAs that OPS would continue to tumble. 

That's simply not true - review the game logs.

He played in 37 games. Game 2, 2/4; Game 6, 1/4; Game 10, 1/3; Game 11, 2/3; Game 12, 1/1; Game 15, 1/3; Game 16, 1/3; Game 17, 1/4; Game 18, 1/4; Game 23, 2/3; Game 25, 2/3; Game 26, 2/3; Game 27, 2/3; Game 30 1/4; Game 32, 1/4; Game 34, 2/3.

Yes, he had a nice stretch games 23-27, but he also had a nice stretch games 10-15 and ok Games 30-34. He did finish the year on an 0 for 10 stretch, but what player hasn't?

[DocBauer]

10 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

he had a .220/.290/.473 slash line last year and a .6 WAR in 90 at bats.  Certainly better than what we got from Vasquez.  

Just wanted to say I'd dance a jig if he could pull that off again. From what I hear...I'm really not familiar with him...the defense is legit, and so is his arm. Considering how low the bar is for offense from backup catchers, I'd even settle for something around .200 if he could stroke some doubles and a hand and a half of HR when he DOES make contact.

[jorgenswest]

Let’s hope he is one of the league best at challenging ball calls and turning them into strikes. Will there be catchers with an elite ability to challenge calls and others poor? If one catcher is hitting 70-80% and another is around 40% those additional strikes are really going to help as well as being able to retain the challenge.

I haven’t seen any AAA data on individual catcher success rate. I have seen data that catchers as a group have had more success than pitchers as a group. I wonder if there will be a positive correlation between those that frame well and those that challenge or maybe a negative correlation as they are already getting a higher rate of favorable calls.

[KirbyDome89]

35 minutes ago, arby58 said:

That's simply not true - review the game logs.

He played in 37 games. Game 2, 2/4; Game 6, 1/4; Game 10, 1/3; Game 11, 2/3; Game 12, 1/1; Game 15, 1/3; Game 16, 1/3; Game 17, 1/4; Game 18, 1/4; Game 23, 2/3; Game 25, 2/3; Game 26, 2/3; Game 27, 2/3; Game 30 1/4; Game 32, 1/4; Game 34, 2/3.

Yes, he had a nice stretch games 23-27, but he also had a nice stretch games 10-15 and ok Games 30-34. He did finish the year on an 0 for 10 stretch, but what player hasn't?

Nearly half of his XBHs came in that same stretch...

[Doctor Wu]

On 12/16/2025 at 8:58 PM, bean5302 said:

I could argue Mickey Gasper is the best catcher of all time by this logic.

Butera has a -3.8 CAREER WAR. Take a look at 2011 please....

Your memories of Butera are in massive conflict with the reality. wRC+ 19 as a primary catcher for Minnesota because of Joe Mauer's "bi-lateral leg weakness" huge reason the Twins collapsed.

There is certainly no sugar-coating Butera's performance with the Twins. It was horrible. But I never called him a primary catcher, only a backup. His Twins tenure was the worst of his MLB career. After he left the Twins he DID hang on and play almost another decade (12 years in all) as a decent backup catcher with KC and a few other teams. No, he was never going to be a starter but he became useful enough he had a longer career than most of us would have expected, based on his time with the Twins.