Backup Backstops

According to Terry Ryan, it was something that was important to them, and he’s been generally pleased with what he’s seen from the new guys.

“Yeah. I think we’ve done OK here as far as that depth and choices and so forth. Catching is always a major concern for every organization. I don’t care who you are. You can be the World Series defending champs like the Royals. We all worry about catching. It comes and goes. The injuries. When you find a catcher that’s got the total package, you’ve got something. That's nice to have. So we kept looking and trying to acquire and continue to add. We’ve added a fair amount here. We lost a fair amount. It’s encouraging.”

Soon after the World Series Terry Ryan traded Chris Herrmann to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league outfielder Daniel Palka. Herrmann is competing for a starting job, and regular playing time, with the team. A day later, he traded centerfielder Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees in exchange for 24-year-old catcher John Ryan Murphy. Eric Fryer was a free agent and chose early to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals where he has a good chance to be their backup. By early September, the Twins announced that they had signed 26-year-old veteran Juan Centeno.

Murphy comes to the organization after spending parts of the last three years as a backup to Brian McCann in New York. He put up decent offensive numbers considering his limited playing time. Defensively, he is generally regarded as average, or a little better than average, across the board in all categories. Average offense and defense from the catcher position would be a nice improvement.

John Hicks has been regarded as a potential average hitting catcher and a very good athlete with a strong arm behind the plate.

Juan Centeno has been one of this spring’s fun stories. He has a .636/.667/1.182 (1.848) line on offense. Sure, he’s got just 11 a- bats, but he’s 7-11 with three doubles, a homer and six RBI. The 26-year-old from Puerto Rico has played in 24 big league games over the past three years. He has a .408 OPS in 66 plate appearances in that time. However, in three seasons of AAA - all in the Pacific Coast League - he has hit a combined .298/.335/.367 (.692). Note, however, that he’s averaging just under 58 games a year which means that despite hitting ‘alright’ for a catcher he has primarily been a backup.

While he has just three home runs in over 1600 minor league at-bats in his nine seasons, he has looked good at the plate this spring. What he has done this spring is take really good at-bats. He’s driven the baseball.

As Molitor said after Sunday’s game, “Good at-bats. He’s been that way since he’s been there. He’s one of those left-handed guys who can slice it out there and battle. He handles himself really well. You can tell he’s had some experience.”

When asked about what kind of reports the Twins had on Centeno’s defense before signing him, Molitor indicated that they were positive. “Overall reports before came were a plus receiving. We’re watching how he calls pitches and handles pitchers. Part of that, at the beginning, he’s learning the pitchers. I would say (he has a) plus arm.”

Molitor said that it was definitely an area they needed to focus upon. “It was a point of emphasis for us. Prospects that we might have are starting to climb. The urgency at this level was somewhat obvious. Between Murphy, Hicks and Centeno, I think we’ve protected ourselves well there.”

That brings us to the likes of Stuart Turner and Mitch Garver. Where do they stand? There’s no doubt that the Twins really like both catchers. They feel Turner brings a little more defensively, though Garver has greatly improved the last year or two. Both have very strong arms.

Last week on The Ride with Reusse on 1500 ESPN, Patrick Reusse was joined by Chattanooga manager Doug Mientkiewicz. When asked some of the players he might have in a Lookouts uniform this year, he mentioned both Garver and Turner.

I’ve advocated for giving Turner another half-season (or even a full season) in the Southern League. He has the size, strength and takes decent at-bats. I think that extra time at a level he’s played at could be beneficial for a guy who skipped Low A and struggle in the first half at Ft. Myers.

In acquiring Murphy, they have a 24-year-old who they can control for five more seasons. Hicks has two option years remaining and only a little over a month of service time. Centeno is still young too. Turner and Garver are guys to continue to hope for and believe in.

As Ryan said, it’s hard to find catchers. It can be a position of attrition with all the foul tips, the drain of a long season and such. When you find a guy who can play good defense behind the plate and work well with pitchers there is a lot of value. If you can find that guy, and he can hit, you have something to really like.

For now, The Twins have several quality young catchers who could become something as they start the season with Kurt Suzuki as the starting catcher. Depth is very important at the position and the Twins feel good about theirs.