Is Ryan Jeffers Baseball's Most Underrated Catcher?

Underrated? By who? Dr. Gus? You don't get a spot on MLB by being underrated. Jeffers puts himself out there. He deserves it. He may not be known as well as Realmuto, Perez, or Contreras. They've been on the scene and doing very well for a longer time. Jeffers is putting up big offensive numbers for a little over a year. The fact that an article comes out like this now kind of means you've underrated him too. 

One catcher not mentioned is Alejandro Kirk. Who has seen his offensive stats plummet over the past two seasons. It’s nice to have a catcher (or any player) on the rise. 

He should have been offered a contract extension in the offseason. That was a missed opportunity.

To get his production out of the catcher spot is a real bonus. He has made noticeable improvements in his hitting and catching since he came into the league. 

How long is he signed for? Hopefully we don't have to let him walk due to payroll:(

I like Jeffers, he's very valuable to the team, one of the best-hitting catchers out there. He's definitely not underrated by the Twins who value bat over glove. The marvelous play at home plate that Jeffers mirrored from Vazquez was rightfully well-praised. The Correa/ Vazquez play, Correa got most of the praise. The problem w/ Jeffers is that he's at best average defensively & the league puts (rightfully so) more importance on the defensive side for catching.

I hated the Twins' move that disturbed our great catching chain of Garver/ Jeffers/ Rortvedt. The phasing out of Garver with Rortvedt. Rortvedt is a much better defensive catcher (Gerrit Cole's preferred catcher) IMO with the potential of good LH hitting. Away from MN & NYY hitting approach, at TB Rortvedt is flourishin.

12 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

How long is he signed for? Hopefully we don't have to let him walk due to payroll:(

Scott Boras is Jeffers's agent. Twins had difficulty extending Arraez because of Boras before the salary crunch. I'm afraid that Jeffers is going down the same road.

6 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

 

I hated the Twins' move that disturbed our great catching chain of Garver/ Jeffers/ Rortvedt. The phasing out of Garver with Rortvedt. Rortvedt is a much better defensive catcher (Gerrit Cole's preferred catcher) IMO with the potential of good LH hitting. Away from MN & NYY hitting approach, at TB Rortvedt is flourishin.

351

.439

.843

My opinion of Jeffers has vastly improved. Though not popular, I'd still prefer Rortvedt.

 

Yeah, you may be the only one who would prefer Rortvedt overall.  Good defensive catcher, not at all likely to continue hitting.  Currently sporting a BABIP over .500 - that isn't even remotely sustainable. 

21 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I like Jeffers, he's very valuable to the team, one of the best-hitting catchers out there. He's definitely not underrated by the Twins who value bat over glove. The marvelous play at home plate that Jeffers mirrored from Vazquez was rightfully well-praised. The Correa/ Vazquez play, Correa got most of the praise. The problem w/ Jeffers is that he's at best average defensively & the league puts (rightfully so) more importance on the defensive side for catching.

I hated the Twins' move that disturbed our great catching chain of Garver/ Jeffers/ Rortvedt. The phasing out of Garver with Rortvedt. Rortvedt is a much better defensive catcher (Gerrit Cole's preferred catcher) IMO with the potential of good LH hitting. Away from MN & NYY hitting approach, at TB Rortvedt is flourishin.

351

.439

.843

My opinion of Jeffers has vastly improved. Though not popular, I'd still prefer Rortvedt.

 

Let's check back in on that Rortvedt opinion in July and see if you still prefer him? Because there's little to suggest that Rortvedt's out-sized success at the plate so far this season is anything more than small sample size. That BABIP isn't remotely sustainable, so once a bunch of those singles start turning into outs again his value at the plate diminishes rapidly. (I'm baffled by the idea that TB has a drastically different hitting approach than MN; Rocco cut his teeth in TB and clearly respects their development patterns and approach) I was a Rortvedt backer from the jump, but there's little in his history that suggests this is sustainable for him; he's always had the profile of a backup. Much as I've always liked him, I'd wager money he won't be a league average hitter this season, and I'd wager the same kind of money that Jeffers will be one of the best hitting catchers in baseball.

The split that the Twins do on their catchers probably keeps Jeffers from getting the same kind of attention that some of the bets catchers get, but if he keeps hitting near this he will get his flowers. While I'd like more production from vazquez, I think the Twins concept of shared catching duties is a smart one and it's helped Jeffers flourish. We'll see where his framing numbers land at the end of the season, but he's doing a good job blocking the plate (a real concern a few seasons ago) and limiting the running game. I don't think any Twins pitchers have a problem throwing to jeffers.

Twins had a big advantage with Joe Mauer's offense at catcher back in the day. It's a big advantage having Jeffers offense back there today, and he's been a key man in running the twins back into contention.

39 minutes ago, Road trip said:

Yeah, you may be the only one who would prefer Rortvedt overall.  Good defensive catcher, not at all likely to continue hitting.  Currently sporting a BABIP over .500 - that isn't even remotely sustainable. 

Yeah, I know defense isn't very sexy in Twinsland but it's necessary for a competitive team. Also, I agree his hitting is great, especially for a catcher that it's probably not sustainable & it's a small sample size but under his new conditions, I expect him to put up some respectable #s & hit a few HRs in time.

48 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I like Jeffers, he's very valuable to the team, one of the best-hitting catchers out there. He's definitely not underrated by the Twins who value bat over glove. The marvelous play at home plate that Jeffers mirrored from Vazquez was rightfully well-praised. The Correa/ Vazquez play, Correa got most of the praise. The problem w/ Jeffers is that he's at best average defensively & the league puts (rightfully so) more importance on the defensive side for catching.

I hated the Twins' move that disturbed our great catching chain of Garver/ Jeffers/ Rortvedt. The phasing out of Garver with Rortvedt. Rortvedt is a much better defensive catcher (Gerrit Cole's preferred catcher) IMO with the potential of good LH hitting. Away from MN & NYY hitting approach, at TB Rortvedt is flourishin.

351

.439

.843

My opinion of Jeffers has vastly improved. Though not popular, I'd still prefer Rortvedt.

 

The question was. Is Ryan Jeffers the most underrated catcher in baseball?  Did I miss the part where the question was asked, should Twins have traded Garver and or Rortvedt. 

Got him on my fantasy team!  Love him!

Is Rortvedt actually a good defensive catcher or do people just assume he's good defensively because he can't hit?

Jeffers is an average defensive catcher. Pair that with his bat and you have a candidate for the All-Star game roster.

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Yeah, I know defense isn't very sexy in Twinsland but it's necessary for a competitive team. Also, I agree his hitting is great, especially for a catcher that it's probably not sustainable & it's a small sample size but under his new conditions, I expect him to put up some respectable #s & hit a few HRs in time.

A lot of us love defense. And the Twins organizationally value defense more than I think you believe, or they wouldn't have signed guys like Vazquez or Santana. Or kept running with Kepler when his bat didn't deserve it.

At catcher they seem to have recognized that Garver wasn't going to stay healthy back there and weren't confident that Rortvedt could hit enough to be anything more than a backup. Since the Twins prefer to do a 50-50 or 60-40 share between their catchers, I can see how expecting Rortvedt to hold up a 40% share might have been hard. It certainly would have been a disaster last season. Jeffers has clearly been the better bet.

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I remember when Rortvedt was drafted, he was considered a bat first catcher, but coming up through the minors he got a lot of attention and accolades from the defensive side.
https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees/news/new-york-yankees-catcher-ben-rortvedt-dynamic-defender-catching-coordinator-tanner-swanson
SI had an article on him after the Twins traded him to the Yankees.

I agree that Jeffers is an average defensive catcher. So was Garver. Lots of complaints about those guys when it came to a wild pitch that didn't get blocked or whatever, but Jeffers was average in terms of inning between passed balls or wild pitches, framing, and probably being a little below average catching base runners attempting to steal. Nothing stood out as great, nothing stood out as really poor.
 

Rortvedt

One thing he did fairly often before, hitting home runs in his few at bats, has stopped; maybe quiting trying to hit it over the fence made a huge difference.

If he were here, he would probably be doing exceptionally well in AAA, so being where he is, in the Majors should be good for him.

13 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Scott Boras is Jeffers's agent. Twins had difficulty extending Arraez because of Boras before the salary crunch. I'm afraid that Jeffers is going down the same road.

Ehh, this is a bit overstated. Boras got worked this offseason on his free agents, and the Twins have worked with him well recently on Correa too. Market shift incoming.

11 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Is Rortvedt actually a good defensive catcher or do people just assume he's good defensively because he can't hit?

Jeffers is an average defensive catcher. Pair that with his bat and you have a candidate for the All-Star game roster.

That's what they're doing with Vazquez...

10 hours ago, Ted Schwerzler said:

That's what they're doing with Vazquez...

Vazquez has a well deserved defensive reputation. It isn't just because his bat is bad.

Unless he falls apart, Jeffers looks like an All Star reserve to me. His defense has improved enough to warrant it, and he's clearly the #2 or 3 AL catcher IMO.  If Pablo and Jhoan are All Star pitchers, it would make sense to have Jeffers in there behind the plate for one if not both. He'll get some national visibility then.