The State of the Catcher
Austin Barnes and Russell Martin have taken the majority of the innings behind the plate this year. After about 25% of the season is complete, Martin is hitting .259 with a .400 OB% in just 39 AB s while Barnes is hitting .206 with a .316 OB%. Barnes started the season hitting well but cooled off quickly and has not shown much since his initial start. Martin has fared better in
Austin Barnes and Russell Martin have taken the majority of the innings behind the plate this year. After about 25% of the season is complete, Martin is hitting .259 with a .400 OB% in just 39 AB’s while Barnes is hitting .206 with a .316 OB%. Barnes started the season hitting well but cooled off quickly and has not shown much since his initial start. Martin has fared better in the “eye test” as he has been working with the new hitting team to change his swing path. It appears to be having some effect.
The question is: Will he hold up physically? I can say YES and you can say NO but the truth is: WE DON’T KNOW! It would appear that 80 games might be optimistic. Neither Barnes or Martin is a long-term solution at catcher… maybe not a season-long solution. The popular notion is that Will Smith will be called up soon… and he could be. By all accounts, he is ready defensively to catch and throw at a Major League Level. The only question is: “Can he hit at the MLB Level?” That’s the big question.
Smith is hitting .252 with a .381 OB% at OKC. Not bad, but not tearing up the league either. To me, Will Smith projects as a solid back-up catcher who has great athleticism and is outstanding defensively. I think he will struggle to hit .200. That’s my opinion, but I could be wrong. If I were Andrew Friedman, I would call him up, like soon… and see how he does. If he struggles to hit, the Dodgers may have to look for another option outside the organization.
A while back someone said that Austin Barnes is too small to be an everyday catcher. Well, Will Smith is about the same size. Both are listed at 5′ 10″ with Smith being 8 pounds heavier than Barnes at 195. Will Smith will not likely be a workhorse if he makes it. I think that if I were totally wrong about his hit tool and he could be a good hitter, he will end up at 3B where he could be outstanding as well. I just don’t buy into the “hit hype” surrounding him.
Keibert (Kay Bear) Ruiz is the Dodger’s catcher of the future. Some of you will say, ” But he’s only hitting .229 at AA Tulsa.” That would be true, but just like the Dodgers re-worked Will Smith’s swing last year for more power, Ruiz is going through the same metamorphosis at Tulsa this year. Like Alex Verdugo, Kaybear has amazing bat-to-ball skills and even though he is still struggling, he has only logged 6 strikeouts in 105 AB’s. That a 5.7% strikeout rate.
Will Smith is 24 years old while Ruiz is 20… playing as one of the youngest players in the league. He won’t be ready THIS year, but if his new swing takes effect, he could be in the running next season. The Dodgers have shown a preference for moving youngsters along slowly so they may have him slotted for 2021, His bat could change all that. I think he is the #1 catching prospect in baseball and so does BA. Giants fans may argue that Joey Bart is better – we shall see. Ruiz is a switch-hitting Alex Verdugo. As we wait for him, let’s see what Will Smith can do. It’s time for the Fresh Prince – Will Smith!
Minor League Report by AC
The Dodger affiliates split their four games last night.
OKC Dodgers 2 – Round Rock Express 5 (Astros)
Brock Stewart started for the Dodgers and completed 5.0 innings. He allowed 2 runs and 4 hits, including a triple and HR. He had 3 walks to go with his 6 strikeouts. In his continuing rehab assignment, Caleb Ferguson pitched the 6th, allowing a double and a walk with his one strikeout, but did not allow a run. Kevin Quackenbush and Stetson Allie combined to allow 3 runs on 4 extra base hits, including 2 HRs.
Offensively, outside of Kyle Garlick’s team leading 10th HR and Will Smith’s 5th HR, the offense was rather anemic going very quietly with 17 of the last 18 batters being retired.
The Dodgers have dropped to 11-25 and have yet to beat the 1st place Express in 6 games. The Dodgers are now 12.5 games behind the Express in the PCL American Southern Division.
Tulsa Drillers 4 – Northwest Arkansas Naturals 8 (Royals)
The experiment of 36-year-old pitcher JD Martin hit another obstacle of ineffectiveness. After taking a 3-0 lead in the top half of the 3rd, Martin surrendered 7 runs to the Naturals in their half of the 3rd. Overall, Martin had 5.0 IP allowing 7 runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, and 2 strikeouts. Chris Nunn followed Martin with 2.0 IP. He did allow walk, stolen base, and single for one additional run, Layne Somsen finished with 1.0 IP and registered 2 strikeouts and no baserunners.
The Drillers used 4 singles, an error, and a sac fly to score their 3 runs. Jared Walker and Steve Berman each had 2 this, while Gavin Lux had 2 RBI’s.
The Drillers remain 2.5 games behind the Arkansas Travelers (Mariners) in the Texas League North Division.
RC Quakes 7 – Lancaster JetHawks 3 (Rockies)
20-year-old RHSP Gerardo Carrillo had another quality start going 6.0 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, including a 6th inning solo HR. He did have 6 strikeouts to go with 1 base on balls. Wes Helsabeck did register his 2nd save in his 3.0 innings of shutout relief. He did surrender 2 hits but had no walks. He did strike out 5 JetHawk batters.
The Quakes scored in 5 of their 9 innings. Jeter Downs continued his resurgent offense with a 2-5 night, while Nick Yarnall also had 2 hits and 3 RBI’s including his 2nd triple and 3rd HR. Starling Heredia had 2 RBIs. Brandon Montgomery hit his 4th double and Drew Avans hit his 2nd triple.
The Quakes now have a 2-game lead over the JetHawks in the California League South Division. The two teams match up over the next three nights at the Hangar in Lancaster.
Great Lakes 3 – Dayton Dragons 2 (Reds)
After a three-game lull due to field conditions, the Loons returned to the diamond and continued where they left off with another win. They have now won 12 out of their last 13 games.
Andre Jackson started and threw 4.2 innings of shutout baseball, offering up 2 hits and 2 walks and generating 10 strikeouts. 20-year-old Jose Martinez finished the game with 4.1 innings. He did allow the 2 runs (1 earned), on 5 hits 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.
The Loons scored 2 in the 4th with doubles by Miguel Vargas (8th), and Jacob Amaya (10th). Later in the inning, Amaya scored on a Dan Robinson 2-out RBI single. After the Dragons tied the score in the 5th, the Loons strung together 3 singles to score the eventual game winning run in the 7th. Vargas went 3-4, Amaya went 2-4, and Robinson went 2-3 on the night, with each of the three getting an RBI.
The Loons continue to hold a 1.0 game lead in the Midwest League Eastern Division over three teams.
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Discussion (75)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I dont think it’s fair to compare Alex’s hitting abilities to k bear, I think contact rate is similar but 2 totally different hitters. With Alex by far the superior one
Smith is similar to Barnes physically but with more power, and a better arm. Ruiz is a switch hitter but is better from the left side and there has been discussion of dropping the RH side. They are developing nicely and the team does not want to rush either one as long as Martin stays healthy. The team has so much offense it can afford to have one defense first position this year. I never understood adding d’Arnaud but it shows they are exploring ‘cheap’ options and even the brain trust quickly concluded that was a mistake. They have Gale and Thole around for vet options as well. Barnes is cheap and Martin has a CBT of zero this year, the brain trust decided to save money at catcher after having the offensive luxury of Grandal for so long while the young catchers develop.
It has just been reported that Julio Urias was arrested last night for domestic violence. He apparently pushed a woman to the ground in a parking lot. The woman denies the altercation, but there is apparent video to support the witnesses claims. Julio is out on bond. We are going to need to wait and see how this turns out, but it sure doesn’t sound too good.
Here’s the Link:
Open on www.tmz.comhttps://www.tmz.com/2019/05/14/julio-urias-arrested-dodgers-pitcher/This might solve his innings problem.
However, don’t jump to conclusions.
This happened just after somebody told him about my comment on him being over- weight.
How does AF handle this?
Does he request the Commissioner put Julio on the Suspended List until all the facts are in?
I would think so.
Giants exec Larry Baer was suspended for over 3 months for basically causing his wife to fall while grabbing for her phone. If there was enough of an altercation for Urias to be arrested last night I would suspect we may not see Julio back until September at the earliest.
We do not know all the facts yet. It could be an accidental shove if she attacked him first like pushing her away if she was trying to hit him. If it was done in anger it does not bode well. Best to wait for more news before judging it.
This is a real bummer for Julio. It’s a bad look and it will be some time before people forget about this. I really feel bad for the kid. He seems pretty smart and I think he’ll learn from this. I’m not going to speculate further.
As far as the Dodgers go, the timing really couldn’t be better with 2 lefties poised to come off the DL and Stripling being the natural long man and a full healthy rotation. Timing could be a lot worse and there’s plenty of time for him to put this behind him before the end of the season. I don’t expect Torre is fully objective when it comes to the Dodgers, but I wouldn’t expect this to be more than a 45 days suspension based on others.
Has a precedent been set?
Open on www.espn.comhttp://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/14311938/aroldis-chapman-traded-los-angeles-dodgers-cincinnati-redsOpen on www.google.co.ukhttps://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2296256-aroldis-chapman-to-dodgers-latest-trade-details-comments-and-reaction.amp.htmlWhatever happens, this sure casts a pall on the season. I’m one of those people who follow sports as a way to get away from “real life” stuff, so it’s a shame when we’re reminded that it’s all a mirage and real life stuff follows us everywhere we go.
On a totally baseball related item, Houston Mitchell’s latest column is out. Here are a few nuggets:
“For relievers, a good stat to look at is IRS%, which is short for inherited runners who score percentage. It’s also shortened as IS% on some websites. This tells us how effective the reliever was when he came in with runners on base. Come in with the bases loaded and hold them scoreless, then your IRS% is 0%. Allow all three to score, and it is 100%. Two of three? 66.7%. You get the idea. The lower number the better.
The league average in IRS% this season is 30%. Let’s see how the Dodgers relievers compare to that.
Better than league average
Pedro Baez, 23.1%
Worse than league average
Yimi Garcia, 40%
Dylan Floro, 41.2%
Scott Alexander, 41.7%
Joe Kelly, 60%
Caleb Ferguson, 66.7%
Kenley Jansen, 66.7%
It should come as no surprise that the Dodgers bullpen has been pretty bad this season at coming into games with runners on base and escaping the inning. Floro, who has an ERA of 0.00, has had 17 runners on base this season when he came into games, and seven of them have scored. It has been the Achilles heel for the team and is the one area of its game in which the Dodgers need improvement.”
So Floro isn’t nearly as good as some think. And El Gasolino is the only guy who puts out fires! Who’d have thunk it?
“OK, let’s look at one more area and then we will end the stat analysis. Let’s look at Wins Above Average at each position. This basically takes the WAA earned by every player who played that position for the team, combines them, then compares that number to every other team. Where do the Dodgers rank at each position in the NL?
Catcher (Barnes, Martin, Gale): -0.1 (7th in the NL)
First base (Muncy, Freese, Bellinger): 1.4 (1st)
Second base (Hernandez, Muncy, Taylor): 0.6 (2nd)
Third base (Turner, Muncy, Freese): 0.5 (6th)
Shortstop (Seager, Taylor, Hernandez): 0.0 (10th)
Left field (Pederson, Taylor, Verdugo, Hernandez): 0.6 (2nd)
Center field (Pollock, Verdugo, Hernandez, Taylor): -0.5 (11th)
Right field (Bellinger, Verdugo, Hernandez): 3.1 (1st)
Starting pitcher: 0.3 (8th).
Relief pitcher: -2.7 (15th)”
So – how about that bullpen? By the way, that 15th is in the NL so the bullpen is worst in the league per Wins Above Average.
AC, since you cover the minor leagues, do you know what Bill Haselman, the former OKC manager is doing now. Did he retire?
Last year at the end of the season Kike raised his level with the bat, especially against the rights, and it was basically because he used the ABC to hit, this is to use the whole field. Kike started very well this year, practically took it where he left off, but from a time here he has fallen into his old vices, everything wants to pull and that makes him vulnerable to pitches outside the rights, mainly the slider and the curves . Is there no one on the team to tell him what’s going on, who do not watch videos every day ?, I hope he can correct, he can be the best in 2B, very good defense and can be a good hitter, I hope that solve it
Urias is on a 7 day administrative leave. Who’s gonna replace him? Is Cingrani already at the stadium?
Here’s the primer…
Open on www.mlb.comhttps://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-on-domestic-violence-policy/c-144508842And for much happier news: It is being reported that Mitch White has been promoted to OKC. Might have expected Dustin May first, but I’m happy for Mitch White!
And it’s . . . . Chargois
Shaggy
Wow the Lakers got lucky! I’ll take the 4th pick !!!
Like the lineup tonight, same one as Sun except CT3 in for Kike at 2B and Barnes in for Martin. We get a look at one of the ROY candidates in Paddack, be nice if Verdugo gets a couple knocks off of him. Muncy projects for 30 bombs and 100 RBI’s. Joc would hit 45 and Belly would be MVP with his projections and Verdugo possibly ROY if they hold up.
Turner was hit again.
Doc does not believe in retaliation.
He needs to change his religion.
CK needs to drill Manny next time up.
Purely accidental, ump.
This is BS and they have no fear because Dave doesn’t have the guts to drill the other guys.
OK, CK: Show them how it’s done.
Drill Manny!
Sorry guys, this is total Bullshitaki with Turner getting hit yet again, 3 friggin times in 3 games, For some reason, Doc never retaliates, and that is his biggest weakness, even though I love the guy. Even Hersisher is calling for some payback in the booth. Enough is enough, Kersh needs to send a meassage!
I rescind trading Joc!
Watch Paddock’s glare…. it’s lessening!