My man can turn on a fast ball!!
Don't forget about Tyler Houston. While he was merely a part time catcher, he played enough at catcher for it to count in my book.
We've seriously gotten above average production from catcher for about 25 consecutive years now. That's extremely impressive considering that catcher is probably the hardest position to find good hitting.
thewupk (07-26-2017)
I think that Murphy guy from back in the day started out as a catcher. They developed him into a decent player.
The thing with Murphy and Houston is that they didn't stay at the C position. Murphy developed a mental block with his throwing and Houston scuffled along before becoming a utility player (and he turned into a pretty good one). I was ticked when the Braves traded Houston.
YEAH! 4 different star catchers plus a few other really good ones coming up through the system in the last 20 years is the same as developing one quality third baseman in the last 20 years.
Did you even read that before you hit send?
And for the record, I don't think we're magically amazing at developing catchers or equally unremarkable at developing third baseman. Like most things it just comes down to luck and necessity. I was just replying to the notion that we can't develop catchers when recent history has shown that we clearly can.
Last edited by CyYoung31; 07-26-2017 at 12:54 PM.
Suzuki is interesting. His BABIP is actually well below his career average. His HR/FB rate is totally out of whack with his career norms and that is where you would say he has been fortunate. Currently at 1.3 fWAR as a reserve making 1.5 m. This was a good, even if fortunate, signing by the Braves.
I'm happy they did not commit the money to overpay Castro for his framing abilities in his Age 30-32 seasons. That would have impacted flexibility quite a bit. Maybe the Braves will have produced or traded for an internal answer before the 2019 season. If not, I feel like there should be some players out there to fill in. I'm glad they have some flexibility to play with here.
50PoundHead (07-26-2017)