Decent catchers seem scarce. This led me to run a quick check, using WRC+ to compare the median major league catcher with his counterparts at short and center in 2015, 2010 and 2005. What I did was look at players at those positions with at least 300 plate appearances and rank them by WRC+. Then I took the 15th best for each position. Here are the numbers:
2015: Catcher 86, SS 95, CF 108
2010: Catcher 100, SS 91, CF 108
2005: Catcher 90, SS 91, CF 108
Interestingly, there has been very little fluctuation in the offensive output of center fielders over the three years, some fluctuation at short and much more at catcher. We also see that in 2015 catchers were especially incompetent offensively compared to shortstops and center fielders.
Will this change anytime soon? I did a check on the list of Top 20 players by league released by BA so far. Specifically, I looked at the top 5 in each league. I found 10 shortstops and 2 catchers. Now I realize some of those shortstops might not stick at short. But the data suggest that the relative scarcity of catchers who are competent hitters is not likely to change in the next few years.
This finding does have some implications for the Braves. It suggests that in considering whether to hold on to Bethancourt, we should add a premium to his value to reflect the current and prospective relative scarcity of players at his position. It is similar to the proposition I've advanced about the relative scarcity of hitters compared to pitchers. It doesn't mean you don't trade hitters for pitchers, but it does mean that you should take into account recent shifts in relative supply in setting the exchange rate.