Cincinnati Reds State of the Farm: Catcher

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Today marks the start of the annual State of the Farm series where I look at each position on the field each Friday, go in depth with how each position is currently looking and giving it a grade based on that information.

The Cincinnati Reds seem to have the starting catcher position seems locked up for a while with the emergence of Devin Mesoraco in 2014. That gives the catchers in the minor leagues more time to established themselves and won’t force the big league club to be overly aggressive in promoting them.

Tucker Barnhart entered the season as the top catching prospect in the system. The 23-year-old began the year with the Reds but only saw action in two games before heading to the minor leagues. He would see three more stints in the big leagues before coming up in September. He started out well at the plate but slumped hard in the middle of the season before finishing up the season strong for the Bats. Overall he hit .246/.319/.316 in 78 games in the minors and .182/.250/.250 in limited action with the Reds. Barnhart hits from both sides and like the rest of his career he performed far better from the left side of the plate. There’s not much power to his game but he walks nearly as often as he strikes out and makes a high rate of contact. He’s known for his defensive skills. Behind the plate with Louisville he allowed just one passed ball this season and threw out 35% of opposing base stealers. In the big leagues he has tossed out 63% of attempted base stealers in eight attempts.

Ross Perez is a newcomer to the system after signing on as a free agent prior to the season beginning and he put together the best season of his career. He spent most of his season in Pensacola but saw a late season call up to Louisville. At the plate he hit .321/.379/.439 with more walks than strikeouts between the two stops. Like Barnhart there isn’t a lot of power to his game but is a good plate discipline guy who makes a lot of contact. Defensively he allowed eight passed balls in 76 games and threw out just 16% of opposing base stealers. That rate was more than 50% lower than any other rate he had ever posted in the past (34% was his previous career low). I checked pop times on him at several points in the year and at best he was showing fringe-average times with most being below-average.

Chris Berset got off to a good start in Bakersfield and earned a quick promotion after hitting .310/.403/.500 in 16 games for the Blaze. He spent the next two months getting limited playing time and struggled to keep his bat going. At the end of July he began to get more of the share of starts in Pensacola but his bat didn’t pick up much and he finished the season with a .220/.313/.285 line. Like the other catchers he showed good plate discipline. On the defensive side he showed a bit more as he allowed just three passed balls on the season and threw out 36% of opposing runners.

Yovan Gonzalez split his time in Bakersfield with Berset early in the season and a couple of catchers the rest of the way for Bakersfield before getting a two week call up to finish the year with Pensacola. At the plate there wasn’t much to write home about as he hit .232/.298/.276 while spending most of the year in the Cal League. Defensively though he was strong as he tossed out 30% of opposing runners and allowed just five passed balls on the season.

Joe Hudson got more playing time than any other catcher in the system during 2014. He started 94 games, mostly with Dayton but 14 with Bakersfield. He hit .226/.315/.369 on the season but saw big swings in his numbers due to the late season output in Bakersfield where he hit five home runs in 14 games. There’s not much power to his game despite the late season barrage of homers with the Blaze, but he shows good plate discipline. Defensively Hudson shined in one area as he threw out 53% of attempted base stealers in 2014. His pop times were a little bit faster this year than I had for him in 2013. He did allow 14 passed balls on the season though which is in line with what he allowed in 2013.

Jose Ortiz saw action in the second half of the season with Dayton though he didn’t get much consistent playing time until the middle of August as he was essentially the backup catcher for Joe Hudson until he was promoted.  He struggled mightily with plate discipline as he walked just eight times with 39 strikeouts in 141 plate appearances. It led to a .198/.250/.336 line. What separates Ortiz from the rest of the catchers in the system is his power potential. It didn’t show up much in the games but it’s something that the others don’t have. Defensively he allowed three passed balls in 38 games and threw out 25% of attempted base stealers.

The Billings duo of Garrett Boulware and Shed Long saw most of the catching duties for the Mustangs in 2014. Boulware saw 42 starts. The 21-year old hit .266/.361/.386 on the season fresh out of the draft while showing solid plate discipline. Behind the plate he had some struggles as he allowed seven passed balls and threw out 21% of opposing base stealers though it wasn’t all on him as he showed above-average pop times. The 18-year-old Shed Long started 24 games behind the plate for the Mustangs and struggled to get his bat going as he hit just .172/.217/.207 on the season. Defensively he had some struggles and some successes. He allowed 17 passed balls in 24 games and that isn’t good. He did however throw out 52% of opposing base stealers.

In Arizona they also had a duo of catchers where Morgan Lofstrom and Chad Tromp split time behind the plate. Tromp started 21 games in Arizona and saw time in five more in a late season call up to Dayton. In 30 games between the two stops he hit .311/.345/.472. The 19-year-old allowed five passed balls and threw out 35% of attempted base stealers. Morgan Lofstrom really struggled with his aggressive approach as he walked just once in 82 plate appearances with 21 strikeouts while hitting .215/.244/.266. He had some struggles defensively as well as he allowed 13 passed balls in 21 games and threw out 26% of opposing base stealers.

Overall Thoughts

The position took a bit of a step backwards in 2014. The top two prospects coming into the season both struggled at the plate and while adding Ross Perez to the mix helped out some no one else stepped forward in terms of their prospect status in full season ball. Chad Tromp showed good numbers in rookie ball in a limited sample size but unlike in 2013 when Jose Ortiz stepped forward, there weren’t the flashy tools to set him apart from most of the group. Overall the group has plenty of guys that can handle the position defensively but it seems that almost as a whole the group struggles at the plate. While catching is considered a defensive first position the lack of hitting by the group is a bit much to ignore.

Grade: D

Top Catcher Tools

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I was able to get pop times on all but one catcher that was mentioned in this article and for most of the guys I have more than a few times, but here is where I will list the best pop time that I was able to get on each guy during the 2014 season. Please note that this may not be their best time, or even their average time, but simply the best one that I was personally able to get. The Major League average is considered to be 2.0 seconds.

Tucker Barnhart and Joe Hudson are both showing off plus arms and it showed in their caught stealing numbers. Caught stealing isn’t necessarily the best bet to judge a catchers arm strength though. In Billings Garrett Boulware, in a very small sample size for each catcher of course, had similar times to that of Shed Long. Long threw out guys at a rate more than twice as high. Accuracy goes a long way as well. A big pop time but off target throw still leads to a longer time to get the tag down.

The Best tools from the rest

For this it should be noted that I’m grading guys on the future tool rather than their current skill.

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