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Elias Diaz Named Best Defensive Catcher in Minors by Baseball America

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Baseball America announced their Captain’s Catcher award today, given out to the best defensive catcher in all of the minors and Elias Diaz is the 2015 recipient. Diaz has long been regarded for his outstanding defense and Baseball America has also recognized him as the best defensive catcher in the FSL in 2013, Eastern League in 2014 and International League this season.

Diaz threw out 30% of runners attempting to steal this season and had just four passed balls. He has thrown out 29% of runners during his career and he receives a lot of praise for his work with pitchers, as well as his quickness behind the plate and ability to block pitches in the dirt.

In one way, this is an odd year for him to win the award because he only caught 60 games, splitting time behind the plate with Tony Sanchez all season. Diaz was called up to the Pirates on September 1st for his big league debut, but only got into two games in the majors, both times as a pinch-hitter. He was working on his offense during the season, being used occasionally in the DH role, so he didn’t see much time behind the plate over the course of the season.

With Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart still under Pirates’ control next season, you would expect Diaz to be the everyday catcher at Indianapolis, and be the first player they call up if something happens to either player.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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