There’s a good reason that catching prospects sometimes take a little longer to fully develop when compared to other players in the minors. It’s the same reason why it isn’t always important for them to be great with the bat.
Just on the defensive side of things, catchers have so much going on, giving prospects more stuff to work on in the minors. So while the Pirates have a couple of catching prospects that have been recognized for their abilities with the bat, it will be their work defensively that will allow them to stay behind the plate for the long term.
The Pirates have done a great job building some depth at the catcher position over the last year or so, and now it’s just about developing them.
I took a look at the catchers in the Pirates’ system and how they did on the defensive side of things, at least when it came to controlling the running game and keeping the baseball in front of them (passed balls).
Progressed
I took every catcher who played regular games among Pirates’ four full season affiliates (if they played in the FCL I used those numbers as well) and compared their caught stealing percentage — both career and 2022 numbers — along with their passed ball per nine inning rate to see who improved this season.
Three players were in the top five of all catchers in the system when it comes to their progression in both caught stealing rate and PB/9 – Endy Rodriguez, Jason Delay, and Eli Wilson.
| Player | 2022 CS% | Career CS% | Differential |
| Endy Rodriguez | 31.89% | 29.06% | +2.12% |
| Eli Wilson | 31.43% | 29.63% | +1.80% |
| Jason Delay | 38.89% | 30.53% | +8.36% |
| Jamie Ritchie | 12.5% | 26.70% | -14.20% |
| Carter Bins | 13.25% | 20.28% | -7.03% |
| Geovanny Planchart | 23.26% | 29.23% | -5.97% |
Seeing the first two names there shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, as Delay was already known as one of the better defensive catchers in the system, making it to the majors this season, and Rodriguez was the breakout star in the minors this year for the Pirates — not just for his offensive work.
Rodriguez saw a 2.12% increase in throwing out runners over his career mark, while seeing one of the best drops in his PB/9 mark.
Even though he spent the majority of the season with the Pirates, Delay still logged 213.2 innings behind the plate in the minors. He threw out runners at an 8.36% rate higher than his career mark, and only committed one passed ball in the minors.
Maybe the name that you wouldn’t have expected to be on the list, Wilson was the primary back up to Endy in Bradenton last year until the Pirates traded for Abrahan Gutierrez. Going into this season, Greensboro started with four catchers on the roster, so on the field, Wilson had been playing some third base. When Henry Davis and Rodriguez moved up to Altoona, Wilson was able to get some increased playing time at his natural playing position.
He was able to throw out runners at a 31.43% clip, nearly a 2% increase from his career mark.
Who Regressed
Three players stood out from the bottom five of the stats above: Taylor Davis, Jamie Ritchie and Geovanny Planchart.
The first two names there are veteran minor leaguers who were around for upper level and MLB depth, and probably won’t be around next year. Planchart is an interesting name, as he was one of the more interesting players that was making the jump from the FCL to Bradenton in 2022. He threw out 42% of would-be base stealers in the DSL back in 2019, but had that mark drop to 19% in 2021 in the FCL.
Planchart really struggled offensively, and ended up playing more games in the FCL than he did in Bradenton in 2022. Technically he did improve when it comes to throwing runners out when looking at his total last year, finishing with a 23.26% caught stealing rate, but that was still nearly six points down from his overall career mark.
Neither Progress, Nor Regressed
Only two catchers didn’t make the top five, or bottom five, in either category, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if a player is still improving. Two of the original Greensboro catchers fall into that category: Henry Davis, and Abrahan Gutierrez.
Davis was of course the number one overall pick in last year’s draft, and in his defense, there still isn’t a lot of data available for him behind the plate. His career innings logged at catcher consist of the 324 frames this season, along with the 46 he caught before his injury last year with Greensboro.
So his numbers are heavily influenced by his performance this year where he split between Greensboro and Altoona.
Davis threw out just 12.82% of would-be base stealers, down from his overall mark of 13.95%. If there is anything positive to come of it, only five catchers actually improved on their career mark and Davis had the lowest decrease from anyone who didn’t.
He ever so slightly improved his passed ball rate, although his 2022 number was the fifth worst in the system.
For Gutierrez, he threw out a respectable 25.93% of would-be base stealers for Greensboro this season, it just happened to be 1.29% lower than his career mark. He also had one of the lowest PB/9 marks in 2022, and even improved upon his overall career mark, it’s just that others had a more significant jump.
Final Analysis
The Pirates really put a focus on the catching position over the last year, and it’s starting to show. You can make a strong case that two of them are among their top three or five prospects overall in the system, but the focus goes as far down as some of the depth guys.
Players like Dylan Shockley and Wyatt Hendrie may never be major league prospects, but show strong enough defensively they could hang around in depth situations.
The key to any prospect is to get better, and if they struggle, learn from it so that they may improve. This is why catchers take so much longer than any other position because of these added things they need to work on.
Those who take the next step put themselves in a position to hang around longer, and we saw that pay off with Delay this past season finally getting a shot in the majors.
