Seems like Diaz gets treated by Dusty the same way he treated Chas... I guess a player's manager means he treats certain players as favorites.
Game calling matters. Hitting matters. Getting strikes called as balls matters. Blocking matters. Catching runners matters. Unless Framber and Javier absolutely suck as pitchers, odds are Maldy isn't making up for his hitting.
Without looking at the numbers (lately), I think this has only been since about 2021 (i.e., when Castro became backup).
The pitchers doing better shows up and is measurable in the box scores. St Maldy specializes in things that don’t show up.
Pitch framing is measurable. He’s below average at it. As he is everything measurable basically. Tweeting and mound meetings are a good call. Those aren’t measurable in the box score.
Tin Foil Cap Conspiracy Theory Dusty was mad that the Astros traded Straw. Yainer Diaz was acquired in that trade. yadda yadda yadda. Maldy catches almost every day.
I just like how the Astros are expecting a rookie to prepare and game plan like a 13 year vet. I guess Maldy came up in 2011 and was already a master at all of this. All hail St. Maldy!
You saw how wild Brown was yesterday. That was all Yainer's fault. If Maldy was back there, those pitches would still be just as wild except it would be Brown's fault.
If Dusty is going with Maldy because the starters like to throwing to him...two of those starters are now out and Diaz was already catching Brown. Don't tell me Dusty will let freshly called up pitchers dictate who their catcher is. Maldy can have Framber and Javier and Diaz the others.