Then I would move Raleigh off of catcher and make him a DH or 1b. I’m sure they’re doing that, I haven’t checked his position logs.
The issue is he is really good defensively too so it makes the decision to do that a lot tougher. I'd probably let him catch another couple years and then move him off the position. If I was Cal though, I would want to make that move to prolong my career especially after signing that now very team friendly extension
Plenty of good defensive catchers out there. I wouldn’t jeopardize that offense. I just think the days of elite hitters at catcher might be over, not that it was ever a thing. The position has become very demanding and I would not be putting my 50 hr guys back there very often. Maybe a DH/backup catcher role.
They do have a top prospect that is a catcher so if he pans out it will be a lot easier to turn Cal into the backup catcher. I agree with you though as a team with a limited payroll I'd be doing whatever it takes to keep such an important bat in the lineup healthy
There is absolutely no way a guy with a sub .250 batting average should ever win an MVP. WAR people- fight me
If batting average was such a great indicator of offensive success the Astros would be one of the best offenses in baseball
31 games at DH, the rest at catcher, one thing to note this is a substantial increase at DH over the previous 2 full seasons, he's already more than doubled his DH games with still over a month to go. Technically he hasn't hit the most home runs while playing catcher. Javy Lopez holds the record with 42, Raleigh has 41. But that's just a matter of the next week or so for that record to go down. Eventually they will need to put him at 1B if he's capable of playing the position (likely). But that's several years down the line (see Salvador Perez).
Chas cost us that game. I expect nothing from a 28 year old pitcher making his debut, but Chas has been a big leaguer for like 5 years. There is no excuse for a 5 year vet to swing at ball 4, up around his forehead. He would’ve scored on the balk. I’m still pissed about it. I bet Joe is too.
More importantly Cristian Walker is batting 5th, so it's as if we just added 2 power bats in the lineup (for those fully invested in the 4th vs 5th lineup spot narrative).
Raleigh, like Brady, has one outlier season in their careers. Players don't go from 34 HRs to 60 without "special" circumstances. Also a 200 point jump in OPS. As of now, Cal's season is highly suspect - just like Anderson's was.
