With Jake vs Gomez getting most of the talk in the game threads last couple of days, thought I would start this one to see what thoughts everyone had about the catching situation. Gattis has looked, I guess I would say usable, behind the plate. He looks like he could throw well, but obviously he hasn't been great at the rest back there But, vs RHP Jason Castro actually has a .869 OPS! That is not only 2nd on the team, among everyday catchers only Jonathan Lucroy has a higher OPS vs RHP than Castro this year. It goes a bit un-noticed, because he is so bad vs LHP (3-35 with 15 K's) that the overall numbers aren't good. Gattis on the other hand rips LHP to the tune of a .947 OPS. I would like to see a strict platoon at catcher with those two. Gattis would still get plenty of AB's vs RHP at DH, but we could have one of the best offensive situations in baseball behind the plate with a platoon there How much defense is too much to give up I suppose is the question
I would use Gomez at DH vs lefties. Jake and George should certainly be in the lineup against lefties, and Gomez has actually hit them well this year even in the horrendous year. While Rasmus isn't hitting them well so far, he had a .835 OPS against them last year, and has been serviceable against them in his career.
I'd be down with seeing Carlos Gomez at DH against lefties. That'd be a really good way to try to see if his bat still has a pulse. Well, like you said, he has shown something resembling a pulse against LHPs... maybe if he gets on a roll, that could carry over against righties too. Solid suggestions. Gattis has looked like a competent catcher, but I do find myself having to hold my breath a bit when he's catching breaking balls...
Early results for Gattis in my limited watching him is "thumbs up". His arm has impressed and he hasn't completely butchered anything else. He's been hitting well since his return and Castro has been hitting well along with his above average game otherwise. Astros C situation overall seems above average among MLB.
His arm is perfectly fine, no problems there. His arm was never expected to be a big issue though. From what I've seen he's living up to his rep of being a poor receiver. Doesn't block very well, and has some sloppy catches. I'm not gonna pretend to know anything about his framing prowess, but if he had a rep of being good at it, I imagine we would have heard about it. That was basically the headline when we acquired Conger. Having said that he hasn't been a disaster. If he can be reliably sub-par, without killing us, then his bat would make him one of the most productive catchers in baseball. His OPS since 2013 would be 3rd among all catchers, that's of course assuming his offense continues to climb back up into his 2013-2014 levels. Obviously going from a position with zero positional value, to maybe the premium offensive position in the games allows his bat to play up a ton.
Although I like the idea of a strict platoon between Castro and Gattis, doesn't it get a little murkier with catchers though, as catchers typically catch specific pitchers in the rotation? I believe Gattis has been assigned to McHugh thus far, and he caught McCullers yesterday, so it might just depend on that mainly. And Keuchel has repeatedly complimented Castro's work behind the plate, so I don't think it would be worth it to have Gattis catch Keuchel just because we are facing a lefty that day. Solid idea, but probably hard to implement a strict platoon for the catcher position.
Hinch (and the front office) typically tries to avoid personal catchers. Kratz caught everybody this year (including Keuchel) before being cut. I expect Gattis to do the same, depending on the opposing pitcher and the lineup.
Well, Gattis has thrown out five of ten. He clearly can throw people out. I would think that Gattis will improve as a catcher the more he plays.
I think the ideal split would be to let Castro start around 70% of the time, with Gattis either DHing or late-inning pinch hitting when Castro does start. Gattis isn't as shabby or rusty as I thought he would be. He's done a great job throwing, and has done a pretty good job framing low pitches. Hopefully his blocks will get better as the year continues. That said, I'm cool with Gattis starting at C 30% of the time (so, about one start a series). Catching is a hard position, and we need both Castro and Gattis healthy for the later months in the season.
I've been pleasantly surprised with Gattis behind the plate. I really like how it's helped the 25 man make up not having him strictly as a DH. Gives a little flexibility which is good.
I figured his arm was strong, but I didn't know he'd be this accurate throwing out runners. I worry about all the passed balls and wild pitches that Castro probably would have prevented. Hopefully by throwing out runners it offsets the runs he'd allow because of PB/WP's.
I like Gattis as catcher better than Castro. There are several points to consider but when is the last time we had a catcher throw out 5 of 10 base runners? That's pretty damn good! If you want Castro to hit, then let him DH some games.
Gattis value is as a full time batter. He'd should be getting 25% of catching duty and probably getting about 60% of DH playing time. Having White as a 3 catcher in Emergency situations is great. That frees up another spot for a position or bullpen guy. Katz was not good at all. If Gattis can learn about framing pitches better, the Astros could let Castro walk instead of giving him too much money.
part of the reason behind the high number of caught stealing is due to teams testing his abilities behind the plate. At this point, I think teams will be much more reluctant to test the arm and will be much more selective in running against him. He did exactly what you want him to do. As far as his game calling - he seems to be pretty damn good on that end and get the best out of pitchers. Yesterday was one of DK's better starts of the year. As far as his ball blocking - he's been pretty solid on that end as well and had some tough pitches in the dirt to test him. By no means is he simply a bat behind the plate ala piazza - course his bat is no piazza either, so there's that. might it also be that castro's recent hot streak is due to being pushed by competition. I know some players thrive on it.
While we have probably all been pleasantly surprised with Gattis as a catcher, it may be because our expectations were low to begin with. The 'negative' number that jumps out is the number of wild pitches while he catches vs. when Castro catches. There have been 10 wild pitches in the 6 games he has caught. Meanwhile, there have been 13 in the 43 games Castro has caught. While wild pitches are a pitcher statistic, the discrepancy between the 2 is alarming.
Funny you mention Piazza, the most valuable catcher of all time (mainly because of his pitch presentation skills)
