Thank you! Alot of people don't realize a good hitting young catcher is about 10 times harder to find than a future projected #1 starter. Just about every team in MLB has one or two of those in their farm system somewhere. You don't have to even look outside our franchise for that info. We used to have a good hitting catcher who would have been a yearly All Star at his position. "So where is he, one might ask?" We moved him to 2nd base to prolong his career and now he has over 3,000 hits. I've actually wondered the last couple years if Biggio could make the move back there. It's not like Ausmus has been anywhere near throwing out close to 50% of runners for awhile. Could Biggio be that much worse defensively now? I know it's a complete long shot and dream, but if we threw Biggio behind the plate again, he would actually be one of the better hitters in his position again and give (the up and coming, forever young, future star, conrner stone player) Burke a chance to play everday and finally get a verdict on him. Plus at the same time give Towles another year or two if needed. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but i think Ausmus's game calling skills have gotten a bit too much of the credit for the success of Astros pitchers.
Yes. First of all, his knees are toast, and knees are infinitely more important to a catcher than his noodle arm. Secondly, even when Biggio *was* a catcher he wasn't a very good one. Perhaps--but game-calling isn't the measure, anyway. Ausmus is what, 38? Look at the guy, and he *still* puts on a defensive clinic back there. Watch how he sets up. Watch how he receives the ball. Watch how rarely he tries to "backhand" a ball in the dirt--how well he uses his body to stop wild pitches. Too bad there's not an "extra-bases-prevented" stat for catchers! His career numbers would be awesome! Look also at the quality of the target he puts up there for his pitcher. It's well-documented that pitchers love to throw to Ausmus, and it's not because of his "game-calling" skills, even considering his encyclopedic knowledge of the hitters around the league.
