Dusty had loyalty and trust issues. He was devoted to Maldy with an Almost blind loyalty, which is good if you are a spouse. On the other hand, Dusty simply did not trust Diaz to keep his offensive productivity; almost like thinking it was only a matter of time he’d come back down to Earth of mediocre catcher’s sputtering batting normalcy’s of suck…. With Diaz’s bat, it does not guarantee the Astros win against the Rangers, but it amplified any chances of winning that series. Dusty literally kept one of the best bats on the bench, in favor of one of the worst batting catchers in baseball.
I can agree with that but also…. Even if Dusty’s stupid and unprofessional paranoia was right, and Diaz stopped hitting, Yainer would still offer more than Maldy defensively and in every facet of the catcher position. Your last sentence is truly what says it all and it’s unforgivable. .oh and Maldy IS the worst hitting catcher not “one of” lol.
Collin Price is that profile but he hasn’t hit for enough power to vault himself onto the radar. I think the idea was at his size they could figure out how to get him to hit for power and it hasn’t happened yet. John Garcia posted a 141 wRC+ in High A this season but with a 26% k rate and lack of pedigree he will have to prove he can hit in the upper levels. Will Bush, Jancel Villarroel, Luis Encarnacion, Carlos Cauro, and Kedaur Trujillo are all potential bat-first catchers but are all likely 3+ years away.
I was talking about maybe trading for a guy in the minors that can hit, but maybe doesn't really appear to have a position.
Yainer Diaz became even more motivated to prove Dusty Baker wrong with his Quarterback Analogy. "A Catcher is like a Quarterback". CJ Stroud and Yainer Diaz proved Dusty Baker wrong. CJ Stroud as a Rookie became productive in Training Camp and got the Captain C on his Jersey in Training Camp and produced on the Field and broke Broke Rookie Records and went to Playoffs. Yainer Diaz evolved and improved this year and is one of the best batters and defensive player in the game.
Yainer has been one of the top two developments of the season*, IMO. Since June 1, Yainer has been a .900 OPS catcher and has clearly gotten more comfortable defensively this season. Having a star catcher locked in is such a huge advantage for any team. One of the main reasons we have had the best MLB record over the last few months is we have had Yainer playing like the #1 or #2 catcher in all of baseball. Huge for the team. *The other top development of the season is Hunter Brown turning into an ace.
Look at his inherited runners allowed to score kat year. He had the role of “the fireman” who comes in with guys on. He let them score a ton early. Thus the nickname. his era was 5, 4 and 3 his years here. His FIP was like 4.1, 4.3, 3.8. He wasn’t in anyway good. He was not bad. He just kind of was. Like most non leverage relievers.
I'm not the guy who is a big numbers guy. What I saw was he was very solid in 2022 and OK in 2023. He also pitched well in the playoffs in 2022 which help win another ring.
An mvp caliber catcher is a cheat code. It’s not a coincidence the giants were really good with buster posey, the yanks with Posada, the astros offense was great with McCann and Gattis etc. Braves had a good one during g their run. It’s a thing because it’s just so rare.
I didn’t say necessary. But it’s hard to be terrible when you have a catcher that is a plus middle of the order bat.
