It’s always been tough being a catcher. It’s just a different tough than it used to be. Some guys don’t have to call pitches anymore with some veteran pitchers calling their own games with pitchcom.
Still most do and now you have to push buttons. Mostly catch on one knee. You have to know how to move and hold your glove with precision to try and steal pitches.
You still get the hell beat out of you by foul balls with a force that breaks body parts. Fouls can hit you in the mask or helmet and so can a bat from a backswing.
You still have to know every pitch that every one of your pitchers throw. You have to know which way it’ll bounce if doesn’t get to you on the fly and then throw your body in front of it to save your pitchers a base.
Then after all that you get to take that battered body to the plate and hit like the other seven fielders and the guy that never has to carry a glove around.
For all of these reasons it’s tough for contenders to give that position to a younger player. You see more of those on teams that have time to learn on the job.
White Sox have two
In soon to be twenty-three year old Kyle Teel, the center piece in the Garret Crochet trade with Boston and twenty-one year old Edgar Quero, the White Sox have a pair. One might eventually have to change positions.
Both land in MLB.com’s list of top 100 prospects. Teel at #25 and Quero at #59. Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss are expected to open the season behind the plate for the lowly Sox but Teel being the biggest piece in a huge trade will get every chance.
It’s the kind of opportunity on a non contender that will allow early warts that are almost inevitable.
Mets Francisco Alvarez a rarity
Just twenty-one when he grabbed the starting job in 2023 Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez has shown that it’s not impossible. Fighting through injuries he helped the Mets get to the NLCS last season.
Alvarez was easily the youngest starting catcher on a contender last season, he was also the youngest every day receiver, period.
Three other teams in the fight boasted catchers playing through their age twenty-four seasons. The Diamondback’s Gabriel Moreno. Cleveland’s Bo Naylor and the Yankees Austin Wells.
Meanwhile also playing twenty four: The Angels Logan O’Hoppe while the Cardinaks were breaking in Ivan Herrera.
