The Chicago White Sox’s catching situation this past year was nothing short of atrocious.
The two-headed monster of Tyler Flowers and Geovany Soto turned out to be more of a monstrosity, as pitchers salivated over reaching this spot in the lineup.
Soto and Flowers accounted for a 1.0 and 0.8 WAR, respectively, in 2016. Flowers served as the main catcher during their up-and-down season, hitting to the tune of a .239/.295/.356 slash line, while Soto, who had roughly a third of the amount of at-bats, hit at a .219/.301/.406 line.
Flowers was the starter throughout the year, and he finished tied for 8th among AL catchers with 79 hits, and tied for 13th among them in HR’s (tied with two White Sox: teammate Soto and former Sock Josh Phegley) with 9 of them. Thirteenth.
Your 6’4, 245 pound catcher supplied you with 9 home runs this year. If I’m Rick Hahn, I’m looking to take the Flowers out of the pot.
And that’s exactly what he did, with Soto being gone as well.
As the South Siders say goodbye to those two backstops, they welcome in two tried and true veterans who know what it’s like to win.
First, they welcome Alex Avila, who will be the Sox’s Miguel Montero. Avila, being only 28, has a good amount of years ahead of him, but the question is if those years will actually be good. A University of Alabama product, he served as an on-field coach in Detroit from 2010 up until last year, which included the span of the best Tiger baseball the game had seen in a long time.
Catching for the likes of Scherzer, Verlander, Sanchez, et al., he will have no issue getting acclimated to the budding rotation of Sale, Rodon, and Quintana (and hopefully Carson Fulmer by year’s end). It’s not his defense and leadership put into question, but rather his bat that Hahn is taking the risk on. A career .242 hitter, he saw his average flounder at a .191 clip during his 67 games this year.
His run production wasn’t there (13 RBI’s), but Avila saw a 148-point increase from his average to his OBP.
What stands out to me at initial glance is the amount of pitches he sees that are out of the strike zone.
40% of the pitches he sees are off the plate outside for him, being a left-handed hitter. But, the real thing that stands out is the fact that he can lay off of all of those pitches. He saw a quarter of the pitches thrown to him down and out, but he was able to match his balls in play in that area almost exactly with balls in play when the pitch is thrown right down the pipe.
A smart hitter like Avila has the ability to recognize those pitches and lay off, which is what explains the steep increase in OBP compared to his average.
My knock on Avila is that his fly ball numbers are a little too high for my liking at some points. His line drive numbers could be better, but the key to producing runs (now in a lineup that needs some of that) is to either up that number, or pound the ball into the ground and let your guys get around the bases. Besides a sac fly, a fly ball never does any good, and Avila can find more holes if he put it on the grass.
He knows what it’s like to quietly help lead a team to the playoffs, and now with the best pitcher in the division on his side, he will be given the chance to show what he can do with the bat once again.
And then there’s Dioner Navarro, who did what he needed to do behind Russell Martin in helping the Blue Jays reach the ALCS.
He served as the everyday catcher in Toronto in 2014, but lost the job to Martin and played in just 54 games this past year.
Turning 32 just before the 2016 season will commence, I personally suspect his starter abilities are close to, if not entirely gone.
Avila will start, but Navarro can supply valuable innings off of the bench during his one-year deal.
My one complaint about Dioner Navarro is his inability to lay off of the low stuff.
He stayed within himself for the most part, but if he has any plan to make this catcher competition in February and March a true competition, he must become the more selective hitter, because Avila has him beat in both the age and defense categories.
Both of these catchers are on one-year deals, but having these two is certainly better than hanging onto the Ghost of Potential Past in Flowers and the Cub gone Sock in Geovany Soto.
Avila gives them legitimate filler in the lineup, while Navarro will provide valuable at-bats when need be. If all goes well, Rick Hahn will, hopefully, gain a little warranted recognition in the executive baseball world, and the White Sox may have a fighting chance for one of those Wild Card spots.
References:
**All numerical statistics not associated with the figures and graphs are courtesy of ESPN.com**
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 12/7/15
By Jack McMullen
AriBall.com
