Catching depth was to be one of the strong suits of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization coming into this season.
Now, nearly half way through the season, catching depth and strong shouldn’t be in the same area code.
Top catching prospect Elias Diaz got the injury carousel started for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in spring training falling to a sore elbow that required surgery. At the Major League level, Francisco Cervelli broke the hamate bone in his left hand during a loss to the Cardinals on June 10th. Most recently, Chris Stewart found his way to the disabled list with left knee soreness after battling through the past several weeks noticeably limping.
While the Pirates are far from the first team to suffer an unfortunate rash of injuries, the timing came at an inconvenient time for the team in the midst of a schedule which saw them seemingly facing a Cy Young winner or candidate almost every night. So far, the Pirates have weathered the storm well and are back over .500.
The Pirates have done this e while using five catchers this season in Cervelli, Stewart, Erik Kratz, Jacob Stallings, and most recently Eric Fryer.
Let’s take a look at how other teams in recent history have dealt with injuries to their catchers.
The Good: 2009 New York Yankees
The 2009 New York Yankees were the World Series champions.
However, getting there was surprisingly difficult for their backstops. The Yankees began their season with a battery of Jorge Posada and Jose Molina.
On May 5th of that year, Cervelli was called to action for the Yankees after Posada went on the DL. Two days later, Cervelli made his first start after Molina injured his quad. As a result of the injury to Molina, Kevin Cash was brought up to be Cervelli’s back up. Cash hit .231 with three RBIs in 10 games with the Yankees.
Cervelli’s game played well on both offense and defense as he hit .298 with 11 RBIs and 13 runs scored for the Yankees. Cervelli also caught a complete game shutout from pitcher C.C. Sabathia. Following Molina’s return, Cervelli was sent down to the minors only to be brought back up later that year.
Molina hit .217 with 11 RBIs facing limited game action due to injuries. Posada finished the regular season hitting .285 with 22 home runs and 81 RBIs.
A healthy Posada helped lead the Yankees to the championship by hitting .275 with two homers in the post season. The Yankees were also helped by stellar pitching from Sabathia and an offense led by Alex Rodriquez.
The Bad: 2015 St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals won 100 games in 2015, a ten game improvement over the 90 games they won in 2014.
In the off-season, the Cardinals suffered the loss of Oscar Tavares after he was killed in an automobile accident. To compensate for the loss of their right fielder, they traded for right fielder Jason Heyward and pitcher Jordan Walden in return for Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins.
The Cardinals won 22 of their first 29 games of the season en route to their first 100 win season since 2005. They did not stumble until the month of September after their hot start.
Catcher Cody Stanley, a call-up from Triple-A once rosters expanded, was suspended 80 games for testing positive for Turinabol on September 12th.
On September 20th, Yadier Molina was sidelined with a partial ligament tear in his thumb ending his season. The Cardinals were forced to use Tony Cruz and Travis Tartamella to replace the Gold Glove winning Molina.
Cruz took over the starting role for the Cardinals hitting .204 for the season with only 11 RBIs. Prior to his injury, Molina was hitting .270 with 61 RBIs. Tartamella appeared in only three games for the Cardinals hitting .500 in two plate appearances.
The Cardinals were unable to overcome the loss of Molina and a rash of injuries throughout September as they were swept and held scoreless in their last 27 innings. As a result of their hot start and impressive regular season the Cardinals advanced to the playoffs for the fourth time under manager Mike Matheny and looked to make the NLCS for the fifth year in a row, however, the red hot Cubs were standing in their way after defeating the Pirates in the NL Wild Card game.
In the NLDS, the Cubs would go on to win three games in a row after dropping game one of the series. The Cubs also outscored the Cardinals 27-22 in the eventual four game series.
The Ugly: 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates
The 2011 version of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the first season under Clint Hurdle, managed to go 72-90 to give the Pirates their first season winning more than 70 games since 2004. In 2011, the Pirates seemed to have had a revolving door at the catcher position.
Backup catcher Chris Snyder began the season on the disabled list resulting in Jason Jaramillo being on the opening day roster as the backup to Ryan Doumit. Doumit was limited to 77 total games in 2011 hitting .303 with eight homers and 30 RBIs.
Jaramillo hit .326 with three doubles and six RBIs in 23 games for the Pirates. Jaramillo was demoted to Triple-A when Snyder returned from the DL. Following a Doumit injury, Dusty Brown was the next man up for the Pirates.
Wyatt Toregas, the current manager of the West Virginia Black Bears, was called-up following a Snyder injury to back up Brown. Toregas was demoted June 13th after playing three games and not registering a hit. The decision for the Pirates to demote Toregas was made after the Pirates acquired Michael McKenry from the Boston Red Sox.
Brown appeared in 11 games for the Pirates before being demoted to make room for Eric Fryer. Brown hit .107 and managed three hits while with the Pirates. Fryer appeared in 10 games for the Pirates hitting .269 as the backup to McKenry. Matt Pagnozzi rounded out the catching carousel for the Pirates in 2011,getting two hits and one RBI in six appearances in a Pittsburgh uniform.
The 2016 version of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been able to weather the storm and continue chase of the Cubs after regaining second place from the Cardinals during their most recent road trip.
Help is on the way, as Fryer gets better each game, and Diaz, as well as Cervelli, have begun their rehab programs.
It remains to be seen whether they will become the good and make it to the World Series like the 2009 Yankees, the bad, have an overly successful regular season and have nothing to show for it such as last year’s Cardinals, or the ugly and regress back to 2011 Pirates. What is certain, is that so far this season the Pirates have overcome nearly every obstacle thrown at the catching position and continue to do so.
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