George Kottaras.
The Cardinals just claimed him off waivers from Cleveland. The team needed a viable back-up back-stop and that city wasn’t big enough for Kottaras and LeBron James.
So he’s a Cardinal now. Here’s what you need to know…
George Kottaras. Man that sounds familiar.
He’s now played for 8 MLB organizations, including NL Central foe Brewers. His other stints were in Boston, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Chicago and the aforementioned Cleveland. He never made it to the show with the Padres or Cubs.
This assumes he gets in a game with the Cardinals.
Why’d the Indians cut him?
I’m not going to pretend to know the inner-workings of the back-up catcher situation in Cleveland, but once the Indians traded for Chris Dickerson of the Pirates on July 7th, Kottaras was soon to be waived to make room on the 40 man roster.
Is he any good?
I mean, he is what he is. A back-up catcher.
The most games he’s played in an MLB season is 85 when he split time with Milwaukee and Oakland, so none of his stats are going to pop out and grab ya’. He’s a career .216 hitter with an .326 OBP and .415 SLG line.
In 7 seasons, he’s posted a WAR of 3.0 a oWAR of 3.8 and a dWAR of 0.5.
This season he has only played in 10 games, but has batted .286/.385/.714 with 3 HR and 6 hits. He has also drawn 4 walks. Over the course of the season, that’s pretty good. But with a 1/16th of a season sample size, it’s hard to tell anything.
What does any of this mean?
Candidly? Not much.
Tony Cruz will get the lion’s share of playing time the next 8+ weeks while Yadier Molina is out of action. If you figure a rest day per week, then Kottaras is looking at between maybe 8-10 games and 30ish AB’s for the Cardinals. Possibly less.
So unless your convinced that those 30 or so ABs are going to make or break the season, then this was a necessary move that happened. And there is still a chance that a minor league catcher is promoted at some point as well. Don’t rule that out.
Any fun facts?
Well…
- Kottaras played for the Greek national team during the 2004 Summer Olympics (both of his parents are Greeks who immigrated to Canada). George was born in the Toronto area.
- He hit HRs in his first 3 plate appearances for the Cleveland Indians.
- Kottaras was the 7th Brewer to hit for the cycle when he pulled off the feat against the Houston Astros during the 2011 season.
Twitter? He on it?
Indeed…
Had a great time defending my cow milking title here @Rangers. Was a good time with @Ross_108. #CowMilking #dairymonth
— George Kottaras (@GeorgeKottaras) June 7, 2014
Anything else?
You’re still reading this? I mean, he’s the back-up’s back-up. It’s Friday. Go out and have yourself a weekend and if the time comes where we need to re-visit the George Kottaras situation more in-depth, we will. For now?
That’s enough.
Photo: Twitter
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