{"id":840191,"date":"2018-09-01T12:30:17","date_gmt":"2018-09-01T16:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=840191"},"modified":"2018-09-02T02:53:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T06:53:37","slug":"pittsburgh-pirates-francisco-cervelli-write-off-pbd11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/pittsburgh-pirates-francisco-cervelli-write-off-pbd11\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t write off Francisco Cervelli as a catcher just yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
The concussions keep piling up and while by this point we should be used to Cervelli flopping around like he\u2019s been shot through the heart every time he takes a foul ball off any part of his body; if the injuries keep piling up he\u2019s not going to have much of a career at any position if he doesn\u2019t find a way to stay healthy.<\/p>\n
The Pirates saw this and Cervelli makes occasional spot starts at first base to keep his bat in the lineup.<\/p>\n
That bat hasn\u2019t been terrible as Cervelli has hit .263\/.392\/.449 in 2018. The OBP and slugging marks are the best of his career and he\u2019s also hit 11 dingers and driven in 49 runs while posting a 2.9 WAR, which is the second highest of his career.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all fine and dandy, but those numbers don\u2019t really play as an everyday corner infield guy.<\/p>\n
But considering Cervelli more and more, he may not be done as a catcher just yet.<\/p>\n
The bat isn\u2019t the only area in which Cervelli has shown vast improvements.<\/p>\n
Entering play on Friday, Cervelli has been very good at throwing base stealers. In fact he\u2019s been better than he\u2019s even been in his career.<\/p>\n
Cervelli is gunning down runners at a 40 percent clip, which is way better than the league average of 28 percent.<\/p>\n
On the season he\u2019s thrown out 20 of 50 potential base stealers, which considering his high with the Pirates was 22 percent in 2015, was an unexpected area of improvement for Cervelli this season.<\/p>\n