Catchers Stock Watch: Risers and Fallers

While the tiers we established in our aggregate pre-season rankings gave you a sound foundation for your draft, you knew there was going to be some movement amongst the backstops.  I’m aware that we’re dealing with a small sample size of at bats, but if you’ve got a guy who’s hot, why not use him while you can? Or, if he’s cold, bench him for now and get yourself a temporary replacement.  Let’s look at a few names of backstops that are both rising and falling in current value.

Risers

Nick Hundley, SD — After Sunday’s game, he’s got a batting line of .440-4-2-7 with a .483 OBP and is currently getting almost all of the work behind the plate.  Solid ISO despite Petco Park sapping his power totals and could even get a bump up in the batting order.  Still strikes out too much (career 26.7 K%) which will steadily lower that average, but with consistent PT, could make for a nice pick up and decent overall production from the position.

J.R. Towles, HOU —  The Jason Castro injury just might have finally opened the door here.  Towles was once considered a decent prospect in the Astros organization but could never seem to get it together in the bigs.  In the minors he had an outstanding K% with an adequate BB% and good ISO, but once he ended up in the majors, that K% spiked and he was just over-matched.  It’s only 16 plate appearances, but so far this season, he’s only struck out twice and has managed 6 hits (.375), one of which is a home run.  He’s currently splitting time, but if things are actually clicking for him, then Humberto Quintero just might start riding the pine a little more.

J.P. Arencibia, TOR — The day before the season started I plugged Arencibia in a waiver wire post and so far, things are panning out.  He’s not striking out (10.5 K%) and he’s taking some walks (9.5 BB%), but most of all, he’s showing off the power we expected.  He’s hitting .368 (with a not so outrageous .333 BABIP) with 2 HR and 5 RBI and he’s got a pair of doubles and a pair of triples as well.  He’s looking like a must-start right now.

Honorable Mentions go to Russell Martin, Alex Avila and Ryan Hanigan.  Last week I said that Hanigan should be on your radar if his PT increased, but for a little more, check out Chris Cwik’s post from yesterday.  For more thought’s on Martin, Mike Axisa’s waiver post from last week gives you a good look.

Fallers
Kurt Suzuki, OAK —  With the start of the season as poor as it’s been, one has to wonder if last year’s dip in production is a sign of bad things to come for the A’s backstop.  2010 was a down year for him and his current .185/.267/.296 slash line is making him even less of an attractive option.  He’s definitely suffered through some bad luck this season, playing through an ankle injury and a woeful .217 BABIP, but if the balls don’t start bouncing his way, he could find himself losing at bats to Landon Powell.  I wouldn’t cut him just yet, but I would definitely find myself an alternative for the time being.

Yadier Molina, STL — Let’s face it…the only reason you draft Molina is for his batting average and OBP.  He really doesn’t offer much else.  Well, last year, those totals dropped off and this year isn’t looking any better.  Similarly to Suzuki, he’s suffering from an unusually low BABIP (.174), so there’s still some hope.  His strikeout rate is nice and low and he’s actually been drawing more walks, proportionally speaking.  However, since he doesn’t offer anything additional, you just might be better off with someone else rather than wait to see if he starts to improve.

John Jaso, TB — First Joe Maddon said he wouldn’t use Jaso as a leadoff hitter, but then to try and jump start the backstop he throws him up there for a couple of games.  Still nothing.  Just one hit in 16 plate appearances and now Kelly Shoppach is back and healthy.  Not that it should matter much since Shoppach can’t hit righties with much consistency, but Jaso isn’t helping his cause to play full time or continue to hit leadoff.  He doesn’t have much power and he doesn’t have much speed, so like Molina, without his average or OBP, then he’s got nothing.  With a straight up platoon, I’m not waiting to see if we can blame the ridiculous .076 BABIP.  There has to be better out there.

Dishonorable Mentions to Ivan Rodriguez for his dwindling playing time and lack of offense and to Joe Mauer who needs to fix that .231/.310/.231 slash line soon before I start making fun of those that drafted him in the third round again.  Yeah yeah, I know…small sample size….whatever gets you Mauer fluffers to sleep at night.

**unless specified, all stats used are prior to Sunday’s games