Tater Talk (2047.05): Spuds unveil new “relief catcher” role in minor leagues

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Tater Talk (2047.05): Spuds unveil new “relief catcher” role in minor leagues

Post by woods » Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:33 am

Image The one certainty in baseball, year after year, besides Yellow Springs falling short of a championship, is that in-game strategies will continue to evolve. Managers and analytics teams are constantly coming up with innovative ways for a team to gain an edge. The multi-inning reliever is one example, which a few years ago changed the landscape of how bullpens are deployed. More recently, the “opener” became popular, but has since fallen out of favor.

Now, in 2047, Boise believes they may have cracked the code and discovered the next big thing: the relief catcher.

Here’s a primer on how it works: let’s say you have two catchers on your team. Catcher A is the primary starter: he hits better, and he’s generally better in terms of catching ability — calling games, pitch framing, and so on. But he has an average throwing arm.

When a team has a small lead in the late innings, it becomes more important to control the opponent’s running game. Enter Catcher B, who plays great defense, has a stronger throwing arm, but can’t hit his weight. He may not get as many borderline calls, but he’ll gun down anyone trying to steal. That’s the relief catcher.

Boise has been experimenting with the “relief catcher” strategy in their low minor leagues, which has led to some interesting situations. In a recent game with the Class-A Tulsa Ginzels, manager P.J. Atkins emerged from the dugout in the eighth inning, ostensibly to pull his pitcher after a leadoff single. However, he promptly turned towards home plate and walked towards catcher António Hernández. As a brief conversation took place at home plate, pitcher Bob Somers approached, noticeably confused, and asked, “You taking me out, skip?”

Atkins turned to Somers and replied, “No, you’re good.”

He then made the call to the bullpen for “the round guy,” by stretching his arms out wide. The corpulent John Adams emerged with full catcher’s gear on, and lumbered in towards the plate to replace Hernández.

When play resumed, Lake City’s Drake Raymond took off on the second pitch, and Adams gunned him out with a perfect throw to second. Having thwarted the potential rally, Tulsa went on to win the game, 3-2.

Adams, who came over recently from Charlotte in the Dennis French trade, will likely be the first player in Boise’s system, and in fact the entire baseball world, to be converted into a full-time relief catcher. He has thrown out 59.5 percent of runners this season attempting to steal, so even if his bat doesn’t develop, he’ll be valuable strictly for his arm.

“It’s just like platooning,” said Atkins in a post-game presser. “All we’re doing is matching guys up with situations where they’re most likely to succeed. In John’s case, that means getting his arm into more high-leverage spots.”

Depending on the early trials with Adams, Boise may eventually make similar transitions with players at the major league level, such as catcher Pat Alexander, who has struggled offensively this season. The Spuds would not comment on any potential changes, although with an upcoming series against Charlotte, who lead the Johnson League in stolen bases, we may see a “relief catcher” entering a game for the Spuds sooner than expected.
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Re: Tater Talk (2047.05): Spuds unveil new “relief catcher” role in minor leagues

Post by Dington » Sun Jun 27, 2021 9:00 am

Bold strategy, Cotton.
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