All in Good Time

Catchers are weird. Clare says pitchers are weird, but that’s the hitter in her talking. What makes catchers different from a development perspective is that they make up the one baseball position allowed to develop slowly. Name me a middle-infielder who doesn’t establish himself until he’s 28. You can’t. Now consider Carlos Ruiz, who spent most of his 12-year career with the Phils but didn’t become a starter until the age of 28. Or Paul Lo Duca, who caught eleven years in the big leagues and was a four-time All-Star but didn’t crack the Dodgers’ starting lineup until he turned 29. Or Erik Kratz, just retired at age 40; Kratz didn’t make it to the majors until he was 30. Call that eleven years the hard way. Or anyone named Butera, as in Sal or Drew. Sal made it to the Twins at age 27 and spent nine years proving he couldn’t catch (career .227 BA). Son Drew was 26 when the Twins called him up in 2010, and he’s still playing despite a lifetime .196 BA. But catchers who can catch don’t need to hit, not always. Which brings us to Zack Collins of the White Sox, the de facto number-one catcher now that Yasmani Grandal is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a torn tendon in his left knee. Collins was the tenth player taken in the 2016 draft. Everyone thought he could hit. It was his catching people wondered about. In the minors, Collins walked a lot and struck out a lot. His first year up with the Sox in 2019 he hit a modest .186 in 86 at-bats, considerably better than the .063 he posted in 16 at-bats last year. Compared against those numbers, Collins is having a breakout season, batting .236 in 123 at-bats with three homeruns and 21 RBIs, including two last night in a 4-1 win over the Twins. Collins’ second-inning single that drove in two baserunners who’d walked was the only hit Minnesota starter Jose Berrios yielded in seven innings of work. His double to lead off the eighth led to an insurance run. So, maybe it’s Zack Collins’ time. For what it’s worth, Sox pitchers seem to prefer him behind the plate to Grandal. Well, they’ve got him. Now, we’ll see just how good he is.