Ranking the Top 5 Pirates Catchers Since the 2000 Season
As the Pirates transitioned from MLB bottom feeders to playoff contenders, the strength of their starting catcher got better and better. You don't see everything that the catcher does on a day-to-day basis, but without his tireless preparation, the game wouldn't run smoothly. Over the past couple of seasons, some of the Pirates' biggest off-season trades and signings came from behind the plate. For this list, we will be focusing on catchers that played for the Pirates since the 2000 season. Any catcher that had stats before 2000, will be considered but only for his performance from 2000 on.
The Pirates have always had a good backstop behind the plate from Doogie Miller in the 1800s to Manny Sanguillen of the 1970 world championship teams. Catcher is my favorite position on the field, and admittedly usually my favorite player on the team. Several men have squatted behind the plate for Pittsburgh and made impacts in different ways, making this a rather difficult list to come up with. Jacob Stallings is next in line to take over the reins as he looks to continue the legacy of success at the catcher's position. So now, here is a look at the top five Pirates catchers since the 2000 season.
#5 Chris Stewart: .250, 1 HR, 36 RBI
As far as back-up catchers go, they didn't come much better than veteran Chris Stewart behind the plate. He was never a full-time starter for the Pirates but his ability to step in and perform well when the main guy needed a day off made him valuable. Stewart spent four seasons in a Pirates uniform from 2014 to 2017 and ended up hitting .250 with one home run and 36 RBI. However, his work behind the plate was where he was most valuable as he knew how to control the pitching staff and limit errors. He kept a fielding percentage above the .980 mark while holding a caught stealing percentage just south of 30%.
His best season at the plate came in his first season with the Pirates when he hit .294 with 10 RBI in 49 games played. He served as the Pirates number two catcher that season behind Russell Martin and played well on Martin's days off. He committed just three errors all season long and allowed just five passed balls in 358.1 innings of work. After Martin, left the Pirates the entire catching staff was jumbled up but the one constant was Stewart. He would come back with another strong offensive year, appearing in 58 games and batting .284. With Tony Sanchez being ineffective that year, and Francisco Cervelli dealing with injuries, there were times that Stewart was the primary catcher and he held down the position.
Stewart's final season in a Pirates uniform saw him deal with injury after injury, and the Pirates let Stewart go. He would appear for both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves in 2018 and was a member of the San Diego Padres organization in Triple-A last season. Stewart was a defensive first catcher throughout his career and he always held the backup catcher spot on every team he was on. However, the veteran was able to handle it well and proved to be a reliable option off the bench whenever the Pirates needed someone behind the plate.
#4 Ryan Doumit: .271, 67 HR, 266 RBI
Ryan Doumit had a long and interesting career with the Pirates appearing in part of seven MLB seasons. He served as a back-up catcher for the majority of his first three seasons in a Pirates uniform but became the starting catcher from 2008 to 2010. During those seven seasons, Doumit hit .271 with 67 home runs and 266 RBI in 611 games played. After being drafted by the Pirates in the 2nd round of the 1999 first-year player draft, Doumit was being primed to become the Pirates' catcher of the future. It took him seven years to go from high school catching prospect to Major League talent and he developed into a pretty strong catcher.
After three average seasons serving as the Pirates back-up catcher, Doumit busted onto the scene during the 2008 season. With veteran Ronny Paulino struggling, Doumit swooped in and became the guy the Pirates needed behind the plate. He would end up finishing the year with a .318 average while hitting 15 home runs and driving in 69 RBI. So it had always shown some power throughout his career, and the swing worked for him as he regularly hit in the #5 and #6 hole in the Pirates lineup. His defense was average for a Major League catcher as he consistently was over a .980 fielding percentage behind the plate and, during the 2008 season, he had a WAR of 3.4 which was the highest since Jason Kendall.
Doumit ended up leaving the Pirates in free agency after the 2011 season and would sign with the Minnesota Twins. He would spend two seasons with the Twins hitting .275 and .257 respectively. He bounced around between the outfield, first base, and catcher before he was traded to the Atlanta Braves. The Braves would release him after the 2014 season, and he has been out of baseball since then. In the end, Doumit did become the everyday catcher that the Pirates intended him to be and it worked out for three strong seasons. It provided a strong presence behind the plate for the Pirates in a time where the team was struggling to find wins.
#3 Francisco Cervelli: .265, 28 HR, 176 RBI
With the Pirates now being a Playoff contending team, they needed a catcher to come in and take over after the departure of Russell Martin. That help came in the form of a trade as the Pirates sent reliever Justin Wilson to the New York Yankees in exchange for catcher Francisco Cervelli. At the time of the trade, Cervelli never had a chance as an MLB starter and was wondering if he could handle the everyday starting job. Five years later, Cervelli was a fan favorite and had success in a Pirates uniform. Over those seven seasons, he hit .265 with 28 home runs and 176 RBI.
Cervelli cast out any doubts of his ability to be an everyday starting catcher right from the get-go. He took over during the 2015 season and had by far the best season of his career hitting .295 with seven home runs and 43 RBI. It was the biggest workload Cervelli had ever had, and he thrived for the Pirates holding the job for five seasons. Injuries put him behind at times but, when he was healthy, he was a steady presence behind the plate. He never did reach his 2015 numbers again during his Pirates' stint but was a big part in helping the Pirates continue their winning ways of the seasons before.
After suffering another concussion late in the 2019 season, the Pirates wanted to move Cervelli to another position. This was a decision Cervelli did not agree with, and he asked for his release from the Pirates in August of 2019. He would be picked up by the Atlanta Braves and played the end of the 2019 season with them before being released once again. He signed with the Miami Marlins this off-season and will be competing for the Marlins starting catcher spot this year. The Pirates gave Cervelli his first opportunity as a starting catcher and he took the opportunity and ran with it.
#2 Russell Martin: .256, 22 HR, 122 RBI
If we were doing a ranking of the top five signings by Neil Huntington, the Russell Martin signing would be right up there near the top of the list. Martin spent two seasons in a Pirates uniform and was one of the main reasons the Pirates were able to break their 21-year losing streak. Martin signed as the Pirates starting catcher prior to the 2013 season and would go on to hit .256 with the Bucs while hitting 22 home runs and driving in 122 RBI. He was the starting catcher in both of the Pirates NL Wild Card games during those two seasons and helped lead the Pirates pitching staff and start the careers of guys like Gerritt Cole and Jameson Taillon.
His best performance of the two seasons came in 2014 when he hit .290 with 11 home runs and 67 RBI. He would help lead the Pirates to a second consecutive ninety win season and a trip back to the National League Wild Card game against the San Francisco Giants. However, what Martin will most be remembered for is his famous home run in the 2013 National League Wild Card Game behind the chants of Cueto. Martin represents a winning era of Pirates baseball and a transition from a loveable loser team to a team that the city and the fan base could get behind and have something to cheer for.
Martin would leave the Pirates to free agency following the 2014 season and, despite the Pirates' efforts to resign him, he went to the Toronto Blue Jays. His defense remained strong as it has been for the majority of his career, but his offense could never get going again. His highest batting average in his four-year career with the Blue Jays was .240 in 2015, the same year he was named an American League All-Star. Last season, Martin returned to the team that started his career, the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he hit .220 with six home runs and twenty RBI. Russell Martin will always be remembered as the guy behind the plate when the Pirates finally broke the streak as he tagged out Nate Schierholtz to clinch a playoff spot for the Pirates.
#1 Jason Kendall: .302, 36 HR, 264 RBI
While picking number one on this list, the choice was pretty clear as Jason Kendall could not only be the best catcher since 2000 but one of the Pirates' best catchers of all time. He had a nine-year career in a Pirates uniform but, for this list, we only looked at his stats from 2000 to 2004. Still, his numbers are far and above anyone on this list as he hit .302 with 36 home runs and 264 RBI. He was named to the NL All-Star team one time during that span and was one of just two catchers on this list to not play for a winning team in Pittsburgh.
Kendall's best season during that stretch came during his all-star year in 2000 when he hit .320 with 14 home runs and 58 RBI. It was the third time in his Pirates' career that he was named an All-Star and while his offensive numbers were good, his defensive numbers were even better. He had a .991 fielding percentage while catching 38 of 125 stolen base attempts (30.4%). Kendall was always a fiery guy playing with a lot of passion, which many Pittsburgh fans loved. In that five year span during the 2000s, Kendall had a batting average over .300 three times and never had it fall under the .260 mark.
Following the 2004 season, Jason Kendall would end up being traded to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Redman, Arthur Rhodes, and cash. He would go on to play for the Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and most recently the Kansas City Royals. Kendall continued to produce strong numbers on both offense and defense throughout his career until he retired following the 2012 season. Kendall is destined for the MLB Hall of Fame, and a lot of that is because of the fine work he put in behind the plate with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
That concludes our list of the top five Pirates catchers since the 2000 season. Do you agree? Or are there other names that need to be added to the lost? Feel free to debate and add or take out who you think could be on this list. Join us next week for Saturday Morning Rankings as we move down to first base and outline some of the top Pirates first baseman since the 2000 season. Be sure to follow us on Facebook at, Buccos Cove, for more exciting Pirates coverage.
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