Pirates add to Catching Depth With Signing of Wolters
Last season, the starting catcher's job was locked down by Jacob Stallings, as he showed he could handle the everyday starting job. However, behind him, things got a little bit hairy and the Pirates had to do some shuffling. After a Luke Maile injury in Spring Training, John Ryan Murphy filled the role as back-up catcher during the season. However, both Maile and Murphy are gone, leaving the Pirates in the same predicament they were in a year ago. This year, it was Michael Perez, Andrew Susac, and Joe Hudson battling for the back-up job, with Susac being the only one to play in more than 100 Big League games.
Seeing the hole the team had, General Manager Ben Cherrington addressed this issue by signing veteran catcher Tony Wolters to a Minor League free-agent deal with an invite to Spring Training. Wolters has spent the past five years with the Colorado Rockies and has hit .238 with seven home runs and 123 RBI. He spent most of that time as a back-up catcher but recently filled in as the team's starting catcher last season. He appeared in 42 of the team's 60 games and hit .230 with eight RBI. While offense hasn't been his strong suit, where he really thrives is on the defensive side of the ball. We look at what Wolters brings to the Pirates and if he can crack the Opening Day roster.
Back-up Life
Throughout most of his Big League career, Wolters has served as a back-up catcher for the Colorado Rockies. During the first two seasons of his career, he served as back-up to Nick Hundley in 2016 and Chirs Ianetta in 2017. The Rockies won 87+ games in both of those seasons and learned what it took to be successful. Then, in 2018 Wolters began transitioning into the starting catcher for the Rockies, appearing in a team-high 83 games that season along with Johnathan Lucroy and Ryan Hannigan. 2019 was his best offensive season when he hit .262 with a home run and 42 RBI. He once again started in 2020, but the offense just didn't come through and he was released after the season.
The offensive side of the ball has never been Wolters strong suit aside from his one successful year in 2019. His biggest problem is his strikeout numbers, and that came to a career-high in 2020. He struck out 27% of the time last season and had a hard-hit percentage of just 20%. He chased the ball out of the strike zone right around the league average amount of 27.8%. However, the struggle came with making contact on those pitches. He had a chase contact percentage of 45.3 which fall nearly 20 percent lower than league average. He is going to get fewer opportunities as a back-up catcher at the plate, so he will have to make the most of those opportunities.
However, what he lacks in offensive ability he more than makes up for in defensive abilities. He excels at pitch framing just like Stallings has, and in the long run, will benefit Pirates pitchers. In 2020, Wolters had a strike rate right around league average of 47.3%. But, where he really excelled was getting pitches on the corner called strikes, where he ranked in the top 10% of the league. On his glove side, he got 63.8% of pitches called strikes and on his non-glove side he got 66.8% of pitches called strikes. Throughout his MLB career, Wolters has allowed just 14 passed balls behind the plate. His defense is top-notch, and something that could earn him more playing time with the Pirates.
Back-up Catcher/Utility Man
One thing the Pirates have valued over the years is a good utility man that can play anywhere. Guys like Josh Harrison, Adam Frazier, and so many others have thrived in that role in the past. This is something that Wolters brings with him to Pirates camp as not only can he catch, but he also has experience at second base, shortstop, third base, and left field. At each position, he has provided strong defense with a .995 fielding percentage behind the plate and a 1.000 fielding percentage everywhere else. If he performs well enough in Spring Training, Wolters could find his way onto the 2021 Pirates in a number of roles.
However, in order for him to consistently get in the lineup, he would have to get back to the offensive numbers he produced in 2019. During that season, he hit .262 with a home run and 42 RBI, putting together a solid season. He had 17 doubles that season and a total of 20 extra-base hits in 359 at-bats. The gaps at PNC Park should help Wolters if he can consistently find them, and it could help him rack up the doubles during the season. With Wolters playing maybe once or twice a week, each at-bat becomes even more important for the 28-year-old as he proves he deserves a spot on the Big League roster.
Before this signing, Michael Perez was the odds-on favorite to be the back-up catcher when the season started on April 1st. Now, he has a serious competitor for the job in Wolters making for healthy competition. Both players are 28-years-old and have about the same Big League experience. Wolters has a slight advantage because he was a started in 2019 and is able to play more positions. When all is said and done, it will come down to who hits the ball better in Spring Training as to who will be Stallings's back-up. Both are very good defensively, and I believe both will be in the Big Leagues at some point this season. As far as who starts the year in Pittsburgh, I believe Wolters will be the one backing up Stallings when the team heads to Chicago on April 1st.
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