Catcher Pages/Pozo

[Basil Shabazz]

Ideally, it'd be great if Herrera was serviceable enough defensively to catch 100 games a year. But, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thus, is Pages our best option as the catcher getting the majority of the starts? Is he really that good defensively to make up for a .615 OPS? I am asking opinions, because I am not sure. How does Pozo compare defensively? I am convinced that Pozo is the superior hitter of the two. From my eye test, Pozo also appears to be adequate behind the dish as well. Should Pozo be getting more starts? I think Pozo should at least be starting 2 out of 5 games if not moving towards a split of time w/ Pages. If Pozo shows to have many defensive holes, can't control the running game, or has a bad rapport with the starting staff then you go back to a majority Pages approach. But if he holds his own in all of those aspects then Pozo's offense could be an additional jolt to the offense.

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

Ideally, it'd be great if Herrera was serviceable enough defensively to catch 100 games a year. But, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thus, is Pages our best option as the catcher getting the majority of the starts? Is he really that good defensively to make up for a .615 OPS? I am asking opinions, because I am not sure. How does Pozo compare defensively? I am convinced that Pozo is the superior hitter of the two. From my eye test, Pozo also appears to be adequate behind the dish as well. Should Pozo be getting more starts? I think Pozo should at least be starting 2 out of 5 games if not moving towards a split of time w/ Pages. If Pozo shows to have many defensive holes, can't control the running game, or has a bad rapport with the starting staff then you go back to a majority Pages approach. But if he holds his own in all of those aspects then Pozo's offense could be an additional jolt to the offense.

These two are placeholders for Crooks a lefty hitter and or Bernal a big switch hitter who has been taking off at Springfield lately.

[ClassicO]

And Raniel Rodriguez in 3-4 years if he can stick at catcher.

[Talkin' Baseball]

Ideally, it'd be great if Herrera was serviceable enough defensively to catch 100 games a year. But, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thus, is Pages our best option as the catcher getting the majority of the starts? Is he really that good defensively to make up for a .615 OPS? I am asking opinions, because I am not sure. How does Pozo compare defensively? I am convinced that Pozo is the superior hitter of the two. From my eye test, Pozo also appears to be adequate behind the dish as well. Should Pozo be getting more starts? I think Pozo should at least be starting 2 out of 5 games if not moving towards a split of time w/ Pages. If Pozo shows to have many defensive holes, can't control the running game, or has a bad rapport with the starting staff then you go back to a majority Pages approach. But if he holds his own in all of those aspects then Pozo's offense could be an additional jolt to the offense.

These two are placeholders for Crooks a lefty hitter and or Bernal a big switch hitter who has been taking off at Springfield lately.

Agree with the placeholder comment. These two are serviceable until one of the others comes up. I could see using them while they are cost controlled, trading Crooks, and moving to Bernal when he is ready. Have you seen him? Thick build.

[Basil Shabazz]

Ideally, it'd be great if Herrera was serviceable enough defensively to catch 100 games a year. But, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thus, is Pages our best option as the catcher getting the majority of the starts? Is he really that good defensively to make up for a .615 OPS? I am asking opinions, because I am not sure. How does Pozo compare defensively? I am convinced that Pozo is the superior hitter of the two. From my eye test, Pozo also appears to be adequate behind the dish as well. Should Pozo be getting more starts? I think Pozo should at least be starting 2 out of 5 games if not moving towards a split of time w/ Pages. If Pozo shows to have many defensive holes, can't control the running game, or has a bad rapport with the starting staff then you go back to a majority Pages approach. But if he holds his own in all of those aspects then Pozo's offense could be an additional jolt to the offense.

These two are placeholders for Crooks a lefty hitter and or Bernal a big switch hitter who has been taking off at Springfield lately.

I understand that.

My question is this year.

[TraveledLessRoad]

From what i have read, Raniel has about as much chance at sticking at catcher as I do

[hugeCardfan]

If I'm the manager, I'd be paying attention to the pitchers. Who do they want to pitch to?

[CCard]

Pages has done a good job behind the plate and who knows, maybe he will grow to be a more consistent threat at the plate, like Yadi did. I think Pozo has some promise also. At this point though, I think Pages calls a better game than any other catcher they have.

[NL Fan]

One thing I don't get about Pagés: is he really an upgrade over Andrew Knizner?

Pitchers loved Kniz and he was good defensively. Light hitter (very light). If Mo/whoever didn't want Knizner, why would they want Pagés as a permanent solution?

I like the use of the word "placeholder" to describe what we have now. I'm sure like Knizner, Pages hopes he can hang onto this job just by virtue of working well with the staff, but he shouldn't.

And you can bet that this offseason, Herrera is going to be learning at least one new position. Nobody is slotting him in at C in years to come.

The OP said it doesn't "seem" like he can catch...but he literally cannot throw out a runner. That won't work over 162 game season. He had good pop times and so forth, which is why people around the org (and some fans) thought he could get there with more training and experience.

But then he showed up in 2025 and clearly he is not going to get there. Right now it looks like he can work his way up from the bottom 1st percentile to the bottom 10th. If they could only just get him to the bottom 25th percentile, if he's going to hit like Albert Pujols, that would be easily overlooked. (Think Mike Piazza, maybe?) Is he going to OPS 1.000 for another 5-6 years? Highly doubtful. Although if he can OPS .600 he would still be higher than around 4 guys in the lineup some days.

PS I like Pagés. I just don't see him as being the catcher of the future when the org has 17 catchers, and when his profile is pretty similar to another guy they got rid of.

Maybe they think Pages can learn to be a hitter, like Yadi did. But when you have catchers that can already hit coming up, why go with the experiment?

[Futuregm2]

One thing I don't get about Pagés: is he really an upgrade over Andrew Knizner?

Pitchers loved Kniz and he was good defensively. Light hitter (very light). If Mo/whoever didn't want Knizner, why would they want Pagés as a permanent solution?

I like the use of the word "placeholder" to describe what we have now. I'm sure like Knizner, Pages hopes he can hang onto this job just by virtue of working well with the staff, but he shouldn't.

And you can bet that this offseason, Herrera is going to be learning at least one new position. Nobody is slotting him in at C in years to come.

The OP said it doesn't "seem" like he can catch...but he literally cannot throw out a runner. That won't work over 162 game season. He had good pop times and so forth, which is why people around the org (and some fans) thought he could get there with more training and experience.

But then he showed up in 2025 and clearly he is not going to get there. Right now it looks like he can work his way up from the bottom 1st percentile to the bottom 10th. If they could only just get him to the bottom 25th percentile, if he's going to hit like Albert Pujols, that would be easily overlooked. (Think Mike Piazza, maybe?) Is he going to OPS 1.000 for another 5-6 years? Highly doubtful. Although if he can OPS .600 he would still be higher than around 4 guys in the lineup some days.

PS I like Pagés. I just don't see him as being the catcher of the future when the org has 17 catchers, and when his profile is pretty similar to another guy they got rid of.

Maybe they think Pages can learn to be a hitter, like Yadi did. But when you have catchers that can already hit coming up, why go with the experiment?

Knizner wasn’t really a good defensive catcher though.

Career -20 DRS, CS% of 19.3% when league average was 21.8%.

Pages on the other hand is +8 DRS and 22.1% with league average of 21.3%. This year specifically, he’s improved in that area with 31% CS% when the league average is 23.8%.

And with the bat Pages has a .640 OPS in 358 PA while Knizner had a .579 OPS through his first 553 PAs.

Pages is a bit better with the bat and considerably better defensively. He’s not the long term solution for sure, but I don’t mind the catcher situation for this year while giving time to Crooks and Bernal to develop.

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Pages is a bit better with the bat and considerably better defensively. He’s not the long term solution for sure, but I don’t mind the catcher situation for this year while giving time to Crooks and Bernal to develop.

This. And I think it helps that our lineup has been good enough offensively to carry his bat. It might be a bit tougher to swallow if we were as offensively challenged as we were in years past.

[Carp4Cy]

Pages has done a good job behind the plate and who knows, maybe he will grow to be a more consistent threat at the plate, like Yadi did. I think Pozo has some promise also. At this point though, I think Pages calls a better game than any other catcher they have.

He calls ok games. He doesn't have Yadi's arm. He'd be worth a lot more if he could get Mikolas to pitch down in the zone when his pitches are all tailing up like last night. Yadi would make a lot of trips to the mound. That's a big part of a C value.

[11WSChamps]

I believe people are selling Pages short.

He's doing the job now defensively and handling a starting staff that is by all accounts overachieving. I don't believe in coincidences.

Sure he could be better offensively but he's had some clutch hits and has solidified a position where Herrera left a gaping hole.

Let's not forget Crooks and Bernal haven't proved anything up
here yet. Admittedly they have higher offensive ceilings but they'll have to take the job from him when the time
comes. It won't just be handed to them.

[JDW]

Good question Basil, and IDK, but would also like to see Pozo get some more starts.
Currently, would like to see Pages gets 6 starts/10, Pozo with 3 starts/10, and Herrera with 1 although would be fine with 0, want to see him stay healthy.
I'm assuming Oli and the coaching staff think Pages relates best with the pitchers, but just speculation on my part.