Twins Youth Movement Continues At Catcher

From 2005-2013 the Minnesota Twins had the best catcher in the American League, arguably in the Major Leagues. That argument would be going against a 6x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove winner, 5x Silver Slugger, and an MVP winner Joe Mauer. Then Mauer moved to first base for health reasons, in steps Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki managed to fill the void by being voted to the All-Star game with his finest season as a major leaguer. The Twins have had more success out of the catcher position in the last decade than most teams dream of...yet the spot remains a question mark heading into spring training.

As we head into 2015, Kurt Suzuki seems to be the front runner for the opening day lineup, but he’s not the guy the Twins would like to see finish the season as the starter. That belongs to Josmil Pinto, a 25-year-old who impressed out of the gate. In March/April Pinto hit only .242, but is more revered for his power, where he hit 5 home runs, and had a .866 OPS. More importantly he wasn’t going to get cheated by watching strikes, of his 17 strikeouts, 11 of them he went down swinging. More contact is always nice, but beggars can’t be choosers.

From that point on his slugging, on-base, and average all began to drop off dramatically as did his playing time. The biggest concern though wasn’t his offensive drop off as much as the fact that he let entirely too many passed balls, and was a brutal 0-20 on throwing out base stealers.

Suzuki stepped in to solidify the position defensively and exceeded expectations at the plate. Suzuki hit .288 while throwing out 25% of base runners to bring stability behind the plate and to a struggling pitching staff. Add the fact that the Twins signed Kendrys Morales to provide some pop, the Twins opted to send Pinto to Triple-A Rochester to get at-bats and work on his defense.

In 2015 though, the Twins and new Manager in Paul Molitor, and are looking to put this long talked about youth movement into effect. It won’t happen overnight but after four 92-plus loss seasons it’s time to let the kids sink or swim.

Everywhere you look the Twins have a young green player either expected to start or at least contend for the spot. Brian Dozier at second and Oswaldo Arcia in left have their spots secured. Danny Santana is expected to take over at short, Aaron Hicks is still a work in progress but the hope is he’ll be in center, and the powerful Kennys Vargas will back-up Mauer at first when he’s not the DH. The pride of the farm system Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano are the future in center (moving Hicks to right) and third.

Pinto’s situation is probably most similar to Hicks, who has unquestioned potential, they just need to fix a few holes, but for completely different reasons. Hick’s defense is sound, his hitting is a mess, Pinto is the complete opposite, mind you Pinto has had much less opportunity at the big league level.

The Twins will continue to work with Pinto, his short compact swing and raw power are exciting for the fans and coaching staff, but his weaknesses are glaring, as said last season by Glen Perkins,

"He can hit, but that's not what it's all about. You've got to be able to do other things, especially a young guy like that. You can't be a 25-year-old DH. He's got to learn how to catch, got to learn how to frame, got to learn how to call the game. He's going to be a major league player. Hopefully he'll be able to do it as a catcher."

Heading into 2015 Kurt Suzuki is our rock behind the plate, but for the Twins to move on from being perennial cellar dwellars they need to complete the youth movement at all positions. Historically players who start their career as a catcher develop offensively a bit later than most, Pinto is ahead of the curve which is very exciting. His defense needs work, but remember, we do have a former 3x Gold Glove winner at the catcher spot standing 90 feet away at first.

Tutelage from Mauer and another year under his belt won’t upgrade his defense overnight, but it’s a move in the right direction, just as it’d be a move in the right direction for the organization to give him that opportunity.