District On Deck
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Washington Nationals: Replacing the replacement-level catchers

By TC Zencka

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 02: Matt Wieters #32 of the Washington Nationals celebrates with teammates after the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Nationals Park on August 02, 2018 in Washington, DC. Nationals won 10-4. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 02: Matt Wieters #32 of the Washington Nationals celebrates with teammates after the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Nationals Park on August 02, 2018 in Washington, DC. Nationals won 10-4. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Washington Nationals Jonathan Lucroy
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Wild Card Free Agents

To hammer home this next point, let’s steal Buster Olney’s format. The top MLB Catchers in this year’s free agent class: 1) Yasmani Granda 2) Wilson Ramos. And the rest of the field is far behind them. Quite far behind. Take a deep breath, pretend it’s March, and prepare for these Spring Training invitations:

  • Martin Maldonado has a good defensive reputation, 67 career Defensive Runs Saved, but he’s never reached league-average in wRC+, consistently posting sub-.300 OBPs. If the Nats want to roll with a defensive stud who can’t hit, they can stick with Pedro Severino.
  • Brian McCann was stellar for the Braves in his twenties and held up surprisingly-okay with the Yankees and Astros into his thirties, but he fell off a cliff this year. The 35-year-old, bad-bodied catcher still takes his walks (9.7 BB%), but his power output plummeted. His ISO fell to .107 while his infield fly ball rate rose for the second straight year, combined with a 7.6% HR/FB rate. Essentially, McCann used to hit the ball far, and now he hits the ball high.
  • Kurt Suzuki would be another positive retread for the Nats, but it feels likely he stays in Atlanta. For all their prospect depth, Atlanta’s best catching prospect, Willson Contreras’ younger brother William, is still a couple years away. If Suzuki is amenable, returning their catching tandem of Suzuki and Tyler Flowers makes sense for the likely NL East champs.
  • Jonathan Lucroy is probably the best of the veteran flyers, but it’s like being the smartest kid in summer school. In 2014 and 2016, Lucroy was a legit star, but the last two seasons have been unkind. Defensively, after posting positive DRS numbers throughout his career, Lucroy fell to -15 and -8 DRS in the last two years while his power at the plate has all but evaporated with a .082 ISO.

But if you dare to dream, small kernels of hope appear for Lucroy: his hard-hit ball percentage has remained steady while his BABIP has fallen – creating the possibility that he’s suffered some bad luck. Perhaps escaping the spacious Coliseum will restore some of his power. It doesn’t look likely, but then again, neither was a 2.8% HR/FB rate for a guy with 99 career home runs.

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