Pittsburgh Pirates faced with ‘thin market’ for catchers – MLB News
The Pittsburgh Pirates are looking for a catcher. For the right catcher, to be precise.
Since there is no paucity of proficient catchers in Major League Baseball, one might assume it would not be a difficult task to find a good one for the club. However, Pittsburgh Pirates' general manager Neal Huntington admitted on Monday, November 12, that there is a thin market for it.
The Pirates' pursuit for a skilled catcher is understandable given the fact that the club does not have a veteran name in that position. Michael McKenry, who is a likely candidate for that role, has yet to get the green signal for it.
While the race goes on for acquiring a catcher who is equally good offensively, the Pirates' general manager hopes they will manage to find one.
"It's a thin market, yeah," Huntington said. "It's an incredibly taxing position and good catchers are really hard to come by -- especially the dual threats. We're working on it ... whether via trade or via free agency, we'd like to add a catcher to our mix."
This past season, there were lots of barriers that the Pirates had to overcome. They did struggle both defensively and offensively. For example, they were caught the most with 52 and the fewest steals which were 73.
After what initially seemed a bid to make it to post-season, as the club made ascent, the second half of the season was disappointing. They had a success percentage of 58 – which was the lowest in the National League due to the inability to overcome the aforementioned handicaps.
Their performance on defence was a letdown for many wherein they allowed the most steals in the National League (154) and lowest throw-out percentage which was actually 11.
With some adjustments to make and a skilled catcher to be brought in so that the challenges can be surmounted, the Pittsburgh Pirates are likely to continue their search.
All said, for now Michael McKenry still seems one of the best candidates for the catcher’s position. "Well, you hate to put ceilings or floors on players," Huntington said. "We're very comfortable with Michael as a part of our catching tandem.”
It will be interesting to see who fills the Pirates' catcher slot for next year as the team is looking to fix the mistakes from the past season.
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