The backup catcher: A market analysis
· Yahoo Sports
Once again, the Yankees boast the best offense in the American League. Ben Rice might actually get more MVP votes if they were tallied today than Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger has made everyone forget who Kyle Tucker is. Even Trent Grisham has started to hit like a key member of a powerful lineup, and Anthony Volpe has come off the IL looking like the top prospect we always wanted to be.
Visit tr-sport.bond for more information.
Just don’t mention Austin Wells.
Or JC Escarra.
The Yankees have the best offense in the AL, but only the Angels and Pirates have gotten less offensive production from their catchers. You accept that your catcher will very rarely be a top-half-of-the-lineup hitter, especially when that catcher is an above-average or better fielder. You can’t really accept a 59 wRC+ or .557 OPS no matter how good the defender is.
Now I’ve advocated all season for Austin Wells to simply not swing the bat, because he does walk a lot and is seeing a career-low rate of pitches in the zone. I think he should take this weekend in Sacremento and just stand there in the batter’s box, see what happens, can’t really do worse than you’re doing. However, I also think the Yankees might be wise to bring in an outside option, preferably someone hitting from the right side that can work as a true tandem. But who would those options be?
The initial problem with the catching market is how beat up, or more specifically, broken some key parts of it are. Two of the immediate possible solutions are on the IL with broken bones, Ryan Jeffers with a busted hamate and Sean Murphy out until July with a broken finger. Jeffers is a pure rental, and despite the injury might still be the best overall option. He’ll earn just over $3 million from the time he returns — likely the first week of July — until the end of the season, had a sparkling 166 wRC+ across his first 150 plate appearances this year, and while that won’t hold up, Jeffers has posted a 110 mark in the two seasons previous to this, so he’s no slouch at the plate.
We’re also fairly good at diagnosing, treating, and recovering from broken hamates. You don’t want anyone to break that little hand bone, but returning from the injury is more manageable than, say, consistent soft tissue injuries in the legs. The biggest downside that I see with Jeffers is the Regression Monster, if we assume he’s closer to a 110 wRC+ hitter than a 166 (he is), he’s going to hit at a lower level to bring that mark down. Fortunately for his career, he’s handled lefties to the tune of an .851 OPS, more than 350 points better than what Wells and Escarra have managed against southpaws.
Murphy and his behind should be a name Yankee fans are familiar with, as he was an excellent catcher with the A’s and has been solid over parts of four seasons with Atlanta. He’s under contract at $12.17 AAV through the end of 2028, but while he was a two-win player and above-average hitter for the position last season, he’s been on the IL twice already to start 2026, with that broken finger and earlier this season with a hip injury. I’m not putting any stock in his -72 wRC+ across just 14 plate appearances, but I’m putting stock in the health challenges. Drake Baldwin is the catcher of the now and future for Atlanta, so they might be willing to get out of that final year and a half for Murphy but I’m very, very worried about that body holding up.
The rest of the market doesn’t really seem very promising. You need a catcher good enough to be an upgrade, on a team that has a reason to move him, and the Yankees care about their budget regardless of whether we do. Jake Rogers is terrible, Travis d’Arnaud isn’t an upgrade, ditto on Kyle Higashioka. There just isn’t a lot of other opt-
Yo Soy Gary, indeed.
Yes, Gary Sánchez has a 131 wRC+ as the backup catcher for the Milwaukee Brewers. I know it’s tempting to think about that swing chugging line drives into the gap at Yankee Stadium. Gary perhaps broke my heart more than any Yankee in the post-dynasty years. However, I have already issued an opinion on the matter:
There’s also the small matter of the Brewers being atop the NL Central, and likely looking to add pieces at the deadline. Maybe a deal could be swung where the Yankees give a current need for a current need, but from Milwaukee’s perspective they could probably get that need from somewhere else.
I don’t expect the Yankees to make a deal for a couple of weeks yet, even if I do expect some kind of move coming well before the actual trade deadline. Injuries and ineffectiveness are the current bottlenecks in the catcher market though, so for right now we’ll just have to hope Austin Wells stops swinging the damn bat.