Time to Catch On

With the Mariners announcing the switch of touted minor league prospect Marcus Littlewood from infielder to catcher, the search for the holy grail continues. While the left field position gets more media attention (justifiably since they couldn’t find one in all of Griffey’s years of success), the Mariners continue to search for a catcher of their future and hopefully present.

Following years of mediocre hitting, pretty good defense, and a lot of cheap beer (the local bar FX McRory’s used to sell beer at Dave Valle’s average), Dave Valle provided consistency at the very least for much of the 1980s. The catching conundrum in Seattle reached a level of sedation with the Dan Wilson years. An incredible defensive catcher, Wilson put together a nice run of offensive success including an All-Star berth. With years of high averages (.278 in ’95, .270 in ’97) and some power (18 HR and 83 RBI in ’96, 15 HR and 74 RBI in ’97), Wilson cemented himself in Mariner lore for years to come. Unfortunately it turned out to be many, many years to come.

The Mariners attempted to fill the void left by Wilson, yet they keep failing miserably. Jason Varitek was deemed to be a semi-bust in 1997 when he was traded with Derek Lowe for Heathcliff Slocumb (yes, the worst trade in team history). Slocumb posted a five-plus ERA in 1997 and only lasted one more season in Seattle. Varitek? Lowe? They have been alright I guess.

The next catching hope came from high school stud Ryan Christianson from California (#11 overall pick in 1999). He posted a season at age 20 of 14 HR and 85 RBI, but a career minor league average of .244 left Christianson out of baseball at age 26. He never seemed to get very good defensively according to scouts and he ended up doing nothing for the big club. Meanwhile the team attempted to fill the void through trades with players like Miguel Olivo (first time around and .200 average with almost no power) and Ben Davis (.259 with 7 HR in 2002 – seems like a stud on this year’s team). While Davis soon became one of my favorite players (I even bought a Davis t-shirt, why?), he looked like Paul Bunyan but hit like Paula Abdul. (Hint: she can’t hit because she is a washed up 80s diva).

The M’s went back to the drawing board which means the draft. Rob Johnson was drafted in the 4^th round in 2004 and while he posted a .308 average in AAA in 2008 (and .271 in the minors overall), he hit nothing in the majors. Pitchers seemingly loved him, but more time was spent analyzing his hips (or injuries to them) then was worth anyone’s time. Just in case he didn’t work out, the Mariners went for USC stud Jeff Clement in 2005 with the third overall pick. (Don’t think about the fact that they passed up Troy Tulowitski to get him). While Clement did rake a bit in the minors (.335 with 14 HR in 2008, .274 with 21 HR and 90 RBI in 2009), he was atrocious defensively. He got moved to 1B after the famous Ian Snell trade (what? Poop!), and toils with injuries and the buses in the minors.

Keep searching! OK! Adam Moore was drafted in 2006 in the 6^th round and he is a career .303 minor league hitter with some defensive ability, but a season ending injury pretty much put a hold on his career. Since Moore and Johnson hit in the minors, but didn’t do much for anyone at the major league level, the Mariners decided to draft another fricking catcher in the first round (sandwich pick at least – I wonder if that makes people hungry when they draft) with Steve Baron (high school kid) in 2009 (33^rd overall). He sucks thus far. He is hitting .197 in A this year. Good call guys! I think they know this since they drafted – and already signed – John Hicks in the 4^th round this year out of Virginia. He is already playing in A Clinton and hitting .275 in 11 games.

This list is exhaustive, I know. What is the point? The Mariners want a catcher to play for 10 years at the major league level and they don’t know where the frick to find him. So they moved Marcus Littlewood (2^nd round in 2010) to catcher with the hope that he can learn the position enough to become a big time prospect. He was widely considered a top 10 prospect for the M’s (who rank in the middle of the pack in the league for farm systems), and his value goes up at the catcher spot. Yet he is 19 years old and playing in low A ball, so who knows? We need a catcher for the future and apparently for the present we will be stuck with Miguel Olivo. Not a bad option for now, but let’s hope that Moore, Hicks or Littlewood develops quickly. One of those three would be my best bet to become the starter of the future. And the Mariners hope so too or they will just keep drafting catchers that waste away year after year.