The Atlanta Braves have added to their starting rotation this off-season. Do they need to upgrade behind the plate as well?
The Atlanta Braves have done a lot to upgrade their starting rotation as they move into their new ballpark in 2017. They’ve signed Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey and traded for Jaime Garcia. They are all on one year pacts and give their pitching prospects more time to develop.
In the second half of 2016, the Braves scored the sixth most runs in the major leagues. More than the AL champ Cleveland Indians and NL East champ Washington Nationals. Their thinking is if the offense can continue to improve with an upgraded starting staff they could have a shot in 2017.
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If your pitching is going to be a focal point, your catcher is going to be an important too. Last year they had Tyler Flowers, A.J. Pierzynski and Anthony Recker. This year, they’ve lost Pierzynski but have added Tuffy Gosewisch. Should the Braves look to upgrade?
Defensively, it would be hard for them to. Per StatCorner, Flowers was the fourth best defensive catcher in the game with a 13.3 RAA. Only, Buster Posey, Yasmani Grandal and Miguel Montero graded out higher. If Gosewisch wins a backup job over Recker, he would be a bit of an upgrade as well. Gosewisch was a -3.7 RAA while Recker was a -6.4 RAA.
In the free agent market, the big name that is out there is former Orioles catcher Matt Wieters. Wieters has name value, went to Georgia Tech and is a four-time All-Star. Wieters hit 17 homers with a .711 OPS in 464 plate appearances. The catch (no pun intended) is his defense. His RAA was -7.3 last season and -8.6 in 2015.
Within the trade market, if Wieters goes to the Nationals, Derek Norris could be a good target. He’s been an All-Star and graded out well defensively. He had a 5.7 RAA in a down offensive year. If the Boston Red Sox were to make any of their young catchers in Christian Vazquez or Blake Swihart available in a trade (maybe for a pitching prospect or two) that could be a nice option for the Braves. Both graded out well defensively (3.6 for Vasquez and Swihart at -0.3 in limited time). The Braves have two catchers in their top 30 according to MLBpipeline.com, but neither is projected to be ready until 2019 at the earliest and both are towards the lower end of the 30.
At this point, I go with Flowers and figure out my backup catcher at some point down the road. With Matt Kemp and Dansby Swanson for a full season, they can sacrifice a bit of offensive production for the defense that Flowers provides. I think Flowers is the perfect fit for the way the team is structured at this point.
