Gabriel Moreno was at home in Venezuela last December 23 when Ross Atkins, the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, called him.
“I thought he called to wish me a Merry Christmas,” Moreno said this month in Anaheim, California, somewhat sheepishly, through an interpreter.
Instead, Atkins called to say that the Blue Jays had traded the promising young catcher to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Seven months later, 23-year-old Moreno plays a vital role in the Diamondbacks’ surprisingly tenacious hold on first place in the National League West.
He is also one of a growing list of new recipients leading what could be a generational shift in a position that, aside from Philadelphia’s JT Realmuto, Kansas City’s Salvador Perez and the now-retired Yadier Molina, had become one-dimensional.
“Everyone was looking to catch,” said Bob Melvin, the manager of the San Diego Padres, who was a backup catcher in the majors from 1985 to 1994. a defending man or an attacking man and tries to get a lot out of one faction.
“But now you see some guys who not only do the defensive part well, and the offensive part, but some of them are running decently and some of them are hitting the order.”
Both starting catchers in this week’s All-Star Game are 28-year-old first-timers: Sean Murphy of Atlanta and Jonah Heim of Texas. Credit (or blame) the beleaguered Oakland Athletics, who traded both rising stars.
Will Smith, 28; Adley Rutschman of Baltimore, 25; and Elias Díaz, 32, of Colorado will also be All-Stars in Seattle for the first time. The lone veteran in the bunch is 33-year-old Perez from Kansas City.
Talent assessors around the game describe the recent period as one when catchers were told to focus entirely on pitch framing as they batted at the bottom of the league table and otherwise contributed little to their teams. It’s a style exemplified by the Yankees’ Jose Trevino, who was an All-Star last season.
However, that is changing. This season, Atlanta, Arizona, Texas and Cincinnati (Tyler Stephenson, 26) all lead their divisions at halftime with the help of catchers who contribute both offensively and defensively. And the Baltimore Orioles became serious players in the AL East again about the time they recalled Rutschman last May.
“Adley Rutschman will be one of the best players in baseball for a long time if he can stay healthy,” said Kevin Cash, the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, who played eight seasons as a backup catcher in the majors. He added of Murphy: “Stud. MVP”
“You haven’t had a lot of catchers here lately as you might qualify the best players in our game,” Cash continued. “And I definitely think the line is being pushed between Rutschman and Murphy.”
Murphy, who hits .306 with 17 home runs, was an almost accidental addition to Atlanta last winter. The team was pleased with the catchy tandem of veteran Travis d’Arnaud and William Contreras, 25, the younger brother of Willson Contreras. But when the Athletic tipped off the industry that they were going to deal Murphy, Atlanta shifted gears.
“We didn’t set out to pursue that position,” said Alex Anthopoulos, Atlanta’s president of baseball operations. “It was about pursuing that particular player. Ideally for us, that would have been a player we were chasing for 2024 because we were in a great position.”
But instead of waiting for Murphy’s free agency, Atlanta helped create a three-way trade with Oakland and Milwaukee in which Contreras landed with the Brewers and Murphy landed with the Braves. Anthopoulos, as he often does, then quickly moved on to jail Murphy for six years and $73 million.
“Someone who provides production on both sides of the ball,” said Anthopoulos, basically explaining the shortage of catching in recent years. “It’s not like any off-season that there are guys like that available.”
Texas had picked Oakland’s sack for Heim a year earlier. On February 6, 2021, the A’s sent Heim, outfielder Khris Davis and minor leaguer Dane Acker to the Rangers for shortstop Elvis Andrus, catcher-first baseman Aramis Garcia and cash.
“He was so good behind the plate,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, also a former catcher, said of Heim’s emergence last season. “This was apparent from the statistics, but also from the eye test. He’s a really good pitcher, blocker. He is an excellent receiver. Our pitchers have all the confidence in the world in this man.
“On the offensive side, he showed it early last year, but then he probably got a little bit exhausted from all the catching he was doing. So we try to keep a close eye on that.”
Bochy credits Rangers catching coach Bobby Wilson for helping accelerate the development of Heim, who has been outstanding behind the plate, hitting .282 with 12 home runs.
Home; Rutschmann; Patrick Bailey of San Francisco, 24; and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, 26, are all switch hitters, bringing another useful element to the game. Smith of the Dodgers leads all MLB catchers with an .890 on base plus slugging percentage, just ahead of Heim (.812) and Rutschman (.786).
“Will Smith is phenomenal,” said Anthopoulos.
The crop of dynamic young catchers is emerging in an era where no position changes faster. This year’s new rules have revitalized running games after years of dormancy, while also forcing catchers to call games faster thanks to the pitch clock. Should the automated ball and batting system be implemented in the near future, it will go one step further by scrapping the concept of pitch framing.
“I absolutely love that,” said Seattle’s Raleigh. “I think you take out a craft that people are working on and can get people into the big leagues.”
But others feel pitch framing has been overemphasized at the expense of other skills in recent years.
“Pitch framing is the most used word ever in the major leagues,” said Buck Martinez, now a television analyst in Toronto after 17 years as a backup catcher in the majors and a stint as manager of the Blue Jays in the early 2000s. “You know who makes good pitches? Guys who have good pitchers.”
As the game changes, so does the definition of what goes on behind the plate. That includes more general athleticism. Arizona’s Moreno, like retired Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, is a converted center infielder. Posada was a second baseman in his first professional season before his position change helped pave the way for a Yankees dynasty. Moreno was a shortstop when he signed professionally at age 16, but the Blue Jays immediately began training him as a catcher at their academy in the Dominican Republic.
“One thing where that helped me a lot is with my ability to receive balls in the sand, the short jumps,” said Moreno, who shares position with Carson Kelly after starting 45 of Arizona’s first 65 games as Kelly was out was with a broken forearm. “That was the easiest part. The hardest part is actually blocking throws, getting used to being hit by the ball and the pain.”
The sheer physicality of the position has led teams to view it as a two-man job – which is largely why some settled for platoons that didn’t go left to right, but rather leaned defensively and offensively. While Hall of Famer Johnny Bench caught 158, 152 and 160 games during his busiest seasons, last year Murphy (116) tied for second in the majors to Realmuto (133) in games caught. Raleigh (115) was third.
“If you have a guy who can catch and punch at the top of the league, you’ve got a potential Hall of Famer if you think about the guys who can do that together,” Martinez said, stressing that dealing with the ongoing play was especially important with the new rules leading to such a high hit rate on stolen bases.
The list of dynamic catchers should continue to grow.
Although Francisco Alvarez, 21, didn’t make the Mets’ opening day appearance, he was called back in time for their home opener when Omar Narváez suffered a calf strain. Alvarez has since crushed 17 home runs, already a Mets record for rookie catchers, and is improving quickly behind the plate. His blocking skills were very good, especially evident with Kodai Senga’s devastating ghost fork.
Logan O’Hoppe, 23, of the Los Angeles Angels, was also on his way, before suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder on April 25. The Angels hope he can return one day during the stretch run. And Cleveland recently recalled one of his top prospects, Bo Naylor, 23, as he released veteran Mike Zunino.
“I like the fact that we have an influx of catchers who can hit and that attacking is part of the priority,” said Jeff Banister, Arizona’s bench and catching coach, who works a lot with Moreno. “Of course you want this to be one of your strongest defensive positions on the field. But offensively it should not be a dark hole.”