Around the System–Catchers

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The ranks are thinning due to the myriad of injuries suffered throughout the organization…Here is what we currently are looking at in each level of the system.

Lehigh Valley

John Suomi, 32, Phils re-signed as free agent in 2013; Hitting .268 with 2 HR and 7RBI in 41 AB’s between Reading and Lehigh Valley. 7 games caught without an error; 4 passed balls; 3/9 caught stealing (33%);  Suomi continues to serve in his designated role as a back up catcher wherever he is needed in the upper levels of the minors.

Cameron Rupp, 24, Phils 3rd round pick in 2010; (Reading) .245/.329/.455 in 143 AB’s; 8HR 21RBI; 9%bb/23% k rates, .106 vs. LHP, .266 vs. RHP, .324 with RISP, .271 since May 1.  32 games caught with 4 errors (.985); 2 passed balls; 8/33 caught stealing (24%); Rupp has developed well, and was rewarded with his promotion to Lehigh Valley with the glut of injuries at the catcher position.   Good defensively (receiving and calling the game) and his bat continues to show glimpses of real promise.

Reading

Sebastian Valle, 22, Phils signed as a free agent in 2006; .216/.258/.408 in 125 AB’s; 5HR 12 RBI; 5%bb/29% k rates; .313 vs. LHP, .202 vs. RHP, .167 with RISP. .261 since May 1.  28 games caught with 1 error (.996); 5 passed balls; 11/40 caught stealing (28%); Valle’s value has dropped to an all time low with the Phils pigeon holing him as a backup in AA after starting a AAA for a time last year. That said, Valle has done little to nothing to help himself.  He has shown little plate discipline and continues to have many of the same problems that have slowed his path to success. He has been adequate defensively.

Justin Dalles, 24, Phils signed as free agent in 2013; Hitting .342 with 4 HR and 12 RBI in 38 AB’s with Lakewood before his promotion to Reading on Monday.

Clearwater

Logan Moore, 22, Phils 9th round pick in 2011; .168/.259/.252 in 143 AB’s; 2HR 16RBI; 11%bb/22%k rates; .143 vs. LHP, .178 vs. RHP, .256 with RISP, .183 since May 1.  41 games caught with 2 errors (.995); 3 passed balls; 20/52 caught stealing (38%). Moore was named to the FSL All Star Team while hitting .170, so my assumption is that he is a truly outstanding defensive catcher. Admittedly, I have never seen him live so, I am personally unsure how that happened. That said, outstanding rate of runners caught stealing.

Tommy Joseph, 21, Acquired from San Francisco in 2012; .184/.235/.316 in 76 AB;s between Lehigh Valley and CLearwater. 3HR 14RBI. 24 games caught with 1 error (.994); 9 passed balls; 6/29 caught stealing (21%); Joseph just returned after missing a month with a concussion, and his return has come with Clearwater as opposed to Lehigh Valley where he spent the first five weeks of the season.  Joseph is a guy that has a ton of talent but 2013 has been an unmitigated disaster between offensive and defensive struggles followed by a significant head injury.

Lakewood

Chace Numata, 20, Phils 14th round pick in 2010; .252/.320/.344 in 151 AB’s; 2HR 20 RBI; 3SB; .316 vs. LHP, .230 vs. RHP, .200 with RISP, 8%bb/15% k rates; .242 since May 1. 43 games with 10 errors (.973); 12 passed balls; 23/77 caught stealing (30%); Numata is progressing as you would hope…not outstanding but solid. Has been poor receiving but has made up for it throwing runners out.

Josh Ludy, 23, Phils 8th round pick in 2012; .250/.308/.396 in 48 AB’s between CLearwater and Lakewood; 1HR and 2 RBI. 7 games caught with 1 error (.974); 0/15 caught stealing (0%). Ludy has seen extremely limited playing time, predominately because of his defensive difficulties.

Chad Carman, 24, Phils 24th round draft pick in 2012; Hitting .375 in 32 AB’s before a significant hand injury put him on the shelf for the last five weeks, where he will continue his recovery for the next month or two. 9 games caught with 1 error (.984); 5/15 caught stealing (33%)

18 thoughts on “Around the System–Catchers”

  3. I like the shake up Rupp, Valle, Joseph.
    Rupp appears the most ready, but is still a likely backup. He will need to be added to 40man this offseason so an early call up late this season would not accelerate his options.
    Joseph has another year after this one to play in the minors as he is nearly age appropriate for CLW. Combo with Moore being good defensively might help.
    Valle just gets a chance to play ‘everyday’ and hope to recover some of his value. Dalles is an org guy but was hitting at LWD.
    I still wanted to have hope for Ludy and Carman but it appears they may not even have until July before Lino/Knapp and pushing at their heels. I am somewhat surprised that Lino was not at LWD or even CLW this year. Numata may just move one level per year.

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  4. Should make us happy that they drafted Knapp and Sweaney early. According to some (Law?) they were the best two catchers of college AND high school in this draft. They should both be signed without too much trouble…

    Knapp seems to have slipped by all other MLB teams to our advantage. They had other agendas.
    Sweaney (?sp) also was missed, again for us. Good drafting, no?

    Both supposedly have good offensive expectations with Knapp a switch-hitter…of the baseball type. Grabbing both means that Knapp from college could arrive maybe in 2 1/2 seasons. Sweaney after 4 or so. Good planning, giving the present questionable system’s catchers’ stats so far in ’13.

    Congrats again for the first 5; now, can we find a few gems among the pitchers chosen? THAT may be a task fraught with wonder and “fear”, but not loathing. And who knows how many of these later choices will actually sign at the present figures. Later round choices of better prospects involved guys who said they were “definitely” going to college…or even back to college and had to be bought out of that idea by pretty large signing bonuses. Does that now change?

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  5. Everyone was asking why did we draft 2 catchers in the top 5 and looking at this list makes you understand.

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  6. Moore may not have the hottest bat; yet he is an outstanding defensive Catcher! Glad to see that he made the All Star Team.

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    1. Let me guess Tracy…could you possibly be from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre neck of the woods?

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      1. No position player should ever be named an All Star with a sub .170 batting average. “May not have the hottest bat”??????? Are you kidding me! It doesn’t matter how good he is defensively… This is embarrassing for both the FSL and the Phillies organization.

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        1. Quick question, which would you rather: A player produce a run with his bat, or prevent a run with his glove?

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          1. All equal you take the bat because you need to score to win. That being said gloves don’t slump or get shut down by opposing pitchers

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  8. Defense means a lot when you are picking off base runners that could steal/score and blocking pitchers and also calling the pitches so DISAGREE. Not everyone is going to hit all of the time but a good consistent D is crucial.

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  9. Jordan said Joseph (this sounds somewhat Biblical) is at Clearwater for rehab only.
    What about Bob Stumpo? Got to keep the local guys in sight, right?

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  10. It is only a little less than one year ago that we acquired Joseph in the Pence trade. He came wearing the clothes of our next guy behind the plate with an elevation to the bigs to be expected as soon after he ironed out some wrinkles. Now he appears to be a catcher with no clothes at all, like the deceptive emperor.

    To me, he is shockingly the guy who should be wearing the barrel with straps. He has shown that he contactibility at bat is poor and the expected power also missing. If that were not enough, he seems to be lacking in the ability to dig pitches out of the dirt leading to an expectation of many passes balls. Compare to Ruiz, Joseph’s game-calling ability is now uncertain, but combined with his other negatives he now is a large question-mark for ANY future in MLB.

    Yes, it is still early and he is still young (22?) but his “non-play” so far makes me wonder how much the Phils front office seriously were duped and evaluated him poorly.

    Is there time for a turnaround? Yes. But what we’ve seen of Joseph is very discouraging. RAJ appears to have two strikes against this pick already.

    All of which makes me fear that in any trades to be made will not bring back the worth necessary to bring the team back to serious competitiveness.

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  11. Joseph’s one good year was in a very hitter friendly situations, I’ll admit he was young and it still was impressive . I live in Sf and every kid they bring up who tore up the same league Joseph did , struggles mightily to even play on a consistent basis, Brandon Belt is the latest example, I think he hit like 400 there, when I heard of this trade, I was not a fan and I fear the future could be even worse when we finally see , singleton and santana , the giants farm is so pathetic , it makes the phils look like the cardinals , thank god the phils wised up and drafted two catchers, with the potential to be allstars not just back up catchers like what is currently on the farm

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  12. Joseph is very young for AAA. He needs to be in Reading a while. The Phillies are deep in this position. They should find someone to replace Ruiz. The two new guys look like they need some time also. Let’s not despair over the catchers. They have a good bunch and hopefully have gotten even better. I think we were thinking we had another Posey. Buster Posey is an uncommonly good player that comes along every once in a while. Joseph is not Buster Posey. Take it out of our minds. Please.

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