Spring Training Preview: Catcher

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The Rangers are going to have a different no. 1 catcher this season than they had at the start of last season. In 2011 the starting catcher was Yorvit Torrealba, but by the end of the season it was Mike Napoli. And, as we all remember and probably still all want to forget, Mike would have been the World Series MVP had game 6 turned out a little differently. I’m not bitter or anything though. My shrink says I will get over game 6 one of these days, but I think he is just saying that to keep taking my money. I don’t think he really believes that at this point either.

Anyway, the Rangers had not had a real solid catching tandem since the days of Barahas and Laird before Torrealba and Napoli came along, and they did a great job in the 2011 season. But, as mentioned earlier, I think Nap will replace Torrealba as the no. 1 guy in the 2012 season. Going into the 2011 season, I don’t think they were too sure about Napoli’s catching ability or Morelands 1st base ability, but at this point, those questions have been answered. I don’t believe we will be seeing Napoli playing much 1st base in the 2012 season, he will be the starting back stop. In 2011 Mike had a batting average of .320, which was his first time to finish a season over .300 in his career, so, you could say it was a career year for Napoli. He had 30 home runs, 75 RBI, and he only struck out 85 times in 369 at bats (in 2009, he struck out 103 times in 382 at bats and in 2010 he struck out 137 times in 453 at bats). Nap had a career year all around. I have a lot of respect for him and his skill set, and I really hope the Rangers get a deal worked out with him soon for the future. I would like to see him in a Rangers uniform for years to come.

    Yorvit did not have a bad season either, batting .273 with 7 home runs and 37 RBI in 396 at bats. Not Napoli numbers, but still not bad. As most of you know, Yorvit had a little trouble during the off season playing winter ball and was banned from playing for the rest of the season for an incident he had with an umpire (he struck the umpire, which is a big no no). Yorvit apologized and the Rangers said that they would not take any further action since the incident did not happen during the MLB season, so it will not affect Yorvit’s status as a Ranger. Yorvit will be a great backup to Napoli if he can live with that position on a potential post season ready team, and I hope he can. I look forward to seeing what both of these guys bring to spring training and to seeing the friendly competition between the two of them. I f I had to put money on it though, I would say Nap will be catching Lewis on opening day 2o12!

Up Next: 1st Base.