Alfaro may be Best Option at Catcher for Rangers

The potential of Rangers’ catching prospect Jorge Alfaro is undeniable. At 21, he has the big-time arm and power potential that could eventually lead him to catching 140 games every season. Alfaro will likely get the opportunity to show he belongs in the majors during Spring Training. If Texas chooses to send him back to Double-A, he should be able to move quickly to Triple-A and possibly reach the majors by the end of the season.  If he’s able to show his offensive potential and prove he’s an adequate defender, he could make the Rangers’ decision to send him back to Double-A extremely difficult. His natural ability, baseball IQ, and athleticism is the type of combination that could be exactly what the Rangers need behind the plate.

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Offensively, Alfaro may be as good as if not better than any catcher currently on the Rangers’ roster.  In 2014, he had 13 home runs in 100 games in Single-A and another 4 in 21 games in Double-A.  Most of his power is to center, which is encouraging considering the centerfield wall in Double-A Frisco is farther than the one in Arlington Park. Ideally, Alfaro will cut down on the strikeouts as his career progresses, especially after a year where his strikeout percentage was 23%.

When he’s able to make contact, however, Alfaro maximizes on his opportunity.  After batting .311 on balls-in-play in Single-A over 100 games and .315 over 21 games in Double-A, it’s obvious that he capitalizes on pitching mistakes.  Alfaro also has among the best speed of any catcher in the minors and could potentially steal 20 bases in a full season on the big league level.

The concerns with Alfaro are his ability to block pitches behind the plate and his plate discipline.  A converted infielder, Alfaro’s still defensively raw.   While his arm is impressive, he still allows balls to get between his legs and has trouble blocking wild pitches. At the plate, he struggles with breaking balls and tends to swing at pitches out of the strike zone when they’re down and away.

Yet despite these negative qualities, he batted .261 in 2014 with an on-base percentage of .343 in Double-A. Although those numbers aren’t eye-opening, they still may offer Texas the best hope for production behind the plate in 2015.

Alfaro’s main competition is Robinson Chirinos who caught 91 games this past season and gained a defensive reputation behind the plate.  He throws out runners at a high rate (40 percent in 2014) and only had 4 errors and gave up 5 passed balls all season. He also showed a glimpse of his power, hitting 13 home runs with a .415 slugging percentage.

Even with Chirinos’ power surge and defensive abilities, Alfaro has enough upside to displace him as the primary catcher. Chirinos’ on-base percentage doesn’t project well as a long-term starter and his pitch-framing still isn’t above average. With a strikeout percentage at 21 percent, a batting average of .265 on balls-in-play and a walk percentage at an awful 5 percent, Alfaro should at least be able to replicate Chirinos’ numbers.

Alfaro’s ability to handle the pitching staff may be questionable, but he should be able to handle at least three-fifths of the starting rotation.

With Yu Darvish maintaining an array of pitches, including a sweeping slider and curve with a sharp downward bite, Chirinos would likely be tasked with catching Texas’ ace.

Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, and Ross Detwiler, on the other hand, all primarily rely on their fastball.  Lewis’s sinker and Holland’s curveball generate more flyballs as a result of little depth, which should make it less demanding for Alfaro.

The fifth starter in the rotation could determine whether Alfaro potentially receives the majority of starts in 2015.  Nick Tepesch relies primarily on his sinker and even has a knuckle curve, which would likely lead to numerous passed balls.  Nick Martinez, on the other hand, depends on his four-seam fastball to get ahead of hitters, while his slider is his primary out-pitch.

If Alfaro can prove he could manage at least three of the starters, it could allow the Rangers to move Chirinos to a part-time role where he is better suited as a capable back-up.  Of course, Alfaro’s opportunity to start could become nil if they are able to acquire a starter by trade in the form of Evan Gattis or Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Until then he has a shot to be on the major league roster in 2015.