John Hart and his new regime may have made some questionable trades for recovering young arms for their future rotation, but the Atlanta Braves continue to make smart minor league signings. Most recently, the Braves have signed journey man catcher John Buck to a minor league deal. While this may not be appealing to Braves’ fans at first, it is not a bad move.
The #Braves added to their organizational depth at catcher by signing veteran @johnbuck44 to a Minor League contract. http://t.co/48IMdzBOqD
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) January 26, 2015
Christian Bethancourt, the Braves top catching prospect, seems poised to start the season as the team’s backstop and finally make his rookie debut. Earlier in the offseason, the Braves brought aboard A.J. Pierzynski to serve as the youngsters back-up and mentor. Here is the catch, however. Bethancourt is unproven and Pierzynski is 38-years old, not the ideal age for a catcher no matter how limited his playing time may be.
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The Braves minor leagues, with the subtraction of Bethancourt, has no real appeal at the catching position, especially at Triple-A. Eli Whiteside has been all around baseball and has never seemingly been able to stick. Jose Yepez is the 33-year old backstop who has been stuck at Gwinnett for three years now. Steve Rodriguez is slated to make his Triple-A debut, having played just 39 games above Class-A ball in his entire career. To say the Braves have question marks behind the plate is an understatement.
Enter John Buck. Buck brings eleven years of major league experience. You know what you are going to get from Buck. He is a masher, he can get a team 15 to 20 home runs, but he will strikeout way more than what is acceptable. He doesn’t get on base a lot, nor does he provide hits other than sporadic home runs. What he does provide is veteran stability to a team that is trying to find its identity.
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Buck, provided he doesn’t have the single greatest spring training of his career, will start the year at Triple-A Gwinnett. Should Pierzynski suffer an injury or the Braves feel Betancourt isn’t successful and needs more fine tuning in the minors, the Braves have a major league player awaiting in the wings. Should the Braves, who are in an all out rebuild mode, feel Buck isn’t worth it, they simply part ways, none the poorer. Having Buck in camp this spring is a win-win situation for the Atlanta Braves.