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MLB Free-Agency Preview: 2018-2019 Free Agent Catchers

By Marc Delucchi

HOUSTON, TX - JULY 10: Alex Bregman #2 of the Houston Astros hits ground ball to the catcher in the eleventh inning allowing Kyle Tucker #3 on a throwing error by Jonathan Lucroy #21 of the Oakland Athletics letting the winning run score at Minute Maid Park on July 10, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - JULY 10: Alex Bregman #2 of the Houston Astros hits ground ball to the catcher in the eleventh inning allowing Kyle Tucker #3 on a throwing error by Jonathan Lucroy #21 of the Oakland Athletics letting the winning run score at Minute Maid Park on July 10, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /
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MLB Free Agency
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#6 Nick Hundley

Nick Hundley is a mirror image of Ellis at the plate.  He doesn’t make consistent contact or work a lot of walks (25.9% K-rate to 5.9% BB-rate),  but has made up for it with plus-power (.160 career iso).  Hundley is in the midst of the best power-hitting season of his career (.207 iso) and has helped cover for Buster Posey‘s underwhelming campaign in San Francisco.

Like Ellis, traditional defensive metrics like Hundley, but show well below-average framing numbers.  Still, Hundley’s potential to hit the ball out of the park tied in with solid defense makes him attractive to anyone.

I would be surprised to see Hundley leave San Francisco.  The Giants re-signed him last season for $2.5m when other options would have been more amenable to their luxury-tax situation.  He has rewarded them with another solid season and I would expect to see him back in orange in black in 2019.

MLB Free Agency
Kurt Suzuki has had a successful career in Atlanta and hopes to cap it off with a playoff run. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

#5 Kurt Suzuki

Kurt Suzuki has been somewhat of an enigma throughout his career.  After bursting onto the scene in Oakland, putting up back-to-back 3 WAR seasons in 2008 and 2009, he has never reached that production again.

After leaving Oakland, he failed to regain his power.  After hitting 14 home runs a year in his final three seasons in the Bay Area, he failed to top 8 in his next five seasons.  Then, out of nowhere he hit a career-high 19 in 2017 and has 8 homers in only 75 games this season.

It doesn’t look like that’s luck either.  Here’s Suzuki’s average launch-angle over the past few seasons according to Baseball Savant:

2015 Average Launch-Angle: 12.5
2016 Average Launch-Angle: 14.9
2017 Average Launch-Angle: 18.2
2018 Average Launch-Angle: 19.2

The data suggest that Suzuki has been making an attempt to generate more long-balls.  So far, the results have been good.  Suzuki, like Ellis and Hundley, is a below-average framer, but an above-average defensive catcher overall.

What separates Suzuki from Hundley, is even with his increase in launch-angle he continues to put the ball in play.  Since coming into the league, only 1 active catcher (Yadier Molina) has struck out at a lower rate.

His propensity to put the ball in play makes him more vulnerable to BABIP luck, but the potential to hit for a high average and some pop makes him a fringe-starter (as he is now in Atlanta) to high-level backup.

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