San Diego Padres: Is Francisco Mejia the long-term answer at catcher

Mejia’s Defensive Deficiencies

Franchise catchers are indispensable as they’re the on-field general for the manager. Their responsibilities include positioning the defense and guiding a pitcher through a difficult outing on the mound.

They do all this while trying to field their position and the special ones make a difference with their bat in the lineup as well. Usually, those catchers reserve a date in Cooperstown five years after they retired from baseball.

Mejia isn’t included in the above category just yet. He has a laundry list of defensive deficiencies as Mejia has trouble calling a game, throwing out base runners and a high amount of pass balls. It’s easy to blame all of the San Diego Padres pitching woes solely on him, but the majority of the staff is young and learning their trade at the major league level.

Still, Mejia needs to get more involved with the game-planning as this will gain him better insight into how the pitching staff would like to pitch certain batters in key situations. The high amount of pass balls are a direct result of poor glove position when receiving a thrown pitch. The errant throws to cutdown base runners are about Mejia’s footwork coming out from behind home plate. All of these flaws are easily fixable.

A player’s growth should never stop at the major league level. Experience will solve some of Mejia’s defensive problems, but that’s only gained by starting five-days-a-week.