Houston Astros: Martin Maldonado has Dusty Baker’s trust

Whether the Houston Astros come back to beat the Tampa Bay Rays or not remains to be seen. One aspect is certain, Martin Maldonado will be behind the plate regardless.

In 2017 when the Houston Astros won the World Series, they had a nice catching platoon of Brain McCann and Evan Gattis. In 2019 when the Astros went back to the Fall Classic, Martin Maldonado was added late to pair with Robinson Chirinos. This year, there is no catching duo. Maldonado is the lone ranger behind the dish.

Even though there are three catchers on the postseason roster, only Maldonado is seeing any action. Manager Dusty Baker is comfortable with Martin handling the pitching staff and anchoring the bottom of the lineup.

During the regular season, Maldonado was behind the plate for 47 games, while backup Dustin Garneau saw action in just 17 games. Garrett Stubbs, who is also carried on the playoff roster, started just one game during the first 60 games.

Maldonado started hot with the bat, though cooled quickly. His .215 batting average and .727 OPS are less than ideal, though he seemed to come up with a big hit when needed.

While the hits have been few and far between this postseason, he did have a big home run in the Oakland series.

With the workload Maldonado is carrying one would understand a little drop off in his offensive productivity. Thus far in the eight postseason games the Astros have played, Maldonado has been behind the plate for all but one inning.

Baker has pinch hit for Maldonado late in games (he is hitting only .154 this postseason), though he has not given Garneau or Stubbs the opportunity to play (save one inning in the A’s series).

As the Houston Astros now find themselves in a 2-0 hole for the series, they’ll continue to run Maldonado out to handle the young pitching staff. His veteran presence has done wonders for the battle tested rotation and youthful bullpen. Don’t be surprised if Maldonado catches every remaining inning of the series, even if it goes seven games, which would be seven games in seven days.

In fact, the entire postseason Dusty Baker hasn’t strayed from his starting nine much to begin with, and don’t expect him to start at the catcher position either.