Miami Marlins All-Time Best At Each Position: Catcher

There’s star power aplenty for the Miami Marlins at catcher, but only one clear choice for the franchise’s all-time best backstop.

As attention turns to the position battles for the Miami Marlins this season, it seems fitting to look back on Miami’s all-time greats at each spot on the diamond. This retrospective is not strictly about the best single season, the best MLB career, or the most talent, but about the player at each position who had the greatest impact on the franchise during their Miami Marlins career.

Friday afternoon, Calltothepen took a look at catcher for the Marlins in 2021, and made clear that presumptive starter Jorge Alfaro really needs to work on his craft behind the plate.

The last time someone said that to Charles Edward Johnson, he was probably in middle school.

One of the more beloved Miami Marlins players of all-time, CJ was born and raised in South Florida, played his college ball at the U, and was the franchise’s first ever draft pick. He also might be the easiest case to make in this series of the Miami Marlins best- despite the fact that two of Hall of Famers at one time played catcher for Miami.

Yep, I can hear the outcry already. How could the answer not be Ivan Rodriguez? Without question, Pudge did author the best single season at the plate for a Marlins catcher during Miami’s second title run in 2003. Yet, if you’re give someone the career title for one season, why stop there? Mike Piazza spent a week in South Florida. Pretty sure he even tripled for us before being shipped off to the Mets (one of only eight he hit in his entire career, probably a consequence of that extra forty feet of center field Pro Player had over Dodger Stadium). Seems like more than enough of a sample size to give the all-time Miami Marlins honor to the MLB home run leader at the position.

In truth, the case for J.T. Realmuto would hold more water than arguing for either Cooperstown enshrinee. Yet Realmuto too takes a backseat to Johnson.

The Case For Johnson

Marlins Career WAR: 11.8  Best Marlins Season: 1997, 4.4 WAR, AS, GG, WS ring

Five full seasons, four Gold Gloves. Does anything else really need to be said?

How about two All-Star nods, and a World Series ring of his own? And if that’s not enough, how about this- Johnson was the starting catcher for the first three Marlins no-hitters. That’s right: Al Leiter (1996), Kevin Brown (1997), and A.J. Burnett (2001) all had CJ has a battery-mate when they secured their spot in baseball history.

According to FiveThirtyEight, his prime years ranked among the best in the game, and unlike with Pudge, the bulk of his prime was spent in a Miami Marlins uniform. That same feature also makes the case that- defensively- he was the 12th best catcher in baseball history. Yes, Pudge is well ahead of him on that list. But in 1997, Johnson was perfect behind the plate, committing not a single error.

Miami has had plenty of great catchers in their history. Indeed, as I wrote at the time of the Realmuto trade, they have a penchant for trading them. Yet no other Marlins catcher can claim perfection, or such a run of excellence at both sides of their game, as Johnson enjoyed during his time in teal.

Speaking of history, one thing more should be noted about CJ. That previously mentioned FiveThirtyEight article? It, along with an Undefeated piece from last April, clearly lay out a startling historical fact about the Marlins legend.

He was the last African American catcher to regularly start in MLB.

Johnson’s place in Miami Marlins history may well never be matched. But his curious place in MLB history? That can’t be overtaken soon enough.