Dodger Catching Duos

                                  I thought it would be fun to look back over the years and see some of the catching duos the Dodgers have had over the years. From 2019 until April of 2025, Will Smith and Austin Barnes carried most of the load for the Dodgers.  Will played in 54 games during his rookie campaign in 19, brining offense to a position that had little after Yasmani Grandal left as a free agent. In 2020, Barnes and Smith played in 29 and 37 games respectively. They virtually split the load during the post season, but Barnes was behind the dish in the clinching game of the World Series and got the hit that knocked Snell out of the game.

UNDATED: Johnny Roseboro #8

                                  Since LA’s baseball journey in the majors began in 1958, I will start there. Roy Campanella’s tragic and career ending car accident happened in January of 1958. The catcher who would have been his caddy had 35 major league games under his belt as the team arrived for spring training in 1958. John Roseboro was 24 years old. He won the starting job during spring training by beating out 28-year-old Joe Pignatano, who also broke in during the 57 season, and Campy’s long time caddy, Rube Walker. Walker had been with the Dodgers since 1951. 1958 would be his last season in the majors. 

                                   Roseboro played in 114 games with a .271/14/43 line. He also stole 11 bases. Pignatano played in 63 games with a .218/9/27 line. Walker, in his final season played in just 25 games and hit .114. Roseboro and Pignatano would be together until Pignatano was sold to the A’s in the winter of 1960-61. Roseboro would in fact be the Dodgers primary catcher until after the 1967 season when he went to the Twins in the Versailles-Grant trade. He played 1289 games as a Dodger.

                                   Catchers paired with Roseboro besides Walker and Pignatano include, Norm Sherry, Doug Camilli, Jeff Torborg, Hector Valle, and Jim Campanis,  the son of Dodger exec, Al Campanis, who was traded by his dad to the Royals in 1969. The Dodgers traded for Tom Haller in the winter of 67 and he became the # 1 backstop. Haller would be the primary for 3 full seasons. Torborg was his back up until 1970 when he went to the Angels. Bill Sudakis saw some time behind the plate as did Bob Stinson. 

                                     Joe Ferguson got his first action in 1970. In 1971, the Dodgers two main catchers were Haller and Duke Sims, who LA had acquired from the Indians for Alan Foster and Ray Lamb. Duke had shown some power in Cleveland with four consecutive double-digit seasons.  In 141 games over 1 1/2 years with LA, he hit just 8 and drove in 36. The Tigers claimed him on waivers in August of 72. Haller was also gone after the 71 season, traded to the Tigers for a player to be named later. 

                                      In 1972, the Dodgers had five players on their roster who could catch at one point or another. Chris Cannizzaro was the starter in 71 games. Sims was there until August, but they also had former Giant, Dick Dietz, Joe Ferguson, and a kid named Steve Yeager got into 35 games and was the best hitting catcher they had. Ferguson was listed as a utility player and played the outfield some. In 1973, Ferguson became the #1 catcher with Yeager backing him up. 

                                     In 1974, their roles reversed. Yeager became the primary catcher, with Ferguson backing him up. The Dodgers won their first pennant since 1966 with those two guys sharing the duties. Yeager would remain the top guy until 191 and was a Dodger until 1985. Yeager was a much better defensive catcher than Ferguson, but Fergie had a power bat. Yeager hit as many as 16 homers in a season, but in 14 years with LA he hit exactly 100. Ferguson hit 25 his only year as the starter and hit 20 in 79 as the backup and occasional outfielder. Joe was traded in 1976 to the Cardinals in the Reggie Smith deal. He then got traded back to LA by the Astros in 78. 

                                    Besides Fergie, Yeager had guys like Johnny Oates, 77-79 backing him up. Jerry Grote spent a short time in LA also. Kids like Kevin Paisley and Brad Gulden were never really given much of a chance to make an impression. Paisley was sold to the Mariners in 77 and Gulden went to the Yankees in 78 for Gary Thomasson. In 1980, Mike Scioscia made his MLB debut. He would caddy for Yeager in 80. He was the primary during the 81 season, but Yeager, who had some injurie issues that year, played more in the World Series and was a Co-MVP with Pedro Guererro and Ron Cey.

                                   Scioscia’s role as the starting catcher would be interrupted in 1983 when he spent a large portion of the season on the DL. From 1984-92, mike would remain as the Dodgers #1 catcher, spending his entire playing career in blue. Besides Yeager, his backups were guys like Jack Fimple, Gil Reyes, Alex Trevino. Rick Dempsey was his backup in 88 during the World Champion year and a member of the guys they called the Stunt Men. Gary Carter, the Hall of Famer, spent 1991 in a Dodger uniform.

                                     Dempsey, like many before him, spent just a short time as a Dodger. LA had some prospects who were catchers who did not make the grade with LA but were traded to other teams. Darrin Fletcher, traded in 1990 to the Phillies for Dennis Cook, played 14 years in the majors with the Phillies, Expos and Blue Jays. Carlos Hernandez became a Dodger in 1990. He would spend 7 years as a backup, first to Scioscia, then to Mike Piazza when he took over the starting job in 1993.

# 31 Mike Piazza

                                    Piazza, a 62nd round draft choice, who was drafted as a favor to Tommy Lasorda because of his friendship with Piazza’s dad, was maybe the best hitting catcher the Dodgers ever had. In his 7 years with the team Mike batted .331 with 177 homers. he had a .394 OBP. His OPS was .966. 41 points higher than when he was with the Mets, his OPS+, 160. Had he spent his entire career with LA, he would have set many Dodger career records. But alas, that would not be the case. 

                                    His main back up through 1996 was Hernandez. In 97, it was Tom Prince. In 98, FOX traded him and Charles Johnson became the starter for that season only. Prince was his backup, but young Paul LoDuca made his MLB debut. Johnson was traded after the season to the Mets for their catcher, Todd Hundley. Angel Pena was Hundley’s primary backup in 1999. LoDuca, who was 4 years older than Pena, got into just 36 games.

                                      Baseball moved into the 2000’s and the Dodgers brought in veteran catcher, Chad Kreuter to back up Hundley. LoDuca took over the job in 2001 with Kreuter as his caddy. David Ross came to the team in 2001 and became LoDuca’s backup in 2003. Lo Duca was traded at the deadline in 2004, so Ross shared the duties with Brent Mayne. With LoDuca gone, DePodesta traded Kazuhiro Ishii to the Mets for Jason Phillips. Dioner Navarro, who had been acquired from Arizona in the Shawn Green trade, was his backup. At the time it was believed Navarro would be the #1 catcher for many years.

                                        DePodesta was fired after the 05 season and Ned Colletti became the GM. LA did have a rookie starting catcher in 06, but it wasn’t Navarro, it was 23-year-old Russell Martin. Martin won the job with a good spring. The Dodgers used four different catchers behind Martin that year. Navarro, Einer Diaz, Toby Hall and Sandy Alomar. Colletti preferred backups with experience. Martin would remain the primary until he left the team after the 2010 season as a free agent. 

                                        Some of the guys who backed up Martin, Mike Lieberthal 07, Chad Moeller 07. Danny Ardoin 08, Gary Bennett 08. AJ Ellis arrived in 08, getting into 4 games. Ellis and Brad Ausmus in 09. Ellis, Ausmus and Rod Barajas in 10. During these years, the Dodgers were not getting much offense out of their catchers. LoDuca was a decent hitter as was Martin, but most of the rest did not bring much to the table.

                                     The McCourt era caused Colletti to seek lower priced players due to the team’s finances. That is why Martin left as a free agent. In 2011, the last full season McCourt owned the team, LA used five different catcher. Barajas, Ellis, Navarro, Tim Federowicz and Hector Giminez. The team’s fortunes would begin to change when the team was sold in 2012. A. J. Ellis took over in 2012 as the #1 catcher. He would keep that job until Freidman, in one of his first major trades, acquired Yasmani Grandal in 2015. Ellis would remain as Kershaw’s personal catcher until he was traded for Carlos Ruiz in August of 2016.

                                    The Dodgers farm system was just beginning to show the fruits of Logan White’s leadership. But catcher was not a position of strength. Austin Barnes, acquired from the Marlins in the Dee Gordon trade, shared backup duties with Ellis until he was traded then took over as Grandal’s backup in 2017. The big difference between McCourt’s ownership and that of the Guggenheim Group was the huge influx of cash into the organization, allowing first Colletti, and then Freidman, to pursue high end free agents and allowing trades for star players. 

                                   Since 2013 the team had become competitive and was challenging for a postseason berth every year. In 2017, they would make it back to the World Series for the first time since 1988. For most of their playoff run, Austin Barnes replaced Grandal at catcher. Grandal, a switch-hitting catcher with power, was not a great defensive catcher, and he led the league in passed balls twice in his four years with the Dodgers. In 2017, he had 16.

# 16 Will Smith

                                    Grandal left after the 2018 season, and Russell Martin returned to back up Barnes. An injury to Barnes forced the Dodgers to call up 24-year-old, Will Smith. Will Smith’s first MLB homer was a walk-off shot against the Phillies in May. Smith was impressive enough to be named the starting catcher in 2020, and he remains so until today. Barnes would be his back up until last May when he was DFAd. Dalton Rushing, a #1 prospect has taken his place. How long this arrangement lasts remains to be seen. Smith just got a 10-year extension on his contract. Many feel he will be moved to another position sometime in the near future. 

                                   At this point in time, none of the Dodgers top 30 prospects is a catcher. The two catchers at Low-A ball Ontario, Angel Diaz and Victor Rodrigues are 21 and turn 22 this season. Cueto and Galiz at Great Lakes are each 23-years-old. There are three catchers listed at AA Tulsa, Lockwood-Powell 28 this month, Yeiner Fernandez 24, and Nelson Quiroz 25. Frank Rodriguez, the youngest catcher at AAA at 24-years old, is the only catcher at AAA with no MLB experience.