The Caddy’s

                                            For what seems to be a long time, I have read posts from fans wanting the Dodgers to get rid of Austin Barnes. Their usual logic is that he has an anemic bat. There is plenty of evidence to support their stance. Barnes career WAR is 4.1. His career BA is .223. His OBP is respectable at .324. But his OPS and OPS+ are below the MLB average. He does not throw out a lot of baserunners. His caught stealing percentage for his career is 17.9%. He has played 100 or more games just twice in his career, more a credit to the first-string catchers he has played behind, than a condemnation of his skills. 

                                             Yet two Aces of the staff preferred to have Barnes catch them. One was Zack Greinke. The other was Kershaw, especially after AJ Ellis was traded away. There has to be a reason. Barnes game calling has always been his strong suit. He is like a second manager on the field. He is respected by the entire pitching staff. When they have the meetings about the opposition’s hitters, his knowledge is put to good use. Barnes best year by far was 2017. He hit .289 with 8 homers and 38 driven in. He was Grandal’s back-up, but Grandal was so bad the last part of the season that Barnes took over for him. 

                                             He also played the bulk of the games in the postseason including all seven games of the World Series against Houston. He wasn’t in there for his bat. In 2020, Smith caught 8 of the 18 games the Dodgers played in the postseason, Barnes caught the other 10. He was behind the plate when Urias struck out Adames for the series win. He also had a key hit in that game that knocked Snell out of the game. He hit .269 last season, his best average since 17. 

                                             So, I thought I would go back and look at the long line of back-up catchers during the Dodgers time in Los Angeles. When they moved to LA in 1958, Roy Campanella had been paralyzed, so John Roseboro became the Dodgers #1 catcher. He would stay in that position until he was traded to the Twins in the winter of 1968. His primary back-up in 58 was Joe Pignatano. He got into 63 games that season. He did not hit much, but he was an excellent defensive catcher. He threw out 45% of opposing baserunners in his career. Rube Walker, in his last season, was the third catcher. Rube had been Campy’s back-up for many years. 

                                              Pignatano was traded after the 1960 season and Norm Sherry, Larry’s brother, became the back-up. He would back up Rosey until he was traded after the 62 season. Doug Camilli also saw time with the Dodgers until he was traded after the 1964 season. Sherry has been documented will helping Sandy Koufax become the pitcher he was from 61-66. In a spring game, he told Sandy to quit trying to strike everyone out. It worked, and Koufax became one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. Camilli was the son of former Dodger, Dolph Camilli.

                                             In 1964, 22-year-old Jeff Torborg played in 28 games for LA. He would become the primary back-up in 1965. Jeff would play 10 years in the majors, almost all as a caddy to the first string, but on September 9th, 1965, the 23-year-old caught Sandy Koufax’s perfect game. It was one of three no-hitters he would catch in his career. After Roseboro was traded, the Dodgers brought in Tom Haller to be the primary catcher, so Torborg was still the caddy. In July of 1970, he caught his second no-hitter, this time thrown by Bill Singer. In 1973, after he had been traded to the Angels in 1971, Torborg was behind the plate for the first of Nolan Ryan’s 7 no-hitters. He would retire after the 73 season. Jeff would go on to manage for five different teams. Cleveland, the White Sox, Expos, Mets and Marlins. 

                                             There were other catchers who had cups of coffee with LA, Hector Valle in 65. Jim Campanis, Al’s son, played in parts of three seasons with LA then was traded to the Royals by his dad who had taken over as the GM for Bavasi. Bob Stinson in 69-70. Also in 1970, Joe Ferguson got into a couple of games. In 1971, Duke Sims, who had come over in a trade with the Indians became the #1 catcher. Haller was his primary backup with Bill Sudakis and Joe Ferguson also seeing time.

                                              In 1972, the Dodgers did not really have a primary catcher. Chris Cannizzaro got the most starts, but Sims, Steve Yeager, in his first MLB action and former Giant, Dick Dietz, also saw time at the position. Ferguson became the starter in 1973, but he would only have that spot for a year. Yeager was his backup in 73, but their roles would be reversed in 1974. Yeager became the starting catcher because of his superior defense and game calling abilities. Ferguson, caught some, but also got time in the outfield. He got to show off his cannon arm in a World Series game at Dodger Stadium when he moved in front of Jimmy Wynn and gunned down an A’s runner at the plate.

                                           Yeager would be #1 until 1980. Along with Ferguson, he had Ellie Rodriguez as a backup in 76. In 77 they brought in Johnny Oates in a trade, he would play in LA until 1979. Ferguson came back in 78 and would stay until 1981. He got traded to the Angels and missed the 81 series.  Scioscia became the primary in 81 with Boomer now his backup. Even though he was second to Scioscia, Boomer played in all six World Series games in 81 and was the Co-MVP with Guererro and Cey. 

                                            Yeager was Scioscia’s caddy until 1985. Scioscia was #1 until he retired after the 92 season. Alex Trevino backed him up in 86-87. They brought Rick Dempsey to the team in 88. Dempsey backed Scioscia up until 1990. Hall of Famer, Gary Carter played his lone season in LA in 91 as Scioscia’s #2. A changing of the guard was coming though. 92 was Mike’s last year, his backup was Carlos Hernandez, but late in the year, 23-year-old Mike Piazza got into 21 games. IN 93, Mike became the #1 catcher. 

                                           There was a reason Piazza did not get many days off behind the plate, LA had not had a catcher with his kind of offensive skills since Campy. Hernandez was his backup and would be so for a few years. As Piazza ran away with the ROY, Carlos got into 50 games, mostly late inning for defense. Tom Prince played in 40 games for LA in 1996, Hernandez was injured. Hernandez was traded after the season and Prince was Piazza’s backup in 97. 

                                          In 1998, FOX bought the team and traded Piazza away along with Todd Zeile to the Marlins. In return LA got a defensive catcher, Charles Johnson, with a weak bat. Prince again was the backup, but Johnson would last only the one season and he was gone. In 1999, Todd Hundley was brought in as the #1 catcher. Angel Pena was his primary backup with Paul LoDuca also seeing some time. Hundley still had the job in 2000, but they brought in veteran Chad Krueter to be his #2. LoDuca also saw some playing time. 

                                          In 2001, LoDuca took over the starting job with Krueter and Pena as his backups. He would keep the job until 2004 when he was traded during the season to the Marlins. Krueter and then David Ross were his backups. Jason Phillips was the #1 in 2005.  Ross and Dioner Navaro were his backups. Russell Martin got the job in 2006. Navaro and veteran Sandy Alomar Jr. backed him up. Russell was the #1 catcher until 2010. After that season he left via free agency. 

                                        Over those 6 seasons, he had Mike Lieberthal, Chad Moeller, Danny Ardoin, Gary Bennett, AJ Ellis, and Brad Ausmus as his relief. Rod Barajas had the job in 2011. AJ Ellis took over as #1 in 2012. Matt Treanor backed him up in 2012, in 2013 it was Tim Federowicz. Drew Butera became the backup in 2014. Friedman traded for Yasmani Grandal after the 2014 season and he became the #1 catcher with Ellis backing him up. Austin Barnes saw his first action in 2016, and Ellis was traded for Carlos Ruiz, who finished out 2016 and left. Grandal left after 2018. Barnes and Smith shared the duties pretty evenly in 2019. But Smith took over after that. 

                                       The Dodgers right now have couple of catchers in their system who bear watching. Cartaya has slipped some. But he is only 23. Rushing’s future might be in the outfield. Jesus Galiz is their # 30 prospect. Yeiner Fernandez is another. But those guys are several years away. Hunter Feduccia got a cup of coffee with the team in 24. But he is rule-5 eligible. 

                                   Photos: Barnes, Roseboro, Pignatano, Camilli, Yeager, Ferguson, LoDuca, Sherry. Torborg.