The Braves will try to re-sign A.J. Pierzynski, but they know that plenty of other teams, particularly in the American League, are likely to pursue the veteran catcher after he “put himself back on the map” with a strong offensive season at age 38.
Braves president of baseball operations John Hart also said “we absolutely love the skill set of (Christian) Bethancourt,” the 24-year-old who was supposed to be the primary catcher in 2015, mentored by Pierzynski, but instead struggled early, lost the starting job to Pierzynski and toiled for most of the summer in Triple-A before returning to the big league club late in the season.
Given the status of both catchers, it’s easy to see why Hart said Monday, “Catching is going to be an interesting dynamic going forward” and that the Braves “will be very creative in our approach to catching.”
Pierzynski, who hit .300 with nine homers, 49 RBIs and a .769 OPS in 113 games, has expressed interest in returning to the Braves, who offer the luxury of his being able to live at home in Orlando during spring training and pick up his kids after school each day. But he could also receive a more lucrative offer, perhaps a two-year deal from an American League team that could use him at designated hitter as well as catcher.
So his return to Atlanta isn’t a certainty, and the Braves don’t sound ready to go into another season with Bethancourt projected as their No. 1 catcher. The Brave have repeatedly inquired about Brewers standout catcher Jonathan Lucroy in the past year, but the asking price in a trade was judged to be prohibitive.
The free-agent market for catchers is thin. Orioles free agent Matt Wieters has been injury-plagued and is client of agent Scott Boras, hence he could hold out late into the winter until he gets an offer deemed suitable.
Bethancourt hit .200 (31-for-155) with two homers, five walks and 33 strikeouts in 48 games, but his defensive lapses were more of a concern than anything else. Particularly since his defensive skills, his agility and cannon arm, were supposed to be what separated him.
“It’s been a slow developing process,” Hart said. “I didn’t know him before I came here. I think the view of baseball is this guy has an exceptional skill set. I think with all the young pitching, now you’ve got a young catcher, it just didn’t work out the way we had hoped, especially the first six, eight weeks. We were very fortunate to have A.J. I think this guy was a positive for our young pitchers, he offensively played very well, and I think he’s certainly a guy that we’re going to consider bringing back next year.”
