Earlier today on the Texas Rangers Facebook group I’m on, a discussion popped up on our catching situation.   I postulated that since Pudge left as a regular player after the 2002 season, we haven’t had that ONE GUY we could count on to be the #1 catcher, the one guy you KNEW would be there year after year.   There just hasn’t been that guy.   I decided to dig into the numbers (and I dug deep), looking for all of the guys who have caught for the Rangers from 2002 onwards because I wanted to prove my point.

Some Thoughts

The closest we’ve come to that was Rod Barajas, who caught 105, 119, & 94 games in 2004, 2005, & 2006.   He’s the only guy with three consecutive years being “the guy”.

Gerald Laird had the most years here post-Pudge, but only in his final season was he “the guy”.  So he’s out.   Jarrod Saltalamacchia was here for four years technically, but in his final season he played just one game.   His other seasons were 22, 54, & 83 games – nah.  Fan favorite Mike Napoli?  Nope, only one year as “the guy”.

Then there’s the flip side of that.  The guys you barely remember were here, like Danny Ardoin, Miguel Ojeda, Guillermo Quiroz, Kevin Richardson, Luis Martinez.  All caught games for the Rangers.  Oh, and who can forget the catching juggernaut Mike Lamb?   OK, I kid on that last one, but he did catch three games in 2002.

Even going into 2016, we now have Jonathan Lucroy, who is the #1 catcher, but he’s only under contract through 2017, we’d have to sign him to like a four year extension if we’re going to stop thinking about “who is catching”.

There simply HAS NOT been anyone here in the post-Pudge era who would never make you wonder “who is catching next year?”

Was banking on Jorge Alfaro, but he was traded to Philly to get Cole Freakin’ Hamels last season.  So we’re still in search of that next “guy”.

The Raw Numbers

Having said that, here are the nitty gritty numbers with a few caveats first:

• I chose 2002 as a start point as it was the last year Pudge was here before he left the first time.
• The numbers don’t add up to 162 because of games where more than one guy caught per game.
• These numbers are ONLY games caught – not games played. Were plenty where they also DH’ed too; didn’t count those.
• At the bottom I listed games caught for both Pudge & Sandberg for comparison; the best we had at C.
• The most games caught by one guy in the post-Pudge era is 119.  Was done three times.  Rod Barajas in 2005, Gerald Laird in 2007, & A.J. Pierzynski in 2013.

2002

• Pudge – 100
• Bill Haselman – 67
• Todd Greene – 15
• Hector Ortiz – 7
• Mike Lamb – 3 (one start)

2003

• Einar Diaz – 101
• Todd Greene – 51
• Gerald Laird – 16
• Chad Kreuter – 7

2004

• Rod Barajas – 105
• Gerald Laird – 49
• Ken Huckaby – 16
• Danny Ardoin – 6

2005

• Rod Barajas – 119
• Sandy Alomar – 46
• Gerald Laird – 13

2006

• Rod Barajas – 94
• Gerald Laird – 78
• Miguel Ojeda – 5

2007

• Gerald Laird – 119
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 22
• Chris Stewart – 17
• Adam Melhuse – 15
• Guillermo Quiroz – 8

2008

• Gerald Laird – 88
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 54
• Max Ramirez – 12
• Taylor Teagarden – 12
• Adam Melhuse – 6

2009

• Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 83
• Taylor Teagarden – 60
• Pudge Rodriguez – 25
• Kevin Richardson – 4

2010

• Matt Treanor – 81
• Bengie Molina – 55
• Taylor Teagarden – 28
• Max Ramirez – 26
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 1

2011

• Yorvit Torrealba – 98
• Mike Napoli – 61
• Taylor Teagarden – 14
• Matt Treanor – 7

2012

• Mike Napoli – 72
• Yorvit Torrealba – 49
• Geovany Soto – 44
• Luis Martinez – 10

2013

• AJ Pierzynski – 119
• Geovany Soto – 53
• Robinson Chirinos – 3

2014

• Robinson Chirinos – 91
• J.P. Arencebia – 26
• Chris Gimenez – 34
• Tomas Telis – 17
• Geovany Soto – 10

2015

• Robinson Chirinos – 78
• Chris Gimenez – 36
• Bobby Wilson – 31
• Carlos Corporan – 31
• Tomas Telis – 4

2016 (through play on Aug 5):

• Bobby Wilson – 42
• Robinson Chirinos – 39
• Bryan Holaday – 27
• Brett Nicholas – 10
• Jonathan Lucroy – 3

Pudge & Sunny By Comparison

What I never realized until I dug into the number is how much more durable Jim Sundberg was over Pudge. Oh sure, Pudge was a better offensive catcher, and he was a better “catcher”.  But for sheer number of games caught?  Sundberg was way better than Pudge.   Check these numbers out.

Pudge Games Caught (for TX)

• 1991 – 88
• 1992 – 116
• 1993 – 134
• 1994 – 99 (strike year, only 114g played)
• 1995 – 127
• 1996 – 146
• 1997 – 143
• 1998 – 139
• 1999 – 141
• 2000 – 87
• 2001 – 106
• 2002 – 100
• 2009 – 25

Sundberg Games Caught (for TX)

• 1974 – 132
• 1975 – 155
• 1976 – 140
• 1977 – 149
• 1978 – 148
• 1979 – 150
• 1980 – 151
• 1981 – 98 (Strike year, only 105g played)
• 1982 – 132
• 1983 – 131
• 1988 – 36
• 1989 – 73