Minnesota Twins’ Josmil Pinto Needs To Be Backup Catcher And Catcher Of The Future
I love Chris Herrmann. I don’t know why, but I do. Maybe it’s the double double-letters. I love that kind of thing. I’m a dork like that. It could be the versatility of the man, catcher and outfielder. I like this kind of thing too. I tell you this to show you that I am emotionally attached, from some reason I don’t understand to Chris Herrmann.
Even with my weird man-crush affection for Herrmann, I believe that the backup catcher should Josmil Pinto. Pinto gets his first start behind the plate today against the Miami Marlins.
Today will be Josmil Pinto's first of spring behind the plate, too.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) March 12, 2015
Pinto has been hobbled by a right quad strain early in spring which has delayed his debut behind the plate. He needs the time behind the plate too. It’s clear that Pinto has a nice bat, a powerful bat, but he simply struggles at the catching side of catching.
That kind of things needs to be there for a backup catcher, believe it or not.
He doesn’t have to be a great defensive catcher. He needs to be adequate. He needs to be good enough that it is not a foreign concept to think that he could take the starting job away from current starter Kurt Suzuki by the end of the 2015 season.
We are excited about the future of the Minnesota Twins. There’s young pitching to be excited about and there is definitely some young positions players that should have Twins fans more than excited, but the catcher of the future is on the roster right now… if he can catch.
If Pinto can figure out how to catch, he is a starting catcher in Major League Baseball. If he can’t, he’ll be a DH somewhere that probably isn’t Minnesota. Improving his catching brings another potent bat to a potentially deadly Twins lineup in a couple of years.
Suzuki should start the first portion of the season and maybe throughout the season, but Pinto needs to get behind the plate and improve for the years beyond and to be this year’s backup catcher.
I’m still in your fan club, Chris Herrmann, but maybe not as much as you’d really like me to be.
P.S. Herrmann is an absolute hoot to follow on Instagram.
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