Newbies Behind the Plate for the Yankees & Red Sox

This past offseason, the Yankees made a decision that Jorge Posada could no longer be the starting catcher.  This was partly due to his aging skills, along with a severe concussion he suffered last season.  Posada was reluctant at first, but once he realized the severity of last season's concussion and the potential long-term problems, he reluctantly accepted his role as the designated hitter.   You can read more about Jorge’s dilemma HERE

The Yankees decided to gamble and picked up Russell Martin, who a few years ago was the Dodgers rookie phenom catcher.  Since 2007 though, Martin has suffered his share of injuries and has not lived up to his expectations especially offensively.  Defensively though, he's a stud.  Last year Martin only hit .248, but he threw out 30.6% of base stealers, which was the 7th best in the majors!  The Yankees had a 88.8% stolen base success rate against Yankee catchers in 2010, which was the highest in the majors and 5^th highest in the Wild Card Era.  The numbers don’t lie, and Martin is getting the job done.  Martin has turned out to be an exceptional off-season pickup, even if only for his defensive capabilities.

Offensively, Martin started out the season strong.  Throughout the month of April he was hitting .293 with a .376 on base percentage and a .587 slugging percentage.  Martin played every game in the first month of the season as Cervelli was on the DL.  The month of May wasn’t quite as good for Martin and his numbers significantly declined.  In May he hit only .200 with a .333 on base percentage.  Martin seems to have hit a bit of a slump starting in May and continuing through this last Angels series.  Over the last 14 days, he is hitting only .042 and has gone 1 for his past 24.  Prior to the Angels series, Martin was 0-16.  So far on the season he is hitting .236 with a .342 on base percentage, .441 slugging percentage, combined with 9 home runs and 6 stolen bases.    I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end this slump during the homestand  though and begin to pick those numbers back up.  He was given an extra day off on Sunday against the Angels in order to give him two full days off in a row before coming back home, and if he works with Kevin Long a bit on his plate approach he should be fine.  Time will tell.

Although these offensive numbers are definitely lower than the Yankees expected, Martin has been doing well defensively. If there is one intangible about Martin, it would be his ability to work with AJ Burnett.  I don’t think any Yankee fan has forgotten AJ’s terrible 2010 season, but hopefully by the end of the season AJ will have proven his worth again.  I attribute it to pitching coach Larry Rothschild, but just as much to his catcher, Russell Martin.  Martin has provided AJ with enough confidence to using his curve ball and changeup in tight spots such as 3-2 counts.  More importantly, Martin is diving on those curve balls that fall a foot before reaching the plate (60 footers).  Posada was never able to manage AJ well, and never dove on those 60 footers the way Martin does.  Now that AJ has a catcher willing to put his body on the line to smother the curve, he is more willing to use it in pressure situations.  I have no doubt there was an issue between Posada and AJ, specifically with the use of his curve ball.  There is nothing worse than a pitcher who can’t use his best weapons, and AJ’s curve can be amazing but even when it’s not spot on, he needs that encouragement to continue throwing it.  That’s what Martin brings to the table, and that is a significant aspect of AJ’s improved 2011 season.  Keep an eye on how often AJ uses his offspeed and breaking balls compared to last year.

An unusual statistic for Martin is the lack of runners caught stealing.  He has 0 runners caught stealing this season, but the flip-side to that stat is only 6 runners have stolen bases off Martin.  Fine, he’s 0-6, but we are more than a third of the way through the season and only 6 runners have stolen a base!  I will take that any day of the week.

This year the Red Sox have a newbie behind the plate as well. after letting Victor Martinez slip away in free agency. They named Jarrod Saltalamacchia as the starting catching for the Red Sox.  Salty, as they call him, started off the season very poorly and was unable to handle the pitchers during the first month and a half.  It came to the point that Varitek is being used just as regularly as Salty is now.  It seems that all the young catcher needed though was a little bit of work with Varitek and hitting coach Dave Magadan.  Since sharing time behind the plate with Varitek, Salty’s numbers have improved.

It seems that mid May was the turning point for Saltalamacchia.  Prior to May 13, he was only hitting .203 with no home runs.  At this point, the Boston pitchers were struggling and their ERA’s were skyrocketing.  Following this may 13 turning point, Salty has turned it on.  He has gone 15-50 and is batting .300 with 5 home runs and 10 RBI’s.  Since that May 13 date, the Red Sox are 10-3 in games Salty started.  Although he isn’t playing the everyday role any longer, he is making his at bats count more.  Last weekend he went 5 for 11 against the A’s in the Red Sox weekend sweep.  Fortunately for the Yankees this week, Saltalamacchia is only hitting .179 on the road (versus .290 at Home). 

Defensively he is making strides and working with Varitek but not as quickly as anybody would like, yet in all fairness he has never been known for his defensive skills.  In 2010 he only had a 17% caught stealing percentage. Over the past few seasons, he has been on the leader board for errors as well.  In 2009 he committed 7 errors and tied for 5th highest in the AL and in 2008 tied for 2nd most in AL with 9.  In 2008 he also played first base, and had the most errors of any first basemen in the AL with 9.  Right now, he tops the AL leader board with 4 passed balls (3^rd in AL) and has allowed a whopping 38 Stolen Bases (2^nd highest in AL).  In fact, last week he almost blew a game against the Angels with a passed ball by Bobby Jenks, allowing Abreu to score which brought the score to 4-3 in the 8^th inning.  The Sox hung on to win the game, but his defensive skills are lacking and other teams are noticing. 

I supposed both Martin and Saltalamacchia are going through their ups and downs, but both players have a significant effect on their respective teams.  Both players could be a pivotal player in their teams playoff hopes.  This will definitely be something we will keep an eye on throughout the season!

Part I of this series is located HERE

The Update to Part I is located HERE