Ray Flowers and Vlad Sedler take counter positions on a single player, one for, one against. Which one of our experts do you agree with? Does either strike a knockout blow? Is there a TKO? Is there a need for another round? Two or our best analysts give their thoughts on a player for the upcoming season allowing you to be the judge as to which side makes the stronger argument, for or against the player. If you want to discuss this, or anything else further, spend some time in our Live Chat where we do our best to answer any questions that you might have
Austin Barnes
By Vlad Sedler
Barnes may seem like a random guy to advocate for, but in a world of horrendous options at the catcher position, we have to look under every crevice we can for value. There really aren’t very many exciting options for our catcher-two slot. Though one of the elements I look for in those back-end catchers are those who won’t drag down my batting average. Barnes officially had his ‘breakout’ with the Dodgers as a 27-year-old in 2017. He compiled just 262 plate appearances as the primary backup to Yasmani Grandal, walked at a 15 percent clip and slashed a very impressive .289/.408/.486 that season. Last season was an all-around disaster. He was selected as a mid-round catcher with upside in drafts last spring but hurt his elbow a few weeks before the season started. He finished the year with nearly as many PA (238) but saw a major dip in power from the previous season (from a .197 ISO to .085) and nearly doubled his strikeout rate (from 16.4 percent to 28.2). It was clear to us after the season that the elbow issue was something that bothered him all year and kept him from rounding back into form at the plate. It is fair to assume that his wicked strikeout rate should positively regress closer to his career 21.8 percent rate and the other bonus is that he’s one of the only catchers who can throw in a few stolen bases (eight in the past two seasons). Barnes won’t be the full-time guy there with the Dodgers bringing Russell Martin back after nine years with three different teams. But Martin is turning 37 this season, his knees are cranky and it’s likely his final year in the league. We shouldn’t expect much from our second catchers, but a guy at the position who won’t hurt you in batting average and is available after pick 300 (NFBC March ADP) is someone we can grab without concern in the final few rounds.
By Ray Flowers
Vlad is right about the craptastic nature of the catcher position. He’s also certainly on to something when it comes to drafting a second catcher that won’t hurt you. Lots of folks miss the fact that players can earn negative value. Yes, you can add a second catcher that will actually hurt your team’s overall outlook, something that happens more frequently than many want to admit. The question at hand though – is Barnes the answer to the quest to find an option as a second catcher in mixed leagues? The answer to this question is one that Vlad and I disagree on -slightly. The guy, and by that I mean Barnes not Sedler, nearly saw his wRC+ drop in half – from 142 to 77 – from 2017 to 2018 and that’s disturbing. I’m also not sold on him cutting down that strikeout rate to match his 2017 levels, or that the ISO will return. I realize he has a solid approach overall, and that his minor league numbers sparkle a bit (.828 OPS with a nearly 1:1 BB/K ratio), but I’m just not there in thinking full rebound to ’17 levels. I also give Russell Martin a bit more credit than Vlad. As awful as he has been, Martin’s wRC+ has been at least 91 each of the last nine years, and though hits were hard to find last season he walked a career best 15.9 percent of the time leaving him as a competent major league hitter. This one could come down to defense, and Barnes rates higher there, but I just can’t see a scenario where either guy appears in 100 games meaning that you might be best off just avoiding both on draft day.
