One position to monitor in Spring Training has to be catcher. The Minnesota Twins have an exciting situation behind the plate between incumbent Mitch Garver and prospect Ryan Jeffers. While it might not be a classic position battle like the one taking place in left field, there is still a lot to unpack about how the Twins will use their catchers in 2021.
Garver is the frontrunner so far. After a career year in 2019, he hit 31 home runs, won a Silver Slugger, and earned the starting spot. Garver began as the backup to veteran Jason Castro but earned the starting role as the season went on. After his breakout year, it looked like the Twins had found their guy behind the plate for years to come.
Last year, a right intercostal strain forced Garver to miss over a month. He wasn’t just battling injuries, he also battled regression with a .167 batting average, .247 OBP, and .264 slugging percentage. It was a season he probably wants to move past. In just 23 games, the reigning Silver Slugger only had 12 hits with two home runs and struck out in 45 percent of his plate appearances.
Garver’s decline created an opportunity for Jeffers. The 2018 second-round pick was called up midway through the season and made an impact filling in for Garver. In his first taste of the big leagues, Jeffers racked up a .273 batting average, .791 OPS, and had only one passed ball in 162 innings behind the plate.
Even when Garver came back from injury later that season, manager Rocco Baldelli split the starting spot between the two catchers because of how well Jeffers was hitting. And it was Jeffers who he turned to in the playoffs. Baldelli could have just been riding the hot hand late in the season, especially with Garver having a down year. But it shows that the Twins are confident in Jeffers in meaningful appearances.
Usually the Twins like to bring in a veteran catcher like Bobby Wilson or Alex Avila to help guide the room. But this season, Garver will be the most experienced catcher on the Twins roster with just over three seasons of major league experience. Outside of super-utility man Willians Astudillo, it will be Garver and Jeffers behind the plate next year. But do they rely on Garver to return to his 2019 form or go with the up-and-coming player in Jeffers?
It makes sense for the Twins to roll with Garver as the starting catcher to begin the season. He has more major league experience and a track record of success. Baldelli will hope that with a full 162-game season, a recovered Garver will bounce back to the high-caliber player he’s shown he can be.
That’s not a bad bet to take, based on projections from FanGraphs. They predict that Garver will hit 17 home runs, own a .760 OPS, and his strikeout rate will bounce back to his career average of around 25%. But what if the projections and conventional wisdom are wrong and Garver continues to struggle in 2021?
Both Garver and Jeffers rely on their offensive production. Their defensive ability is limited, primarily in their ability to throw out opposing baserunners. Unless one of them takes a big step up in that area, the player who hits better will get more playing time.
To make a football reference, the Twins could almost treat the catching situation like a team splitting carries between two running backs throughout a game, sticking with whoever is playing best and rotating to the other during a slump. The same approach that allowed Garver to take Castro’s starting spot in 2019 could work against him this year. It already happened in 2020, indicating that Baldelli is not afraid to go with the hot hand when a guy is rolling. We could see that happen again in 2021.
Jeffers could step in and stay in the lineup during parts of the schedule. After only playing in 26 games in the shortened season, it would give him more big league plate appearances to build off of the success he had.
The Twins haven’t been afraid to split starts between two players at various positions. Luis Arraez and Jonathan Schoop took turns playing second base in the later part of the 2019 season before Arraez eventually took over as the everyday second baseman. The downside of this is that it can limit both players’ development by not allowing them to work through stretches and sending them to the bench. But for a team that doesn’t have a long-term commitment at catcher, it would benefit the Twins to see which one they can rely on while inside the team’s title-contention window.
So far this spring, it looks like Garver will be penciled in as the Opening Day starter on April 1st in Milwaukee. It seems safe to bet on Garver playing better in 2021 and rolling with him. But if he struggles, the Twins seem to have a very capable backstop waiting in the wings.
