Should the Orioles draft one of the Vanderbilt pitchers

[Sports Guy]

I wouldn’t call Manny an excellent offensive player.

[spiritof66]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

I wonder what was the best two-headed catcher tandem in history?   And I don’t mean Johnny Bench and whoever his backup was.  

The varying combinations of Berra, Elston Howard and Johnny Blanchard used by the NYYs in the late 50s and early 60s were pretty good.

[Redskins Rick]

14 hours ago, Frobby said:

I wonder what was the best two-headed catcher tandem in history?   And I don’t mean Johnny Bench and whoever his backup was.  

Dempsey and Elrod.

or was it, Dempsey and Andy E?  

J/K

 

[Tony-OH]

16 hours ago, Frobby said:

I wonder what was the best two-headed catcher tandem in history?   And I don’t mean Johnny Bench and whoever his backup was.  

Great question. Just going off pure memory here so I'm sure I'm way off, but you probably have to go back to when there were a lot more pure platoons. 

The best one I can remember offhand was the 1983 duo of Ernie Whitt and Buck Martinez. I went back and looked and they combined for 5 WAR hitting 27 homers between them while being a great defensive duo as well.

 

[Frobby]

7 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Great question. Just going off pure memory here so I'm sure I'm way off, but you probably have to go back to when there were a lot more pure platoons. 

The best one I can remember offhand was the 1983 duo of Ernie Whitt and Buck Martinez. I went back and looked and they combined for 5 WAR hitting 27 homers between them while being a great defensive duo as well.

 

I think Yogi Berra and Elston Howard may be a good answer.   In 1958, Yogi caught 87 games and started 22 other games in the OF/1B, batting  .266/.319/.471 and earning 3.2 rWAR.   Howard caught 64 games and started 23 games in the OF, batting .314/348/.479 and earning 3.2 rWAR as well.    So that's 6.4 rWAR for the pair, and they both made the all-star team.   They were both on the Yankees from 1955-1963, with Yogi starting 704 games at C and Howard starting 731.   In that time, Yogi was worth 26.4 rWAR, Howard 20.2.    Although their playing time at C was almost equal during that 9 year period, Yogi was really the primary catcher from 1955-59 (catching 100+ games four times), while Howard was the primary catcher from 1960-63 (catching 100+ games three times).  

[Just Regular]

So....not Javy Lopez and Ramon Hernandez?

[DrungoHazewood]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I think Yogi Berra and Elston Howard may be a good answer.   In 1958, Yogi caught 87 games and started 22 other games in the OF/1B, batting  .266/.319/.471 and earning 3.2 rWAR.   Howard caught 64 games and started 23 games in the OF, batting .314/348/.479 and earning 3.2 rWAR as well.    So that's 6.4 rWAR for the pair, and they both made the all-star team.   They were both on the Yankees from 1955-1963, with Yogi starting 704 games at C and Howard starting 731.   In that time, Yogi was worth 26.4 rWAR, Howard 20.2.    Although their playing time at C was almost equal during that 9 year period, Yogi was really the primary catcher from 1955-59 (catching 100+ games four times), while Howard was the primary catcher from 1960-63 (catching 100+ games three times).  

I haven't looked anything up, but it's hard to imaging a better set of candidates than Howard and Berra.  In 1958 Howard received MVP votes, finishing 17th, when his primary position was Yogi's backup.  It's plausible that Howard would be in the Hall of Fame if he'd gotten a starting gig  before he turned 30.