2023 Orioles Catchers - System 'Inventory'

[CHIP]

DEPTH at Catcher may be a loose term in 2023.  Quantity over Quality may be the current goal.  There have been a lot of Subtractions and Additions the last 4 months (Details and current roster below). 

Are there any more to moves to come before ST?  IF so, what are the moves we expect/hope/anticipate? 

Who is/are going to be the designated sacrificial "TAXI SQUAD" catcher(s) for 2023?  

Do the O's bring back Aramis Garcia if available (does he want back)? 

2022 Spring Training started with ZERO catchers on 40 man.  Rutschman (NRI), Handley (NRI), Roberts (NRI), Cumberland (NRI) were there and then the additions of Bemboom, Nottingham, Chirinos, and Beau Taylor in March before/during the shortened Spring Training. Taylor became the early TAXI SQUAD catcher before his release on 7/18/22.

Again... we seem to have more quantity than 2022 in the system but do we have the quality to compensate for injury or poor (even poorer that Chirinos) performance in 2023?

- 9/11/22 Claimed Cam Gallagher.  Selected FA 11/8/22.  Signed with Guardians on 1/4/23
- 10/14/22 Claimed Aramis Garcia.  Selected FA 11/1/22.  CURRENT FREE AGENT
- 11/10/22 AAA Jacob Nottingham selected FA – Signed with Mariners on 12/22/22
- 11/10/22 AAA Brett Cumberland selected FA – Signed with Giants on 12/22/22
- 11/10/22 A-/A+/AA Andres Angulo selected FA – CURRENT FREE AGENT
- 12/7/22 Cody Roberts selected in AAA Rule V Draft by Phillies

+ 12/7/22 Randy Florentino selected from Rangers A+ Hickory Crawdads (180 Plate Appearances)
+ 12/21/22 James McCann acquired by Trade from Mets (2 years remaining, O’s responsible for $5M)

SYSTEM Rosters as of 1/11/2023 
MLB Orioles
    Adley Rutschman
    Kyle McCann
AAA Norfolk
    Anthony Bemboom (ST NRI)
    Mark Kolozsvary (ST NRI)
    Randy Florentino (AAA Rule V) - No Chance he stays on AAA.  Future Ironbird
AA Bowie
    Maverick Handley (ST NRI) - Possible he starts in AAA if a good MLB Camp.
    Ramon Rodriguez - 204 PA in A+, 7 in AA, 17 in AAA.  Went 10-17 in AAA so may be primary for 2023 Bowie if Handley not there?
A+ Aberdeen
    Wilkin Grullon
    Connor Pavolony - Likely Move with Handley promotion? Replaced here by Florentino.  Can he stay healthy?
    Adam Retzbach - May out perform his draft position but seems the roving filler from 2022 draft
A- Delmarva
    Silas Ardoin - Not enough AB's to move to Aberdeen.  Will need to hit consistent before he moves.
    Creed Willems - Completely forgot about Creed until I mad this list
FCL
    Samuel Basallo - Likely to start in Delmarva
    Brayan Hernandez
    Julio Herrera
    Michael Mantecon
    Carlos Rodriguez
 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, CHIP said:

MLB Orioles
    Adley Rutschman
    Kyle McCann
 

Who wants to tell Chip?

 

 

[LTO's]

6 minutes ago, CHIP said:

Again... we seem to have more quantity than 2022 in the system but do we have the quality to compensate for injury or poor (even poorer that Chirinos) performance in 2023?

Besides maybe Toronto pretty much no team in baseball has quality catching depth.  

[CHIP]

15 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Who wants to tell Chip?

 

 

Yeah... Brain freeze.  I had James above and got distracted.  

[Moose Milligan]

In regards to the "depth" issue, there's no one that could replace Adley if he went down.  McCann is a good backup and I think he's the one acquisition we got this offseason that most of us can agree on.  We should feel WAY better about the catching situation headed into this year compared to where we were last year.  We knew Adley was going to hit the majors in 2022, it was just a matter of when.  But in the meantime, the catching situation was pretty dire.

I think this board overrates the backup catcher position a little bit, especially when it comes to looking at who's behind McCann if Adley were to hit the IL with an injury.  The options aren't great, Bemboom is probably the guy who'd get the first look.  Maybe Maverick Handley which, at that point, someone needs to check on wildcard to see if he hasn't spontaneously combusted from sheer excitement.

But when I say overrates the backup catcher position, I'm saying that a lot of you guys need to understand that odds are we're not going to have a stud back there waiting to step in if, God forbid, Adley AND McCann go down.  Or if McCann goes down and we need a good backup for Adley.  If there's a stud catcher out there, they're not waiting behind a guy like Adley.  

We're looking for, like, a Charlie O'Brien type.  Chrinos couldn't hit a lick last year but at least he wasn't awful as Severino who, at times, literally could not catch a baseball.

I think this board has a very hard time accepting that a backup catcher is most likely going to be a flawed player (terrible hitter, won't cost you anything behind the plate on defense/adequate hitter, terrible at blocking balls in the dirt, etc).  The cavalier attitude that we need some great backup catcher is weird.  Because if that catcher was great, they wouldn't be a backup here, they'd probably be starting (or at least platooning) somewhere else.

 

[btdart20]

I'm fine with the MLB quality and quantity.  The rest is making sure there's enough C's to play a game and let the pitchers practice.  With a few quality shots for development.  We have one quality guy in the minors (Basallo).  The rest are defense with offensive dice rolls (Handley, Ardoin) or checking a box.  It would be nice to have a better AAA option in case That Which Remains Unspoken happens, but we're set for a few years.

[sportsfan8703]

Samuel Basallo. That’s are catching option(s) in the minors for the future.