Joe Mauer and catchers splitting time in right field

Posted by Andy on August 21, 2011

The other day, Joe Mauer made his first career start (and appearance of any sort) in right field for the Twins. He did well, although if you ask me his footwork looked a little tentative.

Anyway, it's not too unusual for catchers to split time at first base or DH during a season, but right field is less common. Here are the players to put in at least 20 games at both catcher and RF in the same season:

Rk	Player	Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Ryan Doumit	2007	26	PIT	83	279	252	33	69	19	2	9	32	22	59	.274	.341	.472	.813	92/3D
2	Craig Wilson	2003	26	PIT	116	358	309	49	81	15	4	18	48	35	89	.262	.360	.511	.872	932/7D
3	Eli Marrero	2002	28	STL	131	446	397	63	104	19	1	18	66	40	72	.262	.327	.451	.777	9278/3
4	Mickey Tettleton	1993	32	DET	152	637	522	79	128	25	4	32	110	109	139	.245	.372	.492	.864	3297/D
5	Mike Heath	1987	32	DET	93	296	270	34	76	16	0	8	33	21	42	.281	.339	.430	.769	*29/375684D
6	Mike Heath	1985	30	OAK	138	492	436	71	109	18	6	13	55	41	63	.250	.313	.408	.722	*2975
7	Mike Heath	1984	29	OAK	140	508	475	49	118	21	5	13	64	26	72	.248	.287	.396	.682	*297/D5
8	Mike Heath	1983	28	OAK	96	366	345	45	97	17	0	6	33	18	59	.281	.318	.383	.700	*29/D57
9	Keith Moreland	1982	28	CHC	138	532	476	50	124	17	2	15	68	46	71	.261	.326	.399	.725	729/5
10	Charlie Moore	1982	29	MIL	133	492	456	53	116	22	4	6	45	29	49	.254	.299	.360	.659	*92/4
11	Mike Heath	1979	24	OAK	74	286	258	19	66	8	0	3	27	17	18	.256	.304	.322	.626	972/5D
12	Joe Ferguson	1979	32	LAD	122	442	363	54	95	14	0	20	69	70	68	.262	.380	.466	.845	*29/7
13	Joe Ferguson	1976	29	TOT	125	439	374	46	79	15	4	10	39	57	81	.211	.317	.353	.670	*29
14	Gary Carter	1976	22	MON	91	347	311	31	68	8	1	6	38	30	43	.219	.287	.309	.596	*29/7
15	Joe Ferguson	1975	28	LAD	66	241	202	15	42	2	1	5	23	35	47	.208	.325	.302	.627	29/7
16	Gary Carter	1975	21	MON	144	590	503	58	136	20	1	17	68	72	83	.270	.360	.416	.776	*92/5
17	Joe Ferguson	1974	27	LAD	111	430	349	54	88	14	1	16	57	75	73	.252	.380	.436	.815	*29
18	Brian Downing	1974	23	CHW	108	350	293	41	66	12	1	10	39	51	72	.225	.344	.375	.719	*29/D7
19	Manny Sanguillen	1973	29	PIT	149	619	589	64	166	26	7	12	65	17	29	.282	.301	.411	.712	*29
20	Johnny Bench	1973	25	CIN	152	651	557	83	141	17	3	25	104	83	83	.253	.345	.429	.774	*29/35
21	Curt Blefary	1968	24	BAL	137	535	451	50	90	8	1	15	39	65	66	.200	.301	.322	.623	7923
22	Gene Green	1961	28	WSA	110	405	364	52	102	16	3	18	62	35	65	.280	.341	.489	.830	*29
23	Yogi Berra	1958	33	NYY	122	476	433	60	115	17	3	22	90	35	35	.266	.319	.471	.790	*29/3
24	Gene Green	1958	25	STL	137	489	442	47	124	18	3	13	55	37	48	.281	.333	.423	.756	*92
25	Yogi Berra	1948	23	NYY	125	497	469	70	143	24	10	14	98	25	24	.305	.341	.488	.830	*29
26	Glenn Myatt	1920	22	PHA	70	212	196	14	49	8	3	0	18	12	22	.250	.293	.321	.615	*92/78
27	Ted Easterly	1911	26	CLE	99	306	287	34	93	19	5	1	37	8	0	.324	.345	.436	.780	*92/8
28	Ted Easterly	1910	25	CLE	110	398	363	34	111	16	6	0	55	21	0	.306	.344	.383	.727	*29
29	Roger Bresnahan	1902	23	TOT	116	464	413	46	115	17	9	5	56	37	42	.278	.344	.400	.743	2598/63

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/20/2011.

The first thing to notice is a lot of triples, which is not something we normally associate with catchers. I presume that's because the really slow runners who play catcher simply wouldn't have enough mobility to play in the outfield (counter to what that video of Mauer shows above, right fielders do occasionally have to move for batted balls.)

How about Brian Downing showing up on another unusual list? Recently he showed up on the list of great seasons by a leadoff hitter.

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28 Responses to “Joe Mauer and catchers splitting time in right field”

Charles Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 8:12 am
1947-8 didn't show up in Berra's career splits. It looks like he batted about 0.350 in over 130 games in RF
John Autin Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 9:58 am
Based on things I'd heard over the years, I'd thought Thurman Munson spent significant time in the OF in his last few years. Now I see he only played 27 OF games his entire career, no more than 13 in any season, and none in his final year.

The moral: Check everything.
Anon Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 10:32 am
Really, Gary Carter? Barry Foote must have been a heck of a prospect to have pushed Carter to the outfield. . . . .

Love Brian Downing, always thought he had such an interesting career. Catcher to start, successful transition to the OF then successful transition to DHing at the end of his career. I've always kind of wondered why he stopped playing. Yes he was 41 his last season but his numbers were still very good. Plus, for fun, he was a teammate of both Minnie Minoso (played in the 40's) and Pudge ROdiriguez (still playing). Even if you don't count the Minoso stunt, he was still teammates with both Claude Osteen (1957 debut) and Jim Kaat (1959).
Mike L Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Personally, I'm looking for a catcher/middle infielder
Frank N. Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Curt Blefary was actually an outfielder who spent some time as catcher. RoY as full time outfielder.

Besides '68, played about a dozen games behind the plate in '71 and '72. That's it out of 974 career games.

I had his rookie card.
oneblankspace Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Mike Heath can play just about anywhere, especially if it's 1987.
Charles Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Interesting that Heath only made 1 error in the 7 non-catcher positions in 1987.
T Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Blefary, Heath, Bench & Carter. What a wonderful list!
Doug Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 3:45 pm
@4, Mike.

Personally, I'm looking for a catcher/middle infielder.

Craig Biggio started out as a catcher, then switched to second base.
- In 1990, he caught 113 games and played 34 games in CF, 17 in left, and 2 in right
- In 1991, he caught 139 games and played 3 games at 2B, and one each in CF and LF
- He then switched to 2nd base full time and did not catch another game until 2007, in the second-to-last game of his career.

Carlton Fisk in his later years, split time at 1B. I'm guessing this is a fairly common position for catchers to split time at.
Doug Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 4:16 pm
@4, Mike L.

Further to catchers/middle infielders.

These are the only players to qualify for the batting title, and play at least 10% of their games at catcher and 2B or SS. A short list.
- Heinie Peitz, 1902 CIN NL, 2B
- Roger Bresnahan, 1914 CHC NL, 2B
- Bobby Bragan, 1942 PHI NL, SS
Mike L Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Doug-the up the middle positions are interesting because those routinely require the most athleticism, so Biggio stands out for me. Joe Torre played 903 at Catcher, 787 at IB, and 515 at third.
Pete R Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 5:28 pm
In Gary Carter's rookie year, he played RF in 92 games, and catcher in 60 games. He's the only player ever to have a season with at least 60 games at both positions. Carter started 56 games at catcher that year: he and Manny Sanguillen (1973) are the only players to start at least 50 games in a year at both positions.

And I think that King Kelly, the Hall of Famer, is the only man to play at least 500 career games at both positions. But the Play Index doesn't seem to like these queries to be taken over whole careers.
Timothy P. Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Joe Carter should have been a catcher, then he could have gotten into the HoF.
Johnny Twisto Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Personally, I'm looking for a catcher/middle infielder

The Yankees have two. Russell Martin and Frankie Brains have both played 2B this season.

Joe Carter should have been a catcher, then he could have gotten into the HoF.

Mmmm, no, can't see that.
Kahuna Tuna Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Personally, I'm looking for a catcher/middle infielder.

You might to check out the three-part series "Backstopping and Roaming Wide" that Steve Treder did at The Hardball Times a couple of years ago. Part One covers 1890 to 1935, Part Two 1935 to 1970, and Part Three 1970 to 2008. The subject is catchers who also spent significant playing time at second base, shortstop and/or center field.
Detroit Michael Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Five appearances by Mike Heath on this leaderboard. One would think there aren't too many ways to slice the data so that he bubbles to the top amongst all MLB players in history.
Chuck Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Mauer played RF because minor league call up Luke Hughes missed his flight.

Mauer was originally scheduled to have the day off and volunteered to play the outfield.

FYI..he played first base today.

Mauer is in his eighth ML season and has caught 120 cames twice in his career.

He's won gold gloves.

He's won batting titles.

He's making almost 20 million a season.

As a catcher, he's worth it.

As a first baseman or an outfielder, he's overpaid by ten million a season.

Talking about being hamstrung by a contract.
DoubleDiamond Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 10:04 pm
I remember that the late 1950s/early 1960s Yankees had three guys who moved between catcher and the outfield on a regular basis. Yogi's the only one listed here. Maybe the other two, Elston Howard and Johnny Blanchard, didn't play enough games at one or the other position in any season. Or maybe they played left field (almost certainly not center field) instead of right field.

Sanguillen was tried at right field in 1973 in an attempt to replace Roberto Clemente after the latter's tragic offseason death. Coincidentally, the two most recent guys on this list were also Pirates.

I don't usually think of Blefary, Downing, and Moreland as catchers, even though I know that the last two came up as catchers.

Craig Biggio and Todd Zeile both came up as catchers around the same time. Both were then moved to the infield fairly early in their careers. Zeile's first move was to 3B, and he eventually played at 1B and maybe other positions. What I've always heard is that Zeile was moved because he was not a good catcher, while Biggio was moved despite being a good catcher.

Could we see Bryce Harper's name on such a list in the future? Or is he done with catching?
Marc Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 10:15 pm
@12: I believe Sanguillen (1973) was more of an experiment to replace Roberto Clemente (who had died in the offseason) than to show off versatility.
@4: Carlos Ruiz was signed as a 2nd baseman but converted to catcher. He has never played 2nd in the majors, although he has played 3rd a couple of times (including the 19 inning game in which Wilson Valdez got the win.) Chris Coste was the same (signed as 2nd baseman, converted to catcher, never played 2nd in the majors.)
Timothy P. Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 10:20 pm
@14 Joe and Gary Carter's stats are very similar. Hitting stats that is, Joe's are probably a little better.
Steve Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Alex Trevino played 3rd base I believe as well as catching when he came up to the Mets.
Steve Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 11:08 pm
18 I remember Zeile as being pretty good.I think he would have been better off as a catcher.As a 1b/3b or corner of his offense wasn't outstanding.Joe Torre moved him to 3rd as I recall.
Johnny Twisto Says:
August 21st, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Timmy/20, I know we talked about the Carters before. But your post 13 seems to assume it would be so easy to just plug Joe C. in at catcher. And on top of that, that his batting numbers would be the same if he had caught. OK, without looking at his stats, I'll concede if he had actually hit like he did while catching, he'd have a case for the HOF.

DD/18, I think Bryce is done with catching.
Mike L Says:
August 22nd, 2011 at 6:52 am
@15, thanks, Tuna.
Timothy P. Says:
August 22nd, 2011 at 8:41 am
@23 Don't get caught up on the physical requirements and skill it takes to be a catcher, and just look at it purely from a numbers angle. After all it's the numbers that Joe Carter is routinly crucified for by SABRmetrics followers. I believe Gary Carter should be in the HoF and Joe might be very close but probably is where he belongs. However, the thing that does not jive in my mind is that Joe didn't get any support for the HoF ever. Not any! Not even enough to have a multi-year debate.
Michael E Sullivan Says:
August 22nd, 2011 at 11:00 am
This relates more to your post yesterday, but I was a bit suprised not to see Mauer on that list at first, then realized that catchers rarely catch 150 games a year, so he doesn't yet have the longevity.

So I wondered where he would rate. Turns out at his current level, he towers over the everybody on the list at .0445 WAR/G. Of course, if you took some of the top guys at similar spots in their career (first 8 seasons) to Mauer, they'd be a lot closer, but nobody is higher (Piazza is the only other guy over .04).

I wondered about what happens with some basic scenarios where Mauer reaches 1000 games, where he would sit on that list.

The first scenario with a fairly significant likelihood is that he never makes the list. Catching is already starting to wear on him, and he has caught 769 games so far in his career. 231 games caught, means he stays primarily a catcher for at least another 2-3 years, or rotates away from playing C full time, but still gets significant time behind the plate for another 6 or so years. I think there's a good chance he will do this, but there's also a pretty good chance he doesn't.

If he catches 50% of remaining games and plays just enough to clear 1000 games caught, *and* he plays at replacement level over that time: he probably won't make the hall, but he will end up 8th on that list of catchers for WAR/G, between Yogi Berra and Gary Carter, which is pretty darn good.

That's really pessimistic, so let's assume he catches 50% of another 500 games, and is a hair below average for another 6 WAR. Then he would have 46.2 WAR and be behind only bench and cochrane for catcher WAR/G. To top the list, he'd need to have 8.4 WAR over 500 games (probably 4-5 seasons), which seems eminently doable in the event he's not already close to done as a catcher. Then the only question is whether he plays a lot longer.

If he has a couple more years left in him that are anything like his peak, he will top the catcher WAR/G list for sure, unless he hangs on for a long time.

I'd guess the most likely scenario of these is that he never catches 1000 games. In that event, he probably makes the hall if he can be above average for 5-6 years as a RF/1B or wherever he ends up, which seems plausible.

I think he's definitely out if he catches 1000 but is mostly replacement level.

I think he's probably out if he catches 1000 at a bit below average, and doesn't do much in other positions after that, but his position on the WAR/G list in that scenario makes me think he might deserve it.

If he's got another 2-3 really good years as a catcher in him (say 10-12 WAR over 3 years), he should be a lock, and he'd have an argument for best catcher of all time.
Detroit Michael Says:
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Regarding more generally whether Mauer is on track to be in the Hall of Fame...

He has 40.3 WAR right now. There are 14 other nonpitchers during 1901-2011 who have 38-43 b-rWAR through their age 28 season:
- 2 others are active
- 2 others are retired, not Hall of Famers but not eligible either
- 7 are Hall of Famers
- 3 are not Hall of Famers (Tim Raines, for whom it is too early to tell, Dick Allen and Sherry Magee)

I agree that Mauer shouldn't be in the Hall if he retired today but he's clearly on pace. With the batting titles and big contract, one guesses that the popular opinion of him is a bit higher than WAR would indicate.
Andy Says:
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:11 pm
I'd give Mauer better than 50% odds of making the HOF at this point. That assumes no career-ending injuries and an OPS+ of 115-120 for the remainder of his career. Of course, he's at only 97 this year so maybe I'm presuming a rebound from injury that's not as likely as I think.

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