Charlie Cutler

Charles Caleb Cutler

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 200 lb.

• School University of California
• High School Lowell High School

• Born July 29, 1986 in San Francisco, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Charlie Cutler has been a minor league catcher.

Amateur Career

Cutler hit .636 as a high school junior and set a California high school record with 71 RBI. He fell off a bit as a senior, to .614 with 59 RBI. He finished as the all-time California high school leader in runs (197), RBI (203), hits (219) and triples (32). He hit .246/.307/.290 as a college freshman then improved to .310/.399/.387 as a sophomore and .321/.414/.395 with 38 runs in 42 games as a junior. The St. Louis Cardinals took him in the 14th round of the 2008 amateur draft.

Pro Career

Cutler made his pro debut with the Batavia Muckdogs and hit .303/.365/.408. In 2009, he played for both the Quad Cities River Bandits (a resounding .351/.410/.455 in 66 G) and Palm Beach Cardinals (.274/.406/.390 in 44 G). He led Cardinals farmhands in OBP and tied former college teammate Allen Craig for the best average by a St. Louis minor leaguer. In 2010, he appeared for Palm Beach (.292/.368/.409 in 41 G) and the Springfield Cardinals (.218/.329/.252 in 38 G). He was a backup catcher with Springfield in 2011, though he hit well at .333/.398/.475 in 62 games.

The Pittsburgh Pirates took him in the AAA phase of the 2011 Rule V Draft. With the '12 Altoona Curve, he backed up Ramon Cabrera and Tony Sanchez and also saw some action at DH and in the outfield; he produced at a .296/.407/.421 clip in 55 games, keeping his career minor league average over .300.

In the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, he was the starting catcher for the Israeli national team, going 3 for 10 with a walk, double, run and 3 RBI. All 3 RBI came on the double, off Carl Michaels of South Africa in the opener. In the finale, he was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run in a 9-7 loss to Spain; he was replaced by Nick Rickles late in the game.

He was back with Altoona in 2013 and batted .298/.397/.420 as the backup to Carlos Paulino; most of his time came in games against AL affiliates as Altoona's DH. He moved on to the Chicago Cubs' Tennessee Smokies affiliate in 2014 and kept on hitting at AA (.310/.415/.412), again not getting a call to AAA. He split catcher with three other players. His next stop was the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim chain in 2015, appearing for the Arkansas Travelers (9 for 34, 3 2B) and the Salt Lake Bees (.380/.430/.423 in 23 AAA games). Let go by the Angels, he was picked up by the independent Lancaster Barnstormers and had the first offensive woes of his pro career (.222/.291/.270 in 34 G).

As Lancaster's backstop in 2016, he batted .285/.378/.382 and fielded .990. He did not make the Atlantic League All-Star team as James Skelton was picked at catcher. He was still at .306 for his pro career. He was back with Israel for the 2016 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers; after not playing their first two games, he got into the finale, with a spot in the 2017 World Baseball Classic at stake. He replaced Ike Davis at DH in the bottom of the 7th with a 5-0 lead over the British national team. He flew out against Nolan Bond. Coming up again in the 8th with two on, two out and a 7-1 lead. Facing Paul Kirkpatrick, he doubled to bring in Zach Borenstein and Ryan Lavarnway for the last runs of the day as Israel clinched a spot in their first World Baseball Classic.

Sources

• 2012 Pirates Media Guide
• Cal bio
• World Baseball Classic