The
most important position on the field may be behind the dish. Whether or not
that is the case, the Sweets are set to have an excellent platoon of players at
the catcher position in 2016.
The three catchers that will be
wearing the red, white and blue this summer are Willie MacIver (Washington),
Hayden Duer (Cal State Monterey Bay) and Griffin Mazur (UC Irvine). Each bring
their own traits to field and the batter’s box.
“All
three catchers either start or play significant innings for their teams,” Head
Coach Frank Mutz said. “All three catchers can really throw and are offensive.
It's a strong catching core and they are interchangeable. It's also possible
there will be games all three are in the lineup at the same time. Duer is the
most offensive, MacIver is the most athletic and Mazur has a great balance of
offense and defense.”
MacIver returns for his second season with the Sweets. In
his first West Coast League campaign, he hit .215 in 32 games where he played
catcher, designated hitter and also played a game at second base. He added four
doubles and eight RBIs, but he led all Sweets’ catchers with a .984 fielding
percentage and was one of the more consistent catchers defensively with his
lateral movement.
“MacIver returning not only brings leadership to the
catching core but leadership for the entire team,” Mutz said. “He is a very
talented player, is well liked by his teammates and wants to win!”
“You will see his [offensive] numbers jump up,” Mutz
added. “He's facing Pac 12 pitching on a regular basis and he won't have to
catch 60% of the games this summer. With injuries to a couple of catchers last
summer we had to over extend Willie which was tough for any player coming
straight out of High School.”
One of the most important focuses for any catcher is to
handle a pitching staff and wood bat league catchers must handle a young,
sometimes wild and frustrated group of pitchers.
The Sweets last year saw a pitching rotation that
finished ninth out of 12 teams in ERA (4.15) in the West Coast League. Those
numbers were elevated because of struggles down the stretch in the season, but
there were some instances that the pitching staff did not perform up to the
standards that Coach Mutz and company had set for them. Mutz is confident that
this group of catchers can handle the pitchers that will be in Walla Walla this
summer.
“I believe all three catchers are intelligent and will
surely be able to handle the pitching staff” Mutz said. “MacIver and Mazur both
have played for me and understand my expectations and how I call a game. Duer
is a seasoned catcher who plays for a quality program and will definitely be able
to handle a pitching staff.”
At the beginning of the season, Hayden Duer will be the
starting catcher for the Sweets because both MacIver and Mazur will be in
school in early June. He has shown his offensive capabilities so far this
season at CSUMB. Through April 10th, he is hitting .292 with seven
home runs and 21 RBIs in 32 games.
Duer will be behind the plate on June 3rd when
the Sweets welcome in the Victoria HarborCats to Borleske Stadium for opening
day. To purchase tickets, you can go to wallawallasweets.com or check out the
Sweets Shoppe in downtown Walla Walla.
Check out the blog in a couple weeks for when we
breakdown the pitching staff that these catchers will be relaying the signs to!
No comments:
Post a Comment