Colorado Rockies: Analyzing and Grading the 2016 Catchers

DUSTIN GARNEAU: 2016 GRADE D+, fWAR 0.0

First of all, Dustin Garneau appears to be the odd man out of the catching rotation. At age 29, Dustin is in his prime and can add good depth to the Rockies catching situation. Along with Murphy, Garneau was a late season call up and only appeared in 24 games. In that time, Garneau had a meager .235/.293/.368 line. He clearly is not a “lights out” hitter like Murphy is or the defensive wizard like Wolters. Garneau will mostly likely bounce around the majors and minors in 2017, depending on team needs.

Garneau wasn’t the defensive liability that Hundley was. According to Fangraphs’ DEF score, Garneau came at 2.4, while Hundley came in at 1.8, the lowest score amongst the four catchers. To Hundley’s credit, he did play in 50+ more games than Murphy or Garneau.

In conclusion, the catcher position will be one of the most stable positions that the Rockies will bring into the 2017 season despite losing their starter. Not a lot of teams can say that at any position let alone one as valuable as catcher. The threesome of Murphy, Wolters, and Garneau is the most dynamic in baseball as Murphy can out hit anyone, Wolters can out defense anyone and Garneau can backup anyone.

Next: The Top 5 Catchers in Colorado History