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The Colorado Rockies Top 5 Catchers in franchise history

By Noah Yingling

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 25: Catcher Tony Wolters #14 of the Colorado Rockies looks on against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 25, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 25: Catcher Tony Wolters #14 of the Colorado Rockies looks on against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 25, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES – JULY 23: Catcher Charles Johnson #23 of the Colorado Rockies catches a pop-up from a botched bunt attempt by Kazuhisa Ishii #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during their game on July 23, 2003 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES – JULY 23: Catcher Charles Johnson #23 of the Colorado Rockies catches a pop-up from a botched bunt attempt by Kazuhisa Ishii #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during their game on July 23, 2003 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /

Number 3: Tony Wolters (2.3 bWAR, 2.4 fWAR, 4 seasons as a Rockie)

Wolters has been a Rockie for parts of four seasons but only played more than 100 games at the MLB level for the first time in 2019.

Like Torrealba, he is much better defensively than offensively. In his career, Wolters has a wRC+ of 59 (63 OPS+). His career slash line is .239/.327/.324 and that .324 slugging percentage is part of why his park-adjusted offensive numbers are way below league average.

Defensively, he has caught 32.8 percent of would-be base stealers and has 26 fDRS. His pitch framing has, by and large, been above average as well (he regressed well below league average in 2019, though).

The longer he plays with the Rockies, though, he could eclipse the other two guys on our list.

Number 2: Charles Johnson (2.1 bWAR, 2.3 fWAR, 2 seasons as a Rockie)

If we were ranking catchers on their overall careers, Charles Johnson has had the best career of the guys on that we will talk about. However, since he only played two seasons as a Rockie and he was on the back-end of his career.

While with the Rockies, Johnson didn’t hit for much of an average (.233) but his OBP was .334 and his slugging percentage was .443, which was good enough for an OPS+ of 89 (88 wRC+). Defensive metrics were not what they are now but his overall defensive numbers with the Rockies were very good (as they were for all of his career).

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