Seattle Mariners Sign John Baker, Backup Catcher Of (Moderate) Interest
With the 2015 Seattle Mariners mostly built, Jack Zduriencik’s focus has noticeably shifted in other directions as of late. Namely, he’s been building the next line of defense, acquiring Tacoma Rainiers who could, in a pinch, be Seattle Mariners. Today brings another veteran addition, as the Mariners have added catcher John Baker on a minor league deal.
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John Baker is not John Buck. He’s also not Scott Baker. The Mariners had those guys, tried them out, didn’t like them, and took bits of them to piece together a John Baker. Pretty sure that’s how minor league signees work, anyways.
Okay, but for real. John Baker? You’ve heard of him, maybe, but probably don’t know much about him. He’s got that feel about him of a guy who’s been around for a while, which he has. He’s been a major leaguer since 2008, logging his most significant (and successful) time with the Marlins before more recent stints with the Padres and Cubs. He’s a catcher who doesn’t hit but plays sturdy defense. You know this type.
But Baker isn’t your typical no-bat catcher. No, he’s way worse than that. Here are some wRC+ numbers. Let’s do his whole career, since it’s not too much to digest. Remember, league average is 100. Remember, last year’s worst mark by a hitter who qualified for the batting title was 56 (Zack Cozart). So here’s Baker’s career, starting with 2008: 120, 99, 60, 24, 70, 28, 39. Steamer projects him for a 53 wRC+ in 2015.
So Baker’s not so much a bad hitter, but rather, an apocalytically terrible hitter. Last year he came to the plate 208 times. He put up a slash of .201/.274/.231. As in, he slugged .231. That was a -1.0 WAR season. His career WAR? 1.5. Which, incidentally, was his WAR total his rookie season. Since then he’s been the definition of replacement level.
His defense is good, but not great. He’s a slightly below-average pitch framer, per StatCorner. FanGraphs has him as an overall positive last year, as well as for his career, and that sounds about right. He’s 34 years old, but there’s reason to believe catcher defense doesn’t erode as quickly as does the ability of, say, a middle infielder. But 34 is 34, and his fielding numbers did decline from 2013 to 2014.
Clearly Baker’s a better fit for Tacoma than Seattle. With Jesus Sucre likely ticketed for the majors to open the season, the team needed to have a better third catcher than John Hicks. Baker might not be much, but he’s most probably a better third catcher than John Hicks. Which is all the Mariners are asking him to be, really.
If Mike Zunino misses time with an injury, Baker’s going to be the guy who gets called up. He won’t hit, at all, but he’ll play passable defense and (hopefully) be used in such a way as to keep the Mariners from having a complete and total black hole behind the plate. Of course, he was worth a full win below replacement last year, but that was largely because the Cubs made him hit over two hundred times. Those Cubs weren’t trying to win. These Mariners are. Teams that are trying to win don’t ask John Baker to hit over two hundred times.
Another day, another savvy safety net signing by Jack Z. and the Mariners front office. For a long time it looked like the Mariners had a good club, albeit a thin one. We’re now in the phase of the offseason where clubs get to fatten up a little, and it’s really nice to see the M’s right in the thick of the depth race. John Baker won’t push the Mariners over the edge and into the World Series. But he will provide major league-ready depth, and that’s really all that the team needs to be adding right now.