Is It Time for the Left-handed Catcher?

 Before the 2021 season Anthony Castrovince wrote an interesting article on why there are no left-handed catchers, myth-busting a lot of the typical reasons that have been proposed.  Here's the link: Why there are no left-handed catchers in MLB.

I mean, why not?  There is a stereotype that RH throwing first baseman are at a disadvantage taking pickoff throws at 1B, right?  Yet there are still RH throwing firstbaseman in the majors.  Why? Because it works, gets better hitters in your lineup and, partly, the advantage of having your glove-side closer to the first base line is a huge advantage of preventing doubles at the expense of singles, instead of the other way around for LH throwing firstbasemen.  Same thing with left-handed throwing infielders, in general, although I get his argument a lot more than for first baseman or catchers. 

Given the new stolen base rules and the dearth of good-hitting catchers that allow guys like Austin Hedges to have a job, I thought I would do a quick revisit of the idea.

Clearly, the main reason why there are no left-handed catchers is that no one trains to be a catcher when they are young.   It's not a glamorous position and is the position I feel is most likely to get injured.   But there is the rub.  Just like in any other field of work, one school of thought is that you aim your career in a direction where there are the most jobs.  In baseball, it is clearly as a good hitting catcher who is athletic enough to become a good catcher.  

And you don't have to start young.  Tony Wolters started as a middle infielder in Cleveland's minor league system and tried catching in his 4th year in the minors.   David Fry started catching his senior year in college.  

In the era of positional versatility having your 3rd catcher be able to play 1B, LF and RF would be important.

So, you say, why not go the route of Fry and Wolters and learn catching after you become a pro?  Or, like Bo Naylor, learn to hit LH or throw RH when you are a little kid to enhance your positional versatility.  OK, you have me on that one.  But I repeat: why not a lefty-throwing catcher?  

Let's look at some data:

• One main argument is that there are more RH batters than LH batters and lefty catchers would have a harder time throwing out runners.  Let's look at the ratio of qualified LH and RH hitting batters.  I am only looking at qualified hitters is that they are full-time players and other guys with less plate appearances would likely be part of a platoon and switch-hitters would not be relevant, although you could make the case that since there are more RH pitchers, the numbers below could actually favor a LH catcher since the LHH switch hitter or platoon specialist would hit more often than when a RHH is needed.
• In 2023 the ratio of RHH/LHH was 1.87
• In 2022 it was 2.25
• In 2021 it was 2.19
• In 2020 it was 1.67
• In 2010 it was 1.77
• In 2000 it was 1.42
• In 1990 it was 2.00
• In 1980 it was 1.74
• In 1970 it was 2.15
• In 1960 it was 2.29
• In 1950 it was 1.79
• If you look above it is hard to find a CURRENT trend but back in the day, RHH dominated MLB more than they do today, meaning a potential disadvantage of LH throwing catchers is lessened compared to when this conventional wisdom came to be.
• There are only 4 positions that a LH thrower can currently play as compared to 8 for RH throwers.  Statistically, if you had LH hitting/throwing catchers you would likely be able to improve your lineup balance.

So, as AC says so eloquently in his article, there is no real reason why we can't have LH throwing catchers.  I am all for enhancing your minor leaguers skillsets to make them more valuable to your ML team or in trade.   I am still for trying to teach every pitching prospect the knuckleball once they plateau out when their skills obviously won't play above a certain level.  Matt Waldron has, once again, shown how effective that could be. We have shortstops playing CF for gosh sakes, with Freeman doing a great job.  Like Freeman, Fry and Wolters have shown us, being a good athlete gives you a leg up on switching positions.  We are trying CF with Martinez, Watson, etc., why not try catcher with some of our LH hitting slap hitters, whether they throw RH or LH.  

Let's be innovators, Cleveland.  We have to take advantage of every opportunity and I think with the limitations on the # of minor leaguers we can have in our system, positional versatility and maximizing skillsets has become even more important. Plus, teams have to find a way to stop the running game and I think a LH throwing catcher trying to pick a runner off at 1B might be another tool in a team's arsenal to do just that.  C'mon, Guardians.  INNOVATE.