Grandal Catches Kershaw For The First Time

kershaw

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers lineup for this Spring Training game is out and for the first time, we see Kershaw pitching, and Grandal catching at the same time!

The lineup is getting more defined as the Spring goes along, but the newly acquired Yasmani Grandal hasn’t yet caught Clayton Kershaw.

It’s early enough in the Spring to speculate about who’ll be starting on opening day (my money’s on A.J. Ellis), but like it or not, the Grandal-Kershaw combination is one that Dodger fans are going to have to live with. Last season, Kershaw made it known that he wanted A.J. Ellis back for another season, and despite questions about whether the Dodgers were going to nontender the longtime catcher, he avoided arbitration with the team, settling at 4.25 million earlier last year.

This is good, because Ellis is good at the whole “giving quotes” thing.

"People don’t like talking about catchers ERA. I like to talk about catchers ERA because I have a pretty good one"

It’s true, when Ellis catches Kershaw, Clayton’s ERA starts with a 1, against everybody else, it’s 2.69. Familiarity adds value, and despite all of the advances in defensive statistics for catchers, more specifically pitch framing, it’s impossible to put a numerical figure on just how valuable it is knowing and trusting the guy opposite of you.

There’s a reasonable expectation that Ellis isn’t as awful as he was last season, and the Dodgers having 2 useable catchers is double the amount that many teams have to deal with. But there’s also a possibility that Ellis doesn’t bounce back because for every 34 year old catcher who rebounds nicely the year after he hit .191 and underwent knee surgery, there’s dozens more 34 year old catchers who can’t get over the physical issues of sustaining 2 significant knee injuries the season prior, leading to an inability to catch.

So Yasmani Grandal is supremely important in winning now, and winning in the future, there’ll come a point (hopefully not in 2015) where Grandal is going to be handed the full time job at catcher. He’s not without warts, most notably his knee surgery in 2013, which likely impacted is inability to defend adequately, but he is a pretty good hitting catcher (119 wRC+), he adds value in framing, and he’s young enough to where we should demand defensive improvement (not simply hope for it in Ellis’ case).

I dont’ want to think about life without A.J. Ellis, and he should be kept inside the organization once his playing days are over, but for now, lets hope that Kershaw and Grandal hit it off, because if all goes well, Kershaw to Grandal is going to be a thing sooner rather than later.