Dodgers 2018 Player Grades: The Streaky Yasmani Grandal

If Yasmani Grandal’s 2018 season was a roller coaster, it would be the wildest ride you have ever been on. He is one of the streakiest players to ever step on a field. 2018 was no different, the veteran catcher once again took us along a wild road to the end of the season.

To say Yasmani Grandal is streaky would be an understatement. It is hard to fathom that he is indeed the same player on a day-to-day basis. One day Grandal could look like the best hitter in baseball and that is not an exaggeration. The next day it could look as if a little leaguer took control of his body and became the Dodgers catcher for the night.

Grandal did not change his ways in 2018 and once again showed just how much of a roller coaster the Cuba native is. His slashes on a month to month comparison are actually impressive. Impressive because you can’t possibly believe a player could be that good and then that bad without any warning.

Here are his slashes: games/Avg./OBP/OPS

April:  22 games/ .313/ .400/ .966

May: 24 games/ .181/ .315/ .662

June: 20 games/ .162/.197/ .521

July: 22 games/ .364/ .488/ 1.215

August: 24 games/ .162/ .303 /.695

September: 25 games/ .269/ .383/ .860

So in summation Grandal had one good month, one above average month, one absolutely spectacular month and three God awful months. Factoring in the playoffs, that equates to 3 good months and 4 bad months for the free agent.

This is just offensively. When it comes to defense it whole different issue.

It is now well noted that Yasmani Grandal had a tough time catching and stopping baseballs. Which is an obvious problem when you are a “Catcher”.  “Catchers catch” is what my old coach used to yell whenever a ball popped out of the catcher’s mitt.  Well, obviously Grandal never received that sound piece of advice.

At times it seemed like there was a little man inside of his glove that would just refuse to let the ball get inside of Grandal’s glove.  Dropping balls is impossible to defend for a professional catcher, there is no way around it, Grandal just needs to catch the ball.

On the other hand we have Grandal’s inability at times to keep the ball in front of him. This is excusable sometimes, but with the frequency this happens to Grandal, it is clearly a problem.

For example in game 6 of the NLCS, Kenta Maeda came in to pitch. He buries a first pitch slider in the dirt in the complete opposite batters box that Grandal was set up in. MLB catchers look so fluid when blocking balls because they know the pitch and location.

The best of the best are catchers that can block pitches that cross them up or are fastballs that were supposed to be up but wind up bouncing. These are catchers with reflexes that you couldn’t even imagine. Grandal blocks the balls he supposed to (most of the time) but the ones that are50/50 and dependent on his reflexes often get by him, which is a problem.

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It seems like this is something Grandal is willing to deal with if it means he can get borderline calls with his elite pitch framing. He won’t block those 50/50 balls but what he will do is steal strikes for you. Grandal would rather steal a strike for his pitcher than be better positioned to block a ball. He is one of the best pitch callers and framers in baseball.

Yasmani had his issues in 2018, but that does not negate the fact that he is still one of the best offensive catchers in baseball. Often times catchers are just fillers in a lineup, but Grandal is a threat. In July he helped ease the ship and get the Dodgers back into the race with an unreal month. to open up the season, he and Kemp were easily the MVP’s of the first month.

Getting 20 plus bombs from behind the plate is no small feat. Catchers take an absolute beating all year. The fact that Grandal played a majority of the games and was able to be effective in the lineup, shows why he will get paid this off-season.

Grandal had his ups and downs in 2018. His ups were higher than most and his downs were lower than most but at the end of a 163 game season it all adds up to very solid season. 140 games/24 home runs/.249 avg/.349 OBP/.815 OPS . His October production leaves fans wanting more, but without his production in the regular season, this team would have been hard pressed to even play this October.

If this is his last season in Dodger blue, I bid him well in his future endeavors. Grandal could be frustrating to watch but in the end watching him bat drop with the best of them helps make up for all the bad moments he has.