Dodgers: Starting Austin Barnes may be LA’s Best Option at Catcher

The Dodgers don’t have many free agent options to replace Yasmani Grandal.  Their best choice may be staying in house with Austin Barnes.

As soon as the Dodgers received news that Yasmani Grandal declined their qualifying offer, the list of choices for the 2019 starting catcher became dire. While Wilson Ramos and Grandal are the top two catchers in a weak free agent class, they are both going to command lucrative multi-year deals that the Dodgers have no interest in handing out.

For the Dodgers they have a group of solid to stellar catching prospects in Keibert Ruiz, Will Smith, Diego Cartaya, and Connor Wong.  Will Smith and Keibert Ruiz are the two closest to being major league ready but only Will Smith could be ready for the 2019 season.  Keibert Ruiz is a season away which makes Austin Barnes the best option to start in 2019.

Admittedly, Austin Barnes did not have the best season offensively, he hit .205 with four home runs and was even worse offensively in the postseason.  Even with his poor offensive performance, Barnes was thrust into the starting role after Yasmani Grandal became a vulnerability behind the plate in the playoffs.

While Barnes doesn’t hit very well, he is one of the top catchers defensively in baseball when counting in defense and pitch framing.  Barnes rated as the third best catcher in baseball in runs above average behind only Jeff Mathis (who signed with the Rangers) and Yasmani Grandal.  For comparison, J.T. Realmuto ranked negatively and towards the bottom of the pack.

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Trade rumor target Yan Gomes ranked better than Realmuto but he was still far behind Austin Barnes.  While Gomes is more of a power threat than Austin Barnes, it’s not out of the realm that Austin Barnes will bounce back and be better than a .248 career hitter like Gomes is.  Afterall, in 2017 Austin Barnes hit .289 with eight home runs and took over the starting role from Grandal.

There was even speculation heading into the beginning of the 2018 season that Austin Barnes could start over Yasmani Grandal.  While that never came to fruition, Grandal is no longer in the equation.  The Dodgers best option for 2019 outside of completing a trade for Realmuto, is to start Austin Barnes.  They could use Will Smith as his backup to ease him into the big leagues.

It’s important to remember that the primary role of a catcher is to be a wall behind the plate and call a good game for his pitching staff.  Any offense a catcher provides is just gravy unless you have one of the premier catchers in the game like Buster Posey.  The number of catchers who can hit and defend well can be counted on one hand and the free agent market doesn’t offer any cost effective solutions for the Dodgers who need a one year stop gap for Keibert Ruiz.

The Dodgers are better off saving their cash for an effective late innings reliever or two who can help shorten postseason games and lighten the workload for Kenley Jansen.  A tandem of Austin Barnes and Will Smith would give the Dodgers a solid defensive duo with some upside offensively.  If Barnes were to rebound offensively, he could be a top ten catcher in baseball. Although he had a down year, Austin Barnes may be the Dodgers’ best option to start at catcher in 2019.