Shawn Ross answered call behind plate with Greensboro

After being thrusted behind the plate with little expeirence, Ross held his own at new position

Catcher is already one of the more challenging positions to play, especially in the minors as you are working your way up the system.

Not only are you trying to develop your own play, you have to sacrifice a lot of time in trying to help pitchers and learn an entire staff and what they like to do as well.

It’s why it might be the one position where it still pays to be defense first, and have your offense an afterthought.

Now imagine trying to learn that position on the fly, while trying to prove yourself in a new system with a new team.

That’s what Shawn Ross did for the Greensboro Grasshoppers this season.

The Pirates signed Ross as a minor league free agent before the season, he spent some time in extended spring training before getting assigned to the Grasshoppers on June 1.

He immediately showed some value with his bat, hitting his first pro home run in just his second game, and had five by the end of June in just 18 games.

Bouncing around the infield to start, the Pirates were also playing around a bit while he was in Bradenton (in extended spring training) with him behind the plate, and the reports were coming back strong with him there, especially for his lack of experience there.

Eventually getting to Greensboro, they slowly continued that work before he was catching bullpen sessions, with the plan to eventually to work him into games an inning here and there.