The Pirates' Low-Level Minor League Catchers Are Making Progress -- Part Two

A logjam in the FCL

Rafael Escalante

The Pirates have had quite a catching logjam in the FCL this year. Right now they’re carrying four catchers: Rafael Escalante, Eybert Escalona, Miguel Sosa and Axiel Plaz. Actually five, because Carter Bins is there on rehab. And John Lopez, drafted by the Pirates in the 15h round out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, is also with the team, although he hasn’t been activated yet. For a short time earlier in the season, the FCL Pirates also had Omar Alfonzo, who’s now with Bradenton.

How exactly players get any catching experience with that sort of crunch, on a team that's only going to play 56 games, is a real question. The answer, it appears, is that only Escalante is going to get much. Through 38 games, he’s the only one who’s caught more than eight . . . 22 in his case.

The encouraging thing is that Escalante is having a good year. The Pirates signed him out of Venezuela, originally as a shortstop. He’s played a little in the infield, in fact he mostly played third in 2022, but he seems to have settled in now behind the plate, where’s he has the mobility to be a good receiver. He’s thrown out 22% of base stealers, a hair under the league average of 24.7%. The FCL Bucs have the league’s second-youngest pitching staff, which probably makes Escalante’s job a bit more of a challenge. He’s generally hit well. This is his second FCL season and, after hitting 226/405/355 in 2022, he’s at 261/409/406 this year. He’s always had a good eye at the plate, with more walks than strikeouts for his career. This year he’s drawn 17 walks while striking out a dozen times. Escalante will be 22 in September, so he’s going to have to continue developing steadily as a hitter, hopefully continuing to increase the power.

Eybert Escalona

The Pirates signed Escalona in 2019 as an offense-oriented catcher. He’s lived up to his billing, but only in very limited playing time. He missed 2020 due to the pandemic, then got only 42 appearances while putting up an .899 OPS in the DSL in 2021. In 2022, more of the same; he returned to the DSL and had a 1.013 OPS, including a .492 OBP, but he got only 63 PAs, in part due to injury. This year, in the FCL, he’s been the closest thing to a backup to Escalante, but he’s started only seven games at catcher, along with three at first and two at DH. He’s hitting 271/327438. He appears to have some power, although his plate discipline (3 BB, 17 K) hasn’t been great this year. The defense has been a bit rough, as he’s had trouble with errors and has thrown out only six of 45 base stealers for his career. But the playing time has been so limited it’s hard to reach any conclusions yet, except that he does seem to have a capable bat.

Miguel Sosa

This is where things start to get puzzling. The Pirates signed Sosa in 2021 as a catcher with power potential, who needed work on defense. He played in the DSL that year and hit respectably, especially for a 17-year-old, with a .678 OPS. The defense was rough, as opponents ran wild on him. The Pirates sent him back there in 2022 and he seemingly broke out with the bat, hitting 305/468/512, with twice as many walks as strikeouts. He spent only about a third of his time catching, the rest in left field.

This year, Sosa is hitting very well, putting up a 326/544/535 line, with 22 walks and 15 strikeouts. The catch is, he’s started only a dozen of the team’s 38 games. He frequently enters as a sub, so he’s managed to get 68 PAs, but it’s odd that a guy who’s hitting the way he is doesn’t play close to every day. Sosa has mostly played the outfield, starting just one game at catcher and playing there in three others. I saw the one start and he nailed the one base stealer with a throw that was literally perfect. He’s passable in the outfield. Sosa has both power and a good batting eye, and he won’t turn 20 until December.

Axiel Plaz

This is an even bigger puzzle. Plaz signed for a $350,000 bonus in January 2022. He went to the DSL and put up playstation numbers: 382/500/786, with 13 walks and 16 strikeouts. He didn’t get a lot of playing time — just 86 PAs — but in his case injuries were an issue. He threw out 35% of base stealers. And he did all this as a very young player, just 16.

This year, he’s ridden the bench a lot. Plaz has started 20 of the team’s 38 games, just three at catcher and the rest as DH. He’s found the pitching a challenge. He takes a lot of pitches, often falling behind in the count, and then is liable to chase. The result is a walk (13) or strikeout (29) in just under half his PAs (90). Throw in seven hit batsmen, and he’s putting the ball in play only 46% of the time. His batting line is 188/367/304. Injuries haven’t been an issue that I’m aware of. One possible factor is his build, which is short and stocky. Plaz is listed at 5’11”, 165, but I’m skeptical about the height and the weight is definitely low. Some baseball people don’t like players with builds like that, so it could be working against him. Given their investment, Plaz’ showing his first year and his age (18 in mid-August), you’d think the Pirates would be eager to see him on the field.