Catchers the Miami Marlins Should Target in Free Agency

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MIAMI, FL – MARCH 28: Jorge Alfaro #38 of the Miami Marlins celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies during Opening Day at Marlins Park on March 28, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

The Miami Marlins need to solidify who’s going to be their backup catcher in 2020.

Jorge Alfaro is the undisputed starter for the 2020 Miami Marlins at backstop, but being a catcher in the majors is physically demanding. A backup catcher is important in that they can step in when the starter goes down, or give the starter an off day now and then.

For two seasons now, Bryan Holaday has been a very solid backup to Alfaro and J.T. Realmuto before him. Holaday was weak at the plate in 2018, with a .205/.261/.258 slashline, but more than made up for it by leading the National League with a 45 percent kill-rate on runners trying to steal.

This past season, Holaday only nabbed 20 percent, but his hitting was much improved over 43 games, to the tune of a .278/.344/.435 line. In 668 1/3 innings combined between the two seasons, he was guilty of one error and two passed balls. That’s incredible, if you didn’t know already.

Also logging time at catcher for the 2019 Miami Marlins were Chad Wallach, Tyler Heineman, and Wilkin Castillo. Will one of these four fill the coveted number two catcher roster spot for the Marlins? Will they dig deeper into the existing system? Will they look outside for help through free agency? How about a trade? We’ll have to wait and see how things develop in Spring Training, but in the meantime, we can make a few guesses.

MIAMI, FL – MAY 05: Max Fried #54 of the Atlanta Braves scores on a double by Ender Inciarte #11 during the eighth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on May 5, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images) /

In System

I went on about this at some length in an article a few days ago, here. The Crib notes version is this – J.D. Osborne is likely the best hitting catcher in the system, outside of Alfaro and the 2019 version of Holaday. Nick Fortes, Dustin Skelton, and Will Banfield all wait in the wings, with Banfield as the heir apparent to Alfaro in a few years. Down at the rookie level, Casey Combs and Cameron Barstad lurk, if one of the others don’t work out.

As I’ve previously stated, I believe that Banfield is the answer to the long-term question behind the dish, and I think Skelton will shape into a fine backup in time. They won’t be ready for the 2020 season, so what about looking outside?

Tyler Flowers

Flowers is still signed by the Braves to a $6 million team option, unless they want to exercise their $2 million buyout. With Brian McCann announcing his retirement, Atlanta may want to keep him around, but that’s hardly a lock.

If the Atlanta Braves do part ways with Flowers, he’d be a solid choice for the Miami Marlins to spell Alfaro every four or five days. Already an 11-season veteran, he hit .254 in four seasons for the Braves. True, he strikes out over a third of the time, but he’s also good for an occasional long shot. He accounted for 11 in 85 games in 2019, and has a total of 85 over his career, with the Braves and earlier with the Chicago White Sox.

On the other hand, Flowers led the majors with 16 passed balls last season. That’s 16 times as many as Holaday had. He’s also under the league average in caught stealing percentage with some consistency – nabbing 23 percent of baserunners through his career. Still, he’s worth 67 runs in total behind the plate, or 13 runs per 1200 innings, according to baseball reference.

Austin Romine

A true free agent once the New York Yankees complete their postseason run, Austin Romine has played for the team for eight seasons. Chosen in the second round by the Yankees way back in 2007, Romine will soon be turning 31-years-old.

With a career slashline of .239/.281/.439, Romine is coming off his best season at bat, with a 2019 mark of .281/.310/.439. He’s also hit 18 of his 25 career homers in the last two seasons, comprised of just over 500 plate appearances. Strikeouts are less of an issue with Romine than with Alfaro or Flowers, with under a quarter of his plate appearances ending with a whiff.

Romine’s base-stealing prevention plan resembles Flowers, as both boast a 23 percent CS rate over their respective careers. Romine nabbed 30 percent this season, and has had six passed balls in just under 600 innings of work.

Travis D’arnaud

A long-time number one / number two catcher for the New York Mets, Travis D’arnaud joined the Tampa Bay Rays after six seasons backstopping the Mets in 2019. The move seemed to agree with D’arnaud, who tied a career high this season with 16 homers and set a new high with 69 RBI. In 92 games for the Rays, he hit .263/.323/.459.

Initially drafted in the first round of the 2007 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, D’arnaud was later part of the Toronto Blue Jays system. After getting released by the Mets early this season, he was signed through free agency by the Los Angeles Dodgers for five days when the Rays bought his contract.

D’arnaud has 63 homers and 231 RBI in 500 career major league games, and strikes out less than 20 percent of the time. His 22 percent CS rate is below the league average by six percent, but he’s been just above league average this season.

Russell Martin

Russell Martin has, by far, the most experience of anyone else mentioned in this slideshow. He’s been a major leaguer for 14 full seasons. Five with the Dodgers, two with the New York Yankees, two with the Pittsburgh Pirates, four with the Toronto Blue Jays, and one more with Los Angeles in 2019.

Martin will be turning 37-years-old around the birth of next Spring Training. Who better to guide an up-and-coming staff than someone who’s seen everything?

Martin’s never been a “great” hitter, but he’s more than passable. A .248/.349/.397 career slashline with 191 long balls and 771 RBI in 1,693 career games stands testament to that. Although he hasn’t hit above .240 in four years, he’s still more than capable of the occasional deep blast.

After consistently ranking amongst the league leaders in CS percentage, including an American League best 44 percent in 2015, Martin has tailed off a bit in recent years. A career 30 percent kill-rate that hasn’t been matched since that campaign, he also has averaged just one passed ball every 158 innings (that’s good).

Who will the Miami Marlins end up with? As I said before, all we can do is wait and see. Did you not see someone you would expect to in this article? Disagree with some of my choices? Please, let me have it, good or bad in the comments. Also, give us a follow on Twitter and a like on Facebook. For daily updates, you can also subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the Miami Marlins.

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