The value of a catcher

November 21, 2008 07:34 am

— Drew Butera is a 25-year-old catcher and the son of Sal Butera, who was the No. 2 catcher on the 1987 Twins. The younger Butera played in New Britain, the Twins' Double A affiliate, in 2008. He didn't hit well; as you can see from these stats, that's been a problem throughout his professional career.

Erik Lis,a first baseman-outfielder, also played in New Britain last season. Most of his 2008 stats are superior to Butera's, which isn't saying much, since Butera hit .219. (Butera did have more walks and fewer strikeouts). It was Lis' worst set of professional numbers .

On Wednesday's deadline for setting the 40-man roster, the Twins protected Butera and left Lis exposed to the Rule V draft. If any other team wants to commit to using a spot on the 25-man active roster on Lis, they can have him for $50,000.

There are, I'm sure, people who wonder why the Twins would value Butera over Lis. The answer: It's a lot more likely that a team — particularly one with a durable No. 1 catcher who they can rationally expect will catch 140-plus games but a hole at the backup slot — will decide that it can carry Butera as its No. 2 than that one will decide to spend a roster spot on Lis.

Butera is said to have major league caliber defensive skills right now. The bat is, obviously, questionable. But a catcher who is truly good behind the plate can have a long career without hitting.

Sal Butera, for example. He spent all or part of nine seasons in the majors with a career average of .227. Never had even close to 200 plate appearances in a major-league season, had a career high of three home runs. But he could catch and throw, and that was enough. (Today Sal is a special assistant to the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays; when the Twins traded for his son, he was quoted as saying that Drew is a better defensive catcher than he was.)

Drew Butera isn't likely to become a major league regular. He's not even close to being the best catching prospect in the Twins organization — that would be Wilson Ramos, who is a level behind Butera. But if one of the major league catchers (Joe Mauer or Mike Redmond) were to go on the DL in 2009, Butera would be a good bet to get the call up.

Lis? Hey, he's an OK hitter, but he hardly projects to set the league on fire — and his usefulness in the field is limited. He is, basically, a younger version of Garrett Jones. And there are a lot more of that type around than there are competent catchers.

e-mail Edward Thoma