The Rangers hope that 35-year old lefty swinging A.J. Pierzynski can come close to duplicating his 2012 offensive production in 2013. He played in 135 games for the White Sox last year and he was 133 of 479 (.278 avg, .827 OPS) with 68 runs scored, 27 homers and 77 RBIs. He has now played in 1,629 games in his first 15 years in the majors and he is 1,645 of 5,795 (.284 avg, .753 OPS) with 681 runs scored, 155 homers, 730 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Pierzynski played in 126 games (121 starts) for the White Sox last year and he had 6 errors and 8 passed balls. He threw out 19 of 95 (20%) runners trying to steal against him last year and White Sox pitchers had a 4.06 ERA with him behind the dish. 29-year old righty swinging Geovany Soto will be strictly a backup catcher in 2013 for the Rangers. He played in 47 games for the Rangers last year and he was 29 of 148 (.196 avg, .591 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 5 homers, 25 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Soto played in 99 games overall last year for the Cubs and Rangers in which he was 64 of 324 (.198 avg, .613 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 11 homers, 39 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Soto has now played in 602 games in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 489 of 1,972 (.248 avg, .772 OPS) with 244 runs scored, 82 homers, 289 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Soto played in 96 games (92 starts) behind the plate last year and he had 8 errors and 2 passed balls. Soto threw out 13 of 78 (16.7%) base stealers last year and pitchers had a 4.17 ERA with him behind the dish. 33-year old righty swinging Eli Whiteside and 28-year old righty swinging Konrad Schmidt will likely start the 2013 season in AAA-ball and provide depth at catcher for the Rangers in 2013. Whiteside played in 12 games for the Giants last year and he was 1 for 11 (.091 avg, .396 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. He has now played in 208 games in his first five years in the majors and he is 105 of 489 (.215 avg, .608 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 10 homers, 43 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Whiteside played in 11 games (3 starts) behind the plate for the Giants last year but he didn’t make any errors or have any passed balls. He threw out 2 of 4 (50%) base stealers last year and Giants’ pitchers had a 4.62 ERA with him behind the dish. Schmidt played in 4 games for the Diamondbacks last year and he was 0 for 7 (.000 avg, .125 OPS) with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs. He also played in 93 games in AAA-ball for the D-Backs in which he was 92 of 332 (.277 avg, .750 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 7 homers, 47 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Schmidt has now played in 8 games in his first two years in the majors and he is 1 for 15 (.067 avg, .243 OPS) with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs. Schmidt played in 2 games (1 start) behind the plate and he had 1 passed ball. Diamondbacks’ pitchers had a 4.85 ERA with Schmidt behind the plate.
PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2013: B+
