It was not that long ago that the Dodgers were considered deep with catching prospects:
- Will Smith
- Keibert Ruiz
- Diego Cartaya
- Conner Wong
- Jair Camargo
Smith (LAD), Ruiz (Nationals), Wong (Red Sox) are starting catchers in MLB. The other two, Cartaya and Camargo will be teammates for Minnesota’s AAA team, St. Paul Saints. If Minnesota is successful in trading their current backup catcher, Christian Vázquez, Camargo figures to take over as the backup catcher for the Twins. Camargo has two options remaining while Cartaya has one.
Wong was part of the package traded to Boston for Mookie. Camargo was part of the package traded to Minnesota in the Brusdar Graterol deal. Ruiz was traded to Washington along with JoJo Gray for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.
And now, Cartaya has been traded to Minnesota for 20 year old RH pitching lottery ticket Jose Vazquez.
That leaves Will Smith as the lone catcher standing with LAD from that group. Last year, Smith signed a 10 year $140MM extension to be the long term everyday catcher. He will be 38 when he finishes the contract. Time will tell whether that decision was wise or not. However, he is a two-time All Star, and is currently considered the 3rd best MLB catcher.
In 2018, the Dodgers drafted Hunter Feduccia in the 12th round from LSU. I am guilty of overvaluing players from LSU and I became an instant advocate. He has progressed to MLB where he has shown that he can be more than a capable backup catcher.
In 2021, LAD signed Dominican catcher Thayron Liranzo. Liranzo started to move up the LAD prospect ranks and was traded to Detroit in the Jack Flaherty trade.
In 2022, the Dodgers restocked their elite catcher stock while drafting Dalton Rushing from the University of Louisville, same university as Will Smith. Rushing is now the #1 LAD prospect per MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. He is MLB ready right now with the bat, but no place to play with Smith firmly entrenched as the LAD starting catcher. Rushing started to play some LF last year because LAD wanted to increase his versatility to try and take advantage of his bat. With Cartaya moving to Minnesota, Brandon Gomes has told Rushing he is going to back to more catching. With Feduccia and Rushing, OKC is down to 2 catchers. They do have an emergency catcher in Griffin Lockwood-Powell (GLP) who has been moved primarily (almost exclusively) to 1B.
Currently the only catcher on the Tulsa roster is 23 year old Nelson Quiroz. Quiroz is from Navajoa, Mexico, and was signed April 2019. He was at Great Lakes in 2024 and in 202 PA he slashed .255/.322/.299/.621, 6 XBH, 1 HR. He is certainly a contact first hitter. He walked 16 times and struck out 16 times in those 202 PA. That is 7.92% K and BB rate. Unless GLP drops down to AA, AF/BG will be looking for another AA catcher. Quiroz has a career .986 field percentage and a 25.6% caught stealing rate. He looks to be more organizational depth at this point.
In 2021, the Dodgers signed 21 year old (now) catcher from Venezuela, Jesus Galiz. Galiz has impressed in his early years and figures to start his season at Great Lakes. He is currently the #30 LAD prospect, per MLB Pipeline. Galiz is considered a defense 1st catcher with a high baseball IQ. He is probably better slated as another potential backup catcher rather than a frontline catcher.
The second projected Great Lakes catcher is fellow Venezuelan, 22 year old Carlos Rojas. Rojas was signed in 2019. Last year at Rancho, in 310 PA, Rojas slashed .290/.368/.357/.725. Another contact hitter with 48 K vs 29 BB. Defensively, in 1,642 total chances, Rojas has a .991 career fielding percentage. He also has a 30.4 caught stealing rate.
The organizational depth chart of catcher has two catchers at Rancho Cucamonga and two ACL rookie league catchers.
Penciled at catcher to start 2025 at Rancho Cucamonga, 20 year old Victor Rodrigues, another Venezuelan catcher, was signed in January 2022. He ended the 2024 season at Rancho as a 19 year old. The second catcher currently penciled to begin at Rancho is 21 year old Angel Diaz from…you guessed it, Venezuela.
The two catchers slated to start their US debuts at the Arizona Complex League, are 20 year old Dominican catcher, Railin Familia, and 20 year old Nicaraguan catcher, Jose Torrez. Both Familia and Torrez had good DSL seasons.
With Rushing and Feduccia MLB ready right now, the Dodgers have sufficient catching to get through the season. After these two, the Dodgers will be hoping one or two of the remaining AA, A+, A, and Rookie League catchers break through to become legit prospects. Jesus Galiz is currently a notable prospect, but is he really?
Feduccia will be first up if something happens to Smith or Barnes. I think 25 will be Barnes last year with the team, and if he decides to retire, I see him going into coaching or managing at the minor league level. Yankees signed Dominic Smith to a minor league deal. Congrats to the Rams on their dominant win over the Vikings.
Sasaki allegedly has narrowed down his choice to the Dodgers, Padres and Jays.
Great win by the Rams!
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smith will be 30 when the season starts and looking at his stats it would appear, unsurprisingly, that he peaked offensively at age 27, which, coincidentally, is Feduccia’s current age.
This year will be a ‘24 receiver reduex and the Dodgers are fortunate to have who is there. That said I do not expect the WAR out of that group to be commensurate with what it has been. They are all older and residing in, or moving into, post prime.
Who is the Dodger catcher of the future and exactly when does that future arrive? I don’t know the answer to that and it appears to me to be mercurial. I had Ruiz there. Then I had Cartaya there. Then Feduccia. Then Rushing. And now I see more names, of which I have yet to choose any as I don’t know these guys. One of them might be Rushing’s future backup or for all I know they all could be traded. I could blindly pick one or two, but A League players are all crapshoots to me. Every organization has a plethora of those guys.
Anyway, thanks for another well researched and superbly written post Jeff. I’ll trust your judgement on who, if any, among them will rise and stick with the organization.
And for STB Jefe, are you threatened up there?
Of course the Smith contract was smart. Locked up a core member of championship team for ~&12m tax hit.
I am not arrogant enough to believe the Dodgers are so good they are just going to waltz to another title. SD and AZ will be good enough to scare some people. The Giants pitching is still pretty decent. Only the Rockies are non-contenders. Outside the division, most of the good teams have made moves. It should be a dogfight for the pennant this year.
Baseball Prospectus giving LAD 2 top ten prospects. Zyhir Hope is 8th top prospect and Josue De Paula is 9th. They still have a lot to prove, but it is encouraging .
Speaking of Roki Sasaki this morning, there is a very long but interesting article about his childhood trauma and his pitching prowess, in the Athletic by Stephen Nesbitt. I had zero knowledge of this kid’s history other than as a pitcher.
Maybe all his critics can settle down and let the guy make up his mind about his future? He can’t even sign until tomorrow legally so what’s the rush?
I know that Roki’s signing is holding up the Dodgers signing other International prospects and it would be nice to know his future but he has every right to make his decision on his time. It’s not my business to tell him what to do.
AZ has a team that finds a way to win with speed and timely hitting. The Dodgers seem to be adding players with speed and ability to make contact not to mention position flexibility. Regarding flexibility and catching we shouldn’t forget about Yeiner Fernandez who can play multiple positions and be an emergency catcher.
Sure hope Sasaki makes his decision a few days before the Jan 23 cutoff date so teams that don’t get him can sign other international players with their allotted funds.
Dodgers get second Sasaki meeting Tuesday per the Athletic.
Per Francys Romero (I may have posted this last night)
Dominican INF Teilon Serrano, who was set to sign with the Dodgers in the upcoming 2024-25 international signing period, withdrew from his agreement and is back on the market, per sources.
Serrano will now look to sign with a new MLB organization.
Sasaki meeting with LA today, and this time the team is allowed to bring players to the meeting. Not sure who they might have there. Per MLBTR.
Had a great meeting with my medical team today. About 3 weeks from being discharged so I can head home.
Crazy! Crazy gossip from Longenhagen on mlb radio:
he (Eric L) heard a rumor that a team has a deal lined up with the Dodgers to trade 3 million in IFA slot money for….
JOSUE DE PAULA.
he says he is skeptical. but he threw it out there.