Photo Credit: Scott Paulus/Brewers
It’s tough to have a successful season without a few lucky breaks and some surprising performances. The Milwaukee Brewers have gotten both in the form of Erik Kratz.
Kratz is in his 17th professional season, and the rookie ball team where he made his pro debut (the Pioneer League’s Medicine Hat Blue Jays) no longer exists. The Brewers are his 10th organization and his seventh in the last three years. He turned 38 in June, and he’s one of just eight MLB players born in 1980 or earlier to make more than 50 plate appearances this season.
Despite his journeyman status and his age, Kratz is having arguably the best season of his career. His second hit on Sunday gave him 43 on the season—a new career high. He’s played in 57 games as a Brewer—his most since making 68 appearances with the 2013 Philadelphia Phillies. Kratz was acquired off of the New York Yankees’ AAA roster and likely would not have gotten a chance in Milwaukee if not for Stephen Vogt’s shoulder injury and Jett Bandy’s struggles in a backup role, but he’s made the most of the opportunity.
Despite the fact that he’s never been a featured catcher in the majors, the Brewers have not shied away from putting Kratz in the lineup: He started a pair of games each in the recent Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs series and was the starter for all three games behind the plate when the Cubs visited Miller Park on September 3-5. Since Wednesday, Aug. 1, Kratz has played in 28 of the team’s 40 games. The Brewers have only played back-to-back games without Kratz in the lineup four times since Wednesday, July 4.
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Kratz’s nine innings behind the plate on Sunday moved him over 420 for the season, and Brewers pitchers have a 3.53 ERA while throwing to him. That’s about 3/10ths of a run better than their overall season numbers and 1/2 a run better than their mark when pitching to Manny Piña (4.09).
Calling for Strikes
A big chunk of that could be Kratz’s apparent ability to get more called strikes for his pitchers. In his relatively small sample this year, Baseball Prospectus estimates Kratz has gotten called strikes about 1.8% more often than the average catcher—a difference that they estimate has added about 7.7 runs to his value this season. Piña, meanwhile, has been about average in the same categories: BP estimates he’s getting about 0.2% more called strikes than the average catcher, which equates to about 1.5 runs of value in slightly less than twice as much playing time.
Kratz was behind the plate for the Brewers on Sunday with Jhoulys Chacín on the mound, and that’s become a regular occurrence: Kratz has now caught 102.1 of Chacín’s 178 innings this season. Entering play on Sunday, Chacín was holding opposing batters to a .212 batting average, .285 on-base percentage and .334 slugging when pitching to Kratz, as compared to .248/.329/.405 when pitching to Piña.
The Brewers’ decision to use Kratz extensively behind the plate down the stretch once again raises questions about the organization’s future at the position. It’s plausible Kratz could come back as a semi-regular catcher in 2019, but he’ll turn 39 years old in June, and it’s probably just as likely he’ll retire. Piña, meanwhile, is no spring chicken himself at 31 years old. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter as he comes off a season where his role and numbers have both diminished. The list of free agent catchers that will be available this winter is somewhat underwhelming, but it’s possible this is an area where the Brewers could look to make a move.
In the meantime, Erik Kratz is perhaps the Brewers’ most unlikely contributor, and he seems likely to continue to get regular playing time during their postseason push.
