The Padres announced that they’ve acquired catcher Brett Nicholas from the Rangers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Nicholas, 29, was outrighted off the Rangers’ 40-man roster late in Spring Training and recently was further displaced by Texas’ signing of Cameron Rupp to a minor league contract. The Padres have assigned him to Triple-A El Paso.
Nicholas has appeared in 36 games for the Rangers over the past two seasons, tallying 110 plate appearances and hitting .252/.300/.446 with four homers in that brief sample. He’s halted just two of 15 stolen-base attempts against Rangers pitching in that time, though he’s been more effective (27 percent) in parts of eight minor league seasons. Baseball Prospectus doesn’t view his pitch framing in either the Majors or the minors too highly, but Nicholas is a lifetime .283/.333/.427 hitter in 1669 Triple-A plate appearances.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller is plenty familiar with Nicholas, as he was an assistant GM with the Rangers back in 2010 when Texas drafted Nicholas in the sixth round out of Missouri. The left-handed-hitting Nicholas will give the Friars some additional depth behind catchers Austin Hedges and A.J. Ellis, and he also comes with some experience at first base. It seems likely that Nicholas will team with Raffy Lopez to handle the bulk of the catching duties in Triple-A.
I think this signing says more about Austin Hedges than anything. The kid needs to hit. The defense if phenomenal, but when you struggle to hit .200 and look overmatched against anyone throwing over 95 mph, it’s time to start developing a backup plan.
Raffy Lopez showed some intrigue in spring training and Nicholas has shown he can atleast be a backup in the league so having those guys ready incase Hedges falls flat on his face this year is a smart plan B.
Hedges defense coming into the league was supposed to be phenomenal but it’s been less than stellar. His throwing doesn’t really matter because people don’t steal anymore. I think he was in the bottom part of the league on framing pitches last year.
Nope, he was number 2 behind Tyler Flowers if I can remember correctly. He is a really good pitch framer, that’s easy to tell with the eye test.
But his offense is so putrid that regardless of how great his defense is, he is still going to be a mediocre player because of it. An all defense, no bat catcher is a luxury that really good teams can afford to have because they are getting production from elsewhere up and down the lineup, it’s not smart to have on a rebuilding team when you have no offense to begin with. Everybody needs to contribute or else this team will stink. Hedges is no exception to the rule, regardless of the glove.
His use of that George Michael song as his walk up music really rubs me the wrong way. It comes off as really smug and I do t think you get to be smug when you’re batting .100. I want Hedges to do better but I’m not sure he will.
I agree with everything you said. You could be right about the framing I just thought I heard on the broadcast that he was in the lower bottom in all of baseball for that. I will say he is great at blocking balls in the dirt.
This was to bleacherbumb.
Yeah I think we are on the same page when it comes to Hedges. It sucks because he is a good kid and you can tell he try’s really hard, the results offensively just aren’t there yet.
I could take his low batting average a little bit better if he would just cut way down on his strikeouts. It’s frustrating watching him not even make contact half the time.
It’s not a “signing” it’s an easy procedural acquisition to stock depth. Just sayin’…..
Glad I am not only one who cringes when people use term “signing” for any claim, trade or assignment .
Depth is a term to define quality options. The Padres have no catching depth. Hedges can’t hit, Ellis is 40 and a career back up, Lopez is a career minor leaguer. Nicholas is arguably the best catcher on the 40 man roster now. It’s painfully honest, but it’s the truth. So this “acquisition” is a lot more than just depth. He could be up in a few weeks if Hedges can’t get his head above .150
Oh no, I agree and understand the move. Lopez has deserved a lengthier look than what we have seen so far, so the move makes sense in order to allow him to go up and down as duty calls.
My point still stands the same though, if Hedges continues to struggle with the bat then the organization is going to have to start looking for upgrades any way possible.
But people are now trying to claim that Hedges isn’t a good defender just because they don’t like the bat.
Great defender, 0 stick.
Bingo
West Coast Ryan back!
I saw him catch Luis perdomo’s first start and the man deserves a gold glove for the way he blocked all the trash perdomo had thrown into the ground.
Agreed. The defense might be great, but Hedges really needs to start hitting or he’ll be in danger of losing his starting job.
Nicholas is a good bat and a pretty decent receiver. Rangers need the “cash” infusion because the club is “low voltage.”
…JT Realmuto???
Hopefully not. The Marlins will be asking for a king’s ransom for him.
If the rest of the team was hitting besides Hosmer and Pirela Hedges lack of offense would mean even less than it already does…..which is little
We should be asking why guys like Renfroe,Headley and Margot aren’t hitting.
You know….the guys getting paid to “hit”.
Hedges has to go… time to start looking for a long term replacement. Defense is great, but it’s an absolute hole in the lineup. It’s one thing to not hit .300…. it’s a whole other thing to not be able to hit .220. That’s a real problem. In his defense, it isn’t just hedges who has a problem hitting…. Myers hovers around .240, Renfroe was at .220ish last year and now is a spot starter/platoon guy, Margot looks absolutely lost at the plate so far this year (small sample this season, but it’s possible he’s being pitched different than his rookie season and is really struggling now). Padres can have all the pitching prospects in the world….. if you’re looking at 3-4 hits per game with about 10 strikeouts a game…. those pitchers are going to be wasted
Hedges is fine. The defense plays no matter what. The cardinals have done just fine with an all-glove/no bat catcher for years now. Hedges is far from the biggest problem the Padres have.
Did you say yadier Molina is a no bat catcher??? I can only hope you were joking with that
Let’s not forget that the last two catching prospects the Padres had we’re supposed to be something special too and they never panned out. Grandal was the last one and right before him was a guy we traded to the Mariners and I can’t remember his name.
Yasmani Grandal is a really good hitter. They traded him for Matt kemp, who was terrible.
He was not a good hitter for the Padres. He hit ..224 the year before he was traded. Wasn’t much better the year before that in 60 games either. He’s been good for the Dudgers.
The Padres didn’t like the way he called a game. In fact, there was a pitcher or two that did not want him to catch when they were pitching. The same thing happened on the dodger pitching staff. Plus, he refused to block the plate back when it was still legal to block the plate.
Career .241 hitter.
He does other things at the plate. And if I was a catcher I wouldn’t block the plate either. That’s asking for a concussion.
Kemp’s contract was completely underwater. The fact that the Dodgers were able to trade him at all was nothing short of a miracle, let alone get a catcher who made an All Star game for them in the trade.
I’m just saying that I don’t think anyone that is a .241 career hitter should be labeled a “really good” hitter.
I think batting average is overrated.
I will never understand that thinking. Do you think ERA is overrated?
Oh my god, yes. ERA is way worse than even batting average.
Here’s an example: a pitcher gets the first two batters of an inning out. The third batter hits a ball to second base that the second baseman flubs. The next batter doubles. The batter after that doubles. the next batter homers. That pitcher just allowed 4 runs, none of which were earned, and yet allowed three hard-hit balls. But his ERA actually goes down in that case. Or a reliever comes in with runners and blows a lead but all the runs are charged to the prevous pitcher. Use FIP or, really anything else to judge a pitcher.
You make a good point.
Still not as bad as wins and losses