Astros catcher Martín Maldonado appeared in his 90th game of the season on Sunday. That marked a notable milestone for the veteran backstop, as he reached the vesting threshold in his contract in the process. Maldonado is now officially under contract for 2023. While reports had initially pegged the option value at $5MM, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle wrote over the weekend that Maldonado’s salary will actually check in at $4.5MM.
Maldonado, who turned 36 last week, will return to Houston for a sixth straight year. Acquired from the division-rival Angels for Patrick Sandoval at the 2018 trade deadline, Maldonado finished out the season in Houston. He signed with the Royals the ensuing offseason and was traded to the Cubs. Houston reacquired him from Chicago a couple weeks later, and he’s remained an Astro since then on a series of contract extensions.
The most recent of those pacts came last April, when Houston signed the MVP Sports Group client to a $5MM guarantee for the 2022 season with the ’23 vesting provision. Manager Dusty Baker penciled him into the lineup on 118 occasions last season, and he’s gotten the nod 88 times so far this year (with a few appearances off the bench tipping him above the vesting threshold). Maldonado has continued to assume the lion’s share of the playing time even after the Astros acquired Christian Vázquez from the Red Sox at this summer’s trade deadline. Maldonado has gotten 13 starts since that trade while Vázquez has been behind the dish on eight occasions.
Baker’s commitment to Maldonado as the starting backstop reflects the organization’s belief he’s an integral member of the run prevention unit. The righty has never been an effective hitter, and he owns just a .181/.245/.351 line across 305 plate appearances this season. Vázquez has a far more productive .288/.330/.423 showing at the dish, but the Astros have long maintained that Maldonado’s impact behind the plate far outweighs his underwhelming showing at it.
In prior years, that’s been supported by public defensive metrics. Maldonado routinely rated as a upper echelon pitch framer and received strong overall marks from Defensive Runs Saved throughout the prime of his career. That hasn’t been the case of late, as he’s rated as an average to slightly below-average framer through the past four seasons. He’s thrown out a solid but not spectacular 28.2% of attempted base-stealers this season (11 of 39), and his overall defensive statistics come out right around league average.
There’s no established way to quantify a catcher’s ability to manage a pitching staff or call a game, however. The Astros have long argued Maldonado is elite in those intangible aspects, and their continued commitment both to keeping him on the roster and in the regular lineup reflects that conviction. With Vázquez headed for free agency at the end of the season and a strong candidate for a multi-year deal and a starting job elsewhere, it seems likely Maldonado will again be Houston’s primary backstop in 2023.
The Astros have gotten a limited look at well-regarded prospect Korey Lee this season. The former first-rounder may be the organization’s catcher of the future, but he’s stumbled to a .217/.285/.417 line over 78 games with Triple-A Sugar Land. The only other backstop on the 40-man roster, Jason Castro, is out for the season and headed for free agency. Houston seems likely to look to the waiver wire or lower tiers of free agency for catching help this winter, although any target will probably be a veteran complement to Maldonado rather than someone who’ll bump him out of the primary lineup.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
So odd that Vasquez isn’t getting the majority of playing time. Waste of a trade as of so far.
Astros needed a backup. They love Maldonado, no one is taking the lion’s share of his playing time unless the hit like Mike Piazza
He’s not hitting like Mike Piazza with the Astros, but Vazquez has a .344 average and 105 OPS+ in his first 33 plate appearances. Maldonado has a 69 OPS+. Vazquez is also providing superior defense, at least according to the numbers.
Does maldo really call that amazing of a game vs Vasquez? Same goes with Mancini I don’t see why he isn’t getting more ab at 1st considering gurriel struggles with the bat this year.
Because Dusty sucks.
Correct Jeff. If he was a better manager the Astros would probably have one the World Series last year. Between Dusty and Dave Roberts they made it quite easy for the Braves.
He was never traded to be the starter. They needed something like last season when the playoffs roll around. Castro was bad and out for the rest of the season.
Look at Yainer Diaz in AAA, that guy hits a TON!!!! Would love to see Korey Lee and Diaz sharing catching duties next season, but I guess it’s another year of a .180 hitting catcher lol.
But can he pitch frame?
Pitch framing won’t mater if there’s robot umps next year lol.
Really enjoyed watching Martin play when he was a Brewer, anyone who has seen him play a fair amount understands he does really excel in some of those hard to measure facets of the game. He is a catcher’s catcher, been a fun career to watch, one more year to go most likely.
Dittos RUSH!
Pitch framing lol. “I’m gonna catch the ball waaaay over here then move my glove over to the strike zone so maybe the umpire will call it a strike! I’m a great pitch framer lol!”
I kinda agree here. I’m very sceptical of this concept of pitch framing and don’t get how it can even be accurately measured. Who knows exactly why an umpire blew a call? There are more variables than just the shenanigans a catcher gets up to with his mitt.
Dusty is right about playing Maldonado and Gurriel, that’s the heart of the team, that team has been together for a long time, there is a lot to be said for that, look at how the Yankees are struggling.
But, pulling Verlander from a no-hit bid is another in a long line of innings management travesties across MLB. I don’t care if your arm falls off in the ninth and you’re at 140 pitches, if a no hitter is intact you’re going back out there.
You wanna shred your ace’s arm to achieve an essentially meaningless stat?
you’re right about everything but Verlander – Justin made that call himself. He knows his body, he’s probably got the highest pitcher-smarts in MLB
I highly doubt that, there isn’t a pitcher in the damn league who would pull himself from a no hitter unless he felt like he couldn’t go another forty pitches.
It’s not a meaningless stat, neither is the complete game shut out, those are big games for a pitcher and for the team.
Nolan Ryan was a human man, he pitched 25+ seasons and averaged over 200 innings a season, he pitched 220 innings at age 42.
More pitchers go down in the early innings when they are not loose, so what’s the justification of pulling a guy who is loose and has it going late in the game?
The Marlins let Sandy Alcantara go the distance all year, only good manager in baseball in that regard.
It’s like Tony La Russia pulling Johnny Cueto with a two run lead and two outs in the ninth when he was an out away from a complete game shut out, what the hell is that about, even if you lose the game you have to give Cueto the benefit of the doubt in that spot because those are big games, especially for a guy late in his career. It’s a team game but the whole team benefits from those big starts, those are big wins and good for the momentum of the club, when you pull a guy who pitched eight and two thirds of shut out baseball because the numbers say you got a better probability of getting the last out, even if you win you lose the celebration that comes with those moments, and if you lose, well, still have forty games to play, still have to win tomorrow.
““It was a pretty easy conversation,” said Verlander of his consultations with catcher Martín Maldonado and pitching coach Josh Miller. “I think we all agreed that was the right decision.””
““It’s tough to take a guy out with a no-hitter, but he would have had to go 130 pitches to get that,” Baker said. “You’ve got to weigh between a no-hitter and having him for the rest of the year. He felt it was more important than the game that we have a healthy Verlander the rest of the year.””
https://www.mlb.com/news/justin-verlander-strikes-out-10-in-win-over-twins
He was at 90 pitches through 6, there was no way they were letting him finish that game. If he makes it through the 7th with the no-hitter still intact, he is over 100 pitches with two innings to go. Then the coaching staff is agonizing over every pitch the rest of the way, and the closer he gets to the last out the harder it would be to go get him.
You know what would be bad for the momentum of the club? Verlander pushing it too hard and coming up lame for the playoffs. Let’s not forget about Scherzer last year, for example.
Yes, pitchers threw a lot more pitches decades ago, and JV is closer to Ryan’s style than most. Ryan is probably my favorite player of all time.
Any other year, maybe you let him go. But not this year.
I checked, Alcantara has four complete games, all under 115 pitches.
If he’s clocking 97 in the eighth, I’d let him throw 140+ pitches if the no hitter was intact, to me, there is no pitch count in no hitters and a liberal one with complete game shut outs. Only a handful of no hitters every season in 2300+ games, a complete game shut out is a rarity too.
Wins, strike outs and ERA for the triple crown, but anymore leading the league in innings pitched is a real achievement, and cg’s are special.
Good for Houston, honoring the contract. They could have taken the easy-A’s route. Kind of a surprised feat when you acquire Vazquez