The Nats moved from the 2nd worst catcher in baseball to a guy in the top 10
The key for this trade was that Suzuki this season has caught 38% of runners stealing while Jesus Flores is at 10%. Flores' numbers are awful in that category and teams have been stealing bases uncontested for the past several weeks. Catcher play like that would not be good in clutch games where a runner moving from first to second can be the difference between a win and a loss.
Suzuki's 2.18 batting average is only a few points below Jesus Flores 2.25
As you can see, Suzuki is struggling on offense. He has been a much better hitter in the past and has the potential to get his average up. However keeping the bases clean and having a solid catcher in the field could be more important than having a catcher who can hit at this time.
Jesus will most likely backup and possibly pinch hit late in games.
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| And he is on Twitter |
According to Mark Zuckerman, Suzuki was Traded For David Freitas, Class A Minor League and will be under contract for the rest of this year, and for next year. Next year's contract is almost $6.5 million
The contract situation means that next season if Wison Ramos returns as the #1 guy, then you have a lot of money tied up in backup catcher. But that can be dealt with later, the key was fixing up the position for a World Series run.
Stat of the Trade: (from Baseball Reference)
- Suzuki is top 10 in the MLB in Caught Stealing % (Must play 20 games)
- Jesus Flores is 2nd to last in the MLB in Caught Stealing % (Must play 20 games)
More on Kurt Suzuki:
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