Atlanta Braves Add Catcher
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves Add Catcher Anthony Recker
According the Adam Rubin the Atlanta Braves acquired Anthony Recker from Cleveland today.
Indians trade ex-Met Anthony Recker to Braves for cash, per @hoynsie. Recker will report to Triple-A Gwinnett. Had out in contract looming.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) May 9, 2016
Who is Anthony Recker?
Oakland selected the now 32-year-old Recker in the 18th round of the 2005 rule four draft. He made his major league debut in August of 2011 and had a cup of coffee again in 2012 before being sent to the Cubs. The Cubbies game him another cup late that year but placed him on waivers after the season ended.
The Mets grabbed Recker off waivers and for the next two years he was their backup backstop first behind John Buck then supporting Travis d’Arnaud. In 2015 the Mets preferred Kevin Pawlecki but when d’Arnaud went down with an injury Recker was once again called.
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In his 3 seasons with the Mets he appeared in 140 games making 432 PA posting a .190/.256/.350/.606 line that included 15 homers and 17 doubles.
The Mets nontendered Recker after the 2015 season and he signed a minor league contract with the Indians but when the Tribe passed him over in favor of Chris Gimenez Recker exercised his opt out and became a free agent.
Why add another backup catcher?
The Braves already had an experienced major league catcher at Gwinnett who spent some time in Atlanta last year – Ryan Lavarnway – and their career slash lines look remarkably similar. Defensively neither is rated particularly highly at pitch framing and but Recker seems to hold an edge in the few metrics available and is considered to have a stronger arm.
Lavarnway holds a slight career edge in slugging (.473 to .463) and strikes out less (19% to 28%) while Recker leading in raw numbers of home runs (110 to 94), triples (16 to 2) and doubles (163 to 142). Looking deeper however it’s pretty obvious Recker is a better hitter at a higher level – AAA – than Lavarnway.
| 2012-2016 AAA | G | AB | 2B | 3B | HR | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO |
| Recker | 106 | 372 | 16 | 2 | 20 | .261 | .370 | .476 | .846 | .215 |
| Lavarnway | 230 | 850 | 50 | 0 | 16 | .279 | .374 | .394 | .769 | .115 |
That’s A Wrap
The purchase of Recker from the Indians is clearly an attempt to add some power to the system that’s been unplugged from the grid for a while. He’s not exactly a utility man although he has played some first base – 265 innings in all, 18 in the majors – and the Mets had him stand at third base for an inning in 2015.
The lack of power in our system however might force his promotion in an effort to give the manager an option with a chance of running into one. In a pinch he can join Jeff Francoeur as an emergency pitcher although Frenchy is probably the first call as the one inning Recker threw for the Mets resulted in 2 runs on 1 hit and a walk.
When Recker joins Gwinnett one of baseball’s idiosyncrasies pops up. The current backup catcher on the G-Braves roster is the man the Cubs traded for Recker back in 2012 Blake Lalli.