One of a catcher\u2019s most important jobs is to control the pitching staff each game. But two MLB teams, the Marlins and Colorado Rockies, are taking that responsibility away from catchers. They believe their coaches will do a better job of understanding what pitches should be thrown because they have information readily available that includes strengths and weaknesses of their pitchers and the opposing hitters.<\/p>\n
Suffice to say, not everyone agrees. Rod\u00f3n, one of the highest-paid starting pitchers in the sport, is staunchly against this practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I think it\u2019s good?\u201d he rhetorically asked during this weekend\u2019s series at Yankee Stadium. \u201cNo, I think it\u2019s terrible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Agust\u00edn Ram\u00edrez wants to be a free agent, and he\u2019s had every pitch called for him, who the hell is going to look at him and be like, yeah, he\u2019s a catcher? It\u2019s just taking away opportunities to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rod\u00f3n thinks the Marlins are devaluing their catchers, but it might be for a good reason. Ram\u00edrez graded out as the worst defensive catcher in the majors last season, finishing with minus-28 blocks above average, according to Statcast. Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez was the second-worst with minus-15, and Ram\u00edrez had nearly 1,000 fewer block opportunities than Perez.<\/p>\n
Ram\u00edrez was also the worst catcher in controlling the running game, finishing last in the league with an 8.8 caught stealing percentage. In Saturday\u2019s 9-7 loss to the New York Yankees, not only did Ram\u00edrez have two passed balls, but also \u2014 in perhaps the biggest indictment of his ability behind the plate \u2014 Giancarlo Stanton swiped a base on him. It was Stanton\u2019s first steal in the regular season in six years.<\/p>\n
Taking away game-calling from Ram\u00edrez could be a way for the Marlins to help the 24-year-old\u2019s receiving and throwing improve by removing the biggest responsibility, while shifting more of his focus to offense. There\u2019s also evidence it could boost their pitching outcomes.<\/p>\n
The Marlins used this strategy for their entire minor-league season last year to great success. They went from 15th in whiff rate in 2024 to first in 2025.<\/a> Their strikeout-to-walk ratio improved from 15th to sixth. It\u2019s too early to know if it\u2019ll make a noticeable difference in the majors, but for a young, inexperienced team that doesn\u2019t have World Series aspirations, now is the time to improvise.<\/p>\n \ufeff<\/p>\n Miami\u2019s ace, 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara, is all in favor of the Marlins\u2019 new approach. Even with his pedigree, Alcantara doesn\u2019t get special treatment. The dugout is calling his pitches. So far, he\u2019s perfect on the season, allowing zero runs in 16 innings.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was an idea that came from our (assistant) pitching coach last year,\u201d Alcantara said of Alon Leichman, who is now the Rockies\u2019 pitching coach. \u201cWe did it a couple times last year and we had great success. They call the pitches and the catcher gives the sign to the pitcher. And we do the same this year \u2014 for everyone. I think it\u2019s a good idea because they call a pitch that they think is good for you to get a groundball or a strikeout. We feel great because they call the pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t expect the Yankees to adopt this process.<\/p>\n Austin Wells said he would be upset if the club took away his game-calling responsibility, which he\u2019s had as a catcher at various stops since high school. When he was a freshman at the University of Arizona in 2019, Wells said the coaching staff wanted to call pitches from the dugout. They ultimately decided against it. He believes calling pitches is a big reason he\u2019s developed into one of MLB\u2019s best defenders behind the plate.<\/p>\n \u201cCalling pitches (from the dugout) is completely different than from behind the plate and reading swings and being in the box,\u201d Wells said. \u201cIf you\u2019re just relying on whatever the dugout is trying to call, you\u2019re going to lose out on a lot of valuable time and feedback on whether you call the right or wrong pitch. If you call the wrong pitch and you thought one thing and it ended up being bad, you\u2019re gonna learn from that. With whatever the coaches are calling, you\u2019re not learning and growing with the game, especially when you face guys in your division over and over again. You have an idea of what each guy does well or doesn\u2019t do well \u2014 and you\u2019re able to grow from being in there. Watching film and looking at the numbers only gets you so far.\u201d<\/p>\n That feedback loop is constant in the Yankees\u2019 dugout. Between innings, pitching coach Matt Blake and director of catching Tanner Swanson will usually sit down with whoever is pitching and catching to discuss what just transpired. Blake called the process \u201csensitive,\u201d especially if an outing has gone sideways, because the coaches don\u2019t want the players to feel like they\u2019re being second-guessed every time there\u2019s a bad outcome. But the feedback is critical for growth. If the data shows an opposing hitter struggles against a certain pitch in a given count, but Wells or backup catcher J.C. Escarra calls for one the hitter handles well \u2014 and it leads to damage \u2014 the coaching staff will want to understand the reasoning behind the decision.<\/p>\n Those are the conversations Miami\u2019s and now Colorado\u2019s catchers might be missing out on this season.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has to be some level of question-and-answer feedback about what our decision-making process was,\u201d Blake said of those discussions. \u201cHow do we get to that pitch call in that situation? Say we value the curveball, slider and the changeup ahead of the two-seamer in this environment, and we threw the two-seamer in that count, why did we think that was the right pitch to go to? What were you seeing that led you down that path? Was it something the hitter had shown us with his swings? Was it something the pitcher had shown us by not being able to execute something? We just need to get a better understanding of how we\u2019re making decisions. \u2026 Maybe it wasn\u2019t the best path to go down.\u201d<\/p>\n The Yankees do extensive prep work before games, so it\u2019s rare when there is disagreement among players and coaches about what should be done in those moments. The team will begin a three-game series against the Athletics on Tuesday. Escarra said that his off day on Monday will be spent learning every detail about the Athletics\u2019 lineup. By the time he arrives at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, he\u2019ll know the hitters\u2019 strengths and weaknesses, their heat zones and how they fare against certain pitches, along with preparation focused on the Automated Ball-Strike system<\/a>.<\/p>\n Escarra said the Yankees have three different meetings with the starting pitchers every day for going over the scouting reports they\u2019ve created. If, for some reason, the catchers forget something from those meetings, Wells and Escarra have notes on their wristbands that are, essentially, cheat sheets for every batter.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not even playing, and I prepare and do my homework, and I game plan for that team,\u201d Escarra said. \u201cIf I\u2019m a Marlin, I don\u2019t really need to do any of those things. So what am I learning?\u201d<\/p>\n \n Yankees catchers Austin Wells, right, and J.C. Escarra (not pictured) criticized the Marlins\u2019 use of dugout-called pitches, saying it hurts catchers\u2019 development. (Vincent Carchietta \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n Rod\u00f3n\u2019s biggest gripe with the dugout calling pitches is that not everything in a game can be scripted. He understands the optimization aspect, but game plans are routinely altered over the course of nine innings. Wells said that when he\u2019s catching, he\u2019s making adjustments pitch-to-pitch, mid-at-bat and mid-inning every game. He believes the best pitching staffs continuously adjust to what the opposing team is doing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t script when you\u2019re in Game 3 of the ALCS or Game 2 of the World Series,\u201d Rod\u00f3n said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to get the best from everybody. The computer is not going to be able to tell you everything in those moments. Over the regular season, sure. But it separates itself when you get to the games that really matter.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re facing Freddie Freeman, he\u2019s gonna have a different approach than what he\u2019s gonna have in a regular season. Tommy Edman is a great player, but Tommy Edman the postseason player is a better player than he is in the regular season. Tommy Edman is going to refuse to strike out. So, the heat zones you have on Tommy Edman won\u2019t correlate in the postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Carlos Rod\u00f3n\u2019s reaction to dugout-called pitches? \u201cI think it\u2019s terrible,\u201d he said. (Kim Klement Neitzel \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n It\u2019s too soon to know whether this will hurt the bank accounts of Ram\u00edrez or Liam Hicks, the Marlins\u2019 backup catcher. Ram\u00edrez, whom the Yankees traded to Miami as part of the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade two years ago, won\u2019t be a free agent until 2032, and Hicks won\u2019t be till 2031.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28652153-scaled.jpg\")
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