BSB: 2019 Catchers

Previewing Washington Baseball’s Catchers

By Washington Huskies

February 13^th, 2019

Catchers Overview

Starters Returning (1) - Nick Kahle (Jr.): .293/.392/.457, 68 hits, 45 runs, 20 doubles, 6 HR, 37 RBI.

Key Losses - Willie MacIver: Injuries forced him to play third for most of 2018.

NICK KAHLE

2018: All-Pac-12, Johnny Bench Midseason Watch List ... caught 536 of a possible 553 (96.9%) innings behind the plate ... 2019 Collegiate Baseball Preseason Third-Team All-American.

Coach Meggs: "Nick Kahle is obviously our guy behind the plate. He’s one of the best catch and throw guys on the West Coast. He proved last year he can hit Pac-12 pitching and drive the ball out of the ballpark. I think that’s one of the things that has made him the kind of prospect he is right now on the pro side. People may not see this until they really pay attention to us as the season evolves but he’s really gotten better behind the plate. He’s always been good at handling the low pitch, framing stuff and blocking, but his throwing has really improved from last year. Part of that has been that he was really worn down by the middle of the year. With Willie (MacIver) hurt and then Graf (AJ Graffanino) going down, we really weren’t comfortable with anybody else behind the plate, so he caught more that we would have liked. I think that took a toll on his throwing, but I think he’s now throwing as good as we have ever seen him. We’re expecting big thing out of him behind the plate and in the middle of the batting order. He’s been a great leader. He just shows up every day with a confident approach to everything he does and that just trickles down to everyone else."

On Kahle's offense: "He’s just somebody that hits the ball to all fields and a lot of times the guys that do that don’t have the power that he has. He’s got some juice to the pull side and he can hit a ball out to right-center. He’s a guy that you’ve got to be really careful with and he’s probably our best guy at separating balls from strikes. He doesn’t chase and he’s going to make you throw him a pitch that he wants to hit. He’s really patient and he’s going to draw some walks. He had as many strikeouts as walks last year and that’s tough to do. In this day and age, many people don’t care about strikeouts anymore with the way they talk about offense and the new metrics, but Nick has a lot of pride in putting the ball in play and has a lot of pride in swinging at strikes."

Michael Petrie

2018: Played in seven games, making one start at catcher.

Coach Meggs: "Michael done a nice job. He has gotten better with each passing day and he’s somebody that we feel really good about behind the plate. He can catch and throw. He understands the game, he understands what we’re trying to do. He’s gotten significantly better offensively. His first two years he was over matched as a hitter. He’s gotten stronger and he’s shortened up his swing. He understands what we need him to do and has really bought into that. He’s making solid contact right now."

Colton Cassinelli & Albert Hsiao

Coach Meggs on Cassinelli and Hsiao: "We’ve got two guys behind the older guys, Albert Hsiao and Colton Cassinelli. Both have a chance to be plus-plus contributors offensively as their careers evolve and hopefully by the second half of the year they’re two guys that will compete for spot starts behind the plate. Cassinelli can play first base and Albert has actually played some left field for us. Both of those guys are physical guys at the plate and you want them in the mix offensively. Are they ready catch in the Pac-12? They are not on a regular basis. But by the middle of the year they’re going to be ready to hit in this league and they could get a spot start here and there and make an impact off the bench. They’re both really aggressive and confident hitters as young guys."