One of the bright spots of the Minnesota Twins’ shaky start to the 2026 season has been the play of Ryan Jeffers. Whether offensively (.542 SLG, .948 OPS) or in his wizardry of the new ABS challenge system, Jeffers is perhaps the most reliable offensive contributor not hailing from Baxley, GA.
If one were building an all-time Twins squad, there’s no doubt who would start behind home plate…
But every squad also needs a backup backstop. Aside from #7, the Twins organization has not exactly been flush
with top-tier catcher talent historically. I can think of three candidates for the “all-time C backup” role:
Earl Battey
- 853 G, 3162 PA, 14.4 WAR, 109 OPS+
Cutting his teeth with the Washington Senators, Battey hit his prime right when that franchise moved to Minnesota. His offensive contributions behind the dish were rare in the hitting-suppressed 1960s.
Butch Wynegar
- 794 G, 3199 PA, 15.3 WAR, 90 OPS+
I wish I knew more about Wynegar’s game. Part of this is because he was considerably “before my time” as a Twins fan, but an equal factor is his presence on those late-1970s MN squads that would win a lackadaisical 74-85 games every year.
Mitch Garver
- 309 G, 1070 PA, 7.3 WAR, 124 OPS+
Though not around for nearly as long as Battey or Butch, Garve-sauce has to at least be in consideration for his eye-popping lumber totals.
Now, let’s take a look at the career totals of MN’s current tools-of-ignorance wearer…
Ryan Jeffers
- 547 G, 1984 PA, 9.4 WAR, 108 OPS+
Though perhaps not as offensively-dominant as the receivers already discussed, he’s still above-average in that capacity and has actually improved since being given closer to full-time duties starting in 2023.
Four catchers—four different eras of Twins baseball. Who are you choosing to give Mauer a breather?
