Elephant Rumblings: Pitchers & Catchers Will Report February 11th

SB Nation

Happy Thursday everyone. Friday is almost here!

We finally know the exact date that the A’s will begin getting together. As always, the pitchers and catchers draw the short end of the stick and have their

offseasons end early, reporting to camp days before their position-player teammates are expected to arrive. Some position players arrive early/at the same time, but that’s not expected. Just welcomed by all of us fans hoping for an amazing season.

Anyway, it turns out that we are officially less than a month away from seeing our A’s get together for the first time! The P’s and C’s have gotten their schedules, and they’ll be expected in Arizona and reporting for duty no later than February 11th:

Pitchers and catchers get together earlier than others because they need to begin building a rapport with one another as early as possible. Catching dozens of different pitchers can be hard mentally for backstops. For lots of the A’s pitchers they already know starting catcher Shea Langleliers, so for most of them it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to get back on the same page as their primary backstop who they’ve been teammates with now for a solid chunk of time.

The same goes for veteran Austin Wynns, who will be in A’s camp for the first time after beginning last season with the Reds. Most of the pitchers should be at least somewhat familiar with his catching style and framing, but adding in the fact that he’s a 35-year-old veteran of 7 major league seasons, it shouldn’t be much of a hassle for him either.

However, after Langeliers and Wynns the Athletics retooled their catching situation this offseason. Gone are backstops Jhonny Pereda and Willie MacIver, two of the backups used by the Athletics last year. They’re off to greener pastures. Former first-round pick Daniel Susac will also be absent from A’s camp this year after he was claimed (then traded to the Giants) in the Rule 5 Draft. Certain A’s pitchers this spring will likely be working with some catchers that they’ve never even met yet, making these early days of camp much more important for both sides.

The newest catchers that’ll be in camp for the A’s are minor league signings Bryan Lavastida and Brian Serven. Serven spent last year in the Tigers’ minor league system so he’ll be brand spanking new to everyone in the clubhouse. Luckily for him he’s known more for his glove than his bat and also has major league experience so he should be a quality catcher for the arms in camp. Lavastida actually did spend some time with the A’s last season, finishing out the year with the Aviators. He didn’t make it to the majors last year but he should be at least somewhat familiar with some of the arms that were in Las Vegas at the end of last season (such as Eduarneil Nunez, Blake Beers, Mitch Spence, Kade Morris).

Other catchers that’ll be in camp will likely include Shane McGuire and Nick Schwartz. Neither of them will be expected to remain in camp for long, let alone have a real chance at breaking camp with the big league team. Both guys have little to no experience at the upper levels of the minor leagues. The A’s will still need bodies to catch all of the arms they plan to bring into camp though so those two will be there next month along with the rest of the guys.

And before we know it, the rest of the team will arrive before the week is out on February 16th. The entire team will be in camp together for just five days before the first spring game of the year on February 21st, a split-squad day against the White Sox. The baseball season is quickly approaching. Any last-minute roster moves you’d like to see the A’s make? Comment below!

Have a good day A’s fans!

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