Los Angeles Dodgers: The biggest storylines for the second half of spring
By Jason Reed
2. Who is going to be the starting catcher?
The Los Angeles Dodgers entered spring training with a few positions that needed to be decided. Catcher, second base and left field were all going to be decided on the results from spring play.
Second base is all but decided with Enrique Hernandez‘ great showing (and Chris Taylor‘s poor showing) in spring thus far. Joc Pederson has been terrible and Alex Verdugo is the future, so second seems to be sorted as well.
Catcher, on the other hand, is not so clear. While Russell Martin did miss a little bit of time, both catchers have been playing well this spring and have made their own case on why they should be the starting catcher.
Barnes is hitting .350 this spring with eight RBIs and a .885 OPS. Those numbers certainly are promising, especially when you consider where he was last season.
Martin has been no slouch either as he is hitting .300 with three RBIs and a .700 OPS. Barnes has had 23 plate appearances, Martin has had 10.
Martin is better defensively, though and might be better to work with a familiar arm in Clayton Kershaw as well as the young arm in Walker Buehler.
The reality is that both guys will likely see very similar playing time in 2019 but only time will tell who gets dubbed as the starting catcher on Opening Day.