Cincinnati Reds’ starting catcher Devin Mesoraco is looking like a part-time player

Devin Mesoraco looks like he may be a part-time player for the Cincinnati Reds in 2017.

The Cincinnati Reds face an important decision regarding Devin Mesoraco.  Can they stand him only being a part-time catcher?  That is the situation staring them squarely in the eye.  Mesoraco was hurt early in 2014, but his success that season hid his feeble stamina.

Mesoraco wasn’t game ready when spring training started.  As it came along, Mesoraco was quickly ready to bat, but not catch.  Now without teaching Mesoraco another position, the Reds have a starting catcher who can’t play everyday.  Right now he is rehabbing in Pensacola with the Double-A team.

In 2015 when Mesoraco initially got injured they sent him to play left on a rehab assignment.  A few games into that experiment and Mesoraco was shutdown.  Unless Mesoraco has been working on his outfield skills the Reds are back in the same position.

Even if Mesoraco could play the outfield, these aren’t the 2015 Reds.  Adam Duvall and Scott Schebler have established themselves as the starting corner outfielders.  Third base and first base are solid positions for the Reds as well.

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The Reds are not an American League team.  In the AL Mesoraco may have more value as a part-time DH/catcher combination.  In the National League Mesoraco can be used as a one off pinch hitter on the days that he doesn’t catch.

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The Cincinnati Reds have to build their roster around a catcher that can’t catch everyday.

The first impact to the Reds’ roster is that they will have to carry three catchers on the active roster.  They have a strong back-up in Tucker Barnhart.  They also need to keep Stuart Turner on the roster to back-up Barnhart on days when Mesoraco can’t go.

That means that there are only thee other bench spots available.

One of those needs to go to someone with flexibility so the other two players can focus on pinch hitting and backing up the position players, especially in the outfield.  It will likely also demand that Eugenio Suarez be ready to play shortstop occasionally this season or make Scooter Gennett play second and force Jose Peraza to short.

The other change is the way that Bryan Price manages.  He has to decide what one at bat during the game can use a slow pinch hitter with some power the best.  Usually this occurs early in the game.  Using Mesoraco as a low leverage pinch hitter and saving the rest of the bench makes sense.  So far that role has fallen to reliever Michael Lorenzen.

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However the Reds plan to counteract Mesoraco’s injury history, there is no better predictor of future injuries than past injuries.  Now that Mesoraco has gone through this, it just makes it all the more likely that he will get injured again.  Hopefully, he will have a good enough offensive season that he can move to an AL team later in his career.