2014 IPP: Anthony Recker

[Benjamin Grimm]

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.)

I seem to be immune to whatever charms Anthony Recker may have. All I can say is that since I'm hoping that Travis d'Arnaud has a solid, if not breakout, season, I'd like to see as little of Anthony as possible. I'll say 30 starts, 2 homers. He'll probably win the big-league backup role over Taylor Teagarden. If Kevin Plawecki comes on strong, he may displace Recker (or Teagarden) as the backup. Also, if d'Arnaud gets injured again, I think Plawecki is more likely to be the regular catcher than Recker is.

[MFS62]

Resumes his prototypical backup catcher role.
.220, 5, 17 in about 45 games, some as a PH.

Later

[ashie62]

Starts 40....

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

41 G, 162 PA, .228/.299/.402, 17 R, 6 HR, 16 RBI, 13 XBH, among the league leaders in Why-Hello-Ladies

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

For some reason I think Taylor Teagarden might mess up his pretty face. Well, that reason is "experience" as modest as Teagarden's is. If Omar were still running the club, Teagarden would be the least experienced catcher in camp of course.

Really this line could be for either Teagarden OR Recker, OR the two of them combined:

.222 / .289 / .399 // .688 6-30 in 40 G, 180 PA

[Vic Sage]

i don't see Plawecki as a backup at all. They want him to get regular ABs above the A-Ball level, not sitting 75% of the time behind D'Arnaud. They'll want a major-league veteran in that spot, while Plawecki plays every day in the minors (probably AA this year). Whether its Recker or Teagarden doesn't much matter. They're similar low-avg/some-power hitters with decent gloves. Whoever the backup is will probably start 30 or so games, play in another 10-20 (including an occasional PH appearance), and hit 5-10 HRs in 100-150 ABs.

If D'Arnaud gets hurt for a length of time, they may play one of these guys more but they might bring Plawecki up for a long look (if he'd been playing well down on the farm).

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: For some reason I think Taylor Teagarden might mess up his pretty face. Well, that reason is "experience" as modest as Teagarden's is. If Omar were still running the club, Teagarden would be the least experienced catcher in camp of course. Really this line could be for either Teagarden OR Recker, OR the two of them combined: .222 / .289 / .399 // .688 6-30 in 40 G, 180 PA

Fair 'nough. Though, I think if Teagarten takes his spot, there'll be a lot more sluggery.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Wins the yet-to-be-invented Duffy Dyer award.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Here's the Baseball Prospectus entry from its 2014 annual, released just before last season began:

Recker's time in the big leagues is going to be brief: He looks overmatched at the plate, and neither his throwing nor his receiving grants him much leeway. He earns a full comment here because he is, without a doubt, the best looking player in the league. You may commence Googling now. His surname's outstanding nickname potential might be wasted on a career backup, but "Home-Recker" has some legs. Yeah, we're pretty clever around here.