The Pirates tried to trade 28-year old switch-hitting Ryan Doumit all winter long but to no avail so he will return as the Pirates’ starting catcher in 2010. He played in 75 games for the Pirates last season and he was 70 for 280 (.250 avg, .713 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 10 homers, 38 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Pirates are hoping that a return to health with get Doumit’s bat back up to his career norms of .273 with a .780 OPS. If he hits more like his career norms than his defensive shortcomings can be overlooked. Doumit had 6 errors and 2 passed balls in only 71 games behind the plate and that is just not acceptable. He did throw out 20% of the runners trying to steal on him which was slightly below average but Pirates’ pitchers like throwing to him as they had a 4.48 ERA with him behind the plate.

27-year old switch-hitting Jason Jaramillo will back-up Ryan Doumit in 2010 for the Pirates. He played in 63 games for the Pirates last season and he was 52 for 206 (.252 avg, .673 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 3 homers and 26 RBIs. Jaramillo doesn’t have much power and he hasn’t shown anything in the minors to suggest that he has much of a upside as a hitter. Jaramillo made 4 errors and he had 4 passed balls in 62 games behind the plate last season for the Pirates. He threw out 23% of the runners trying to steal on him last season but Pirates’ pitchers had a 5.04 ERA with him behind the plate. Jaramillo looks like he needs to improve his defense some to be a decent back-up catcher at the major league level because he doesn’t have Doumit’s upside as a hitter.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: C-