Yadier Molina's incredible workload should give the Cardinals reason to worry
The St. Louis catcher and leader, thanks to a lack of depth at the position, has been worked hard
By
Dayn Perry
•
2 min read
As the Cardinals try to remain within hailing distance of playoff position in the National League, one mounting concern is the workload hoisted thus far by catcher/warrior-poet Yadier Molina.
Molina has enjoyed a very modest bounce-back at the plate in 2016, and that's of course in addition to his usual complement of top-level defensive skills. He's a highly valuable contributor to a team with designs on contention, as you know.
However, there's some concern moving forward. Molina has long been a durable stalwart behind the plate, and he already ranks 32nd all-time in games caught. This season, though, he's been worked at a high rate even by his own standards. In 2016, Molina has played in 53 of the Cardinals 55 games, and he's started at catcher in 50 of those contests. More to the point, he's already logged 430 1/3 defensive innings at catcher to lead all of MLB. In second place is Jonathan Lucroy with 394 1/3 innings. So Molina's not just in front, he's way out in front when it comes to catcher workload.
That current total puts Molina on pace to work a rather astounding 1,268 innings in the tools of ignorance this year. To put that in perspective, Molina's career-high for innings caught in a season is 1,176 2/3 in 2009. That would also be the third highest total since 2002. Since 1956 (the back end of searchable catcher-innings data), just two iterations of Jason Kendall (1,328 1/3 innings in 2008 and 1,286 innings in 2005) surpass Molina's projected tally for 2016. This is indeed a potential concern for a 33-year-old backstop like Molina who's already logged almost 12,500 innings at catcher in his career.
To be sure, Molina takes pride in answering the bell, but the concern is that his production at the plate will suffer as fatigue piles up, especially in the hotter months of the summer. That may already be happening.
Coming out of April, Molina boasted a robust slash line of .341/.426/.451. Since then, though, he's batted just .200/.280/.276, and he enters Saturday 0 for his last 15. Obviously, there's no way to say whether his recent struggles at the plate are related to his load behind it, but it's certainly among the range of possibilities.
A large part of this is that the Cardinals' planned-on backup, Brayan Pena, has missed the entire season to date after undergoing left knee surgery in early April. That's pressed journeyman Eric Fryer into backup duty, but he's logged all of 56 innings at catcher thus far.
The good news is that Pena will soon begin a minor-league rehab assignment, which, barring setback, puts his return on the radar. That said, how well will the 34-year-old's surgically repaired knee hold up?
The hope for the Cardinals is that Pena will be durable and effective enough for manager Mike Matheny to trust him with normal spot duty. That's important because Matheny probably needs to pump the brakes on his usage of Molina unless he wants his effectiveness to be greatly compromised down the stretch. When Pena returns and how he's deployed upon his return will be telling.
