Should Reds employ reverse platoon with Casali and Barnhart?

[JaxRed]

Numbers are the opposite of what you would expect....

Casali versus lefties - .179 .448 OPS
Casali versus righties - .394 .960 OPS

Barnhart versus lefties - .273 .792 OPS (very small sample)
Barnhart versus righties - .144 .515 OPS

[Bob Sheed]

No question, they should.

There is no room in any major league lineup for a position player to be batting one-something.

The collective slow start is the only reason it's been tolerated thus far. I'd hope.

[JFLegal]

i'm all for it. even barnhart's main strength -- defense -- turns out isn't all that great due to pitch framing. even chris welsh, who very rarely bashes reds players, was all over barnhart's case for standing up when receiving the ball, which umpires do not like. welsh made the point that on borderline pitches, the catcher needs to remain still (not necessarily with his glove, but with his body) or that borderline pitch will be called a ball. how does welsh know this? many, many mlb umpires have told him. they also do not like it when a catcher sets up on the outside of the plate, for example, and then "jumps" to the inside portion of the plate right before the ball is pitched (catchers sometime do this of course to make sure a batter is not sneaking a peak at where they are setting up). but umpires hate it when catchers do that, and borderline pitches are likely to go in the batter's favor in those situations. again, this is coming from the umpires themselves. yet, barnhart is back there moving around constantly.

oh yeah, and he can't hit very well, while casali has really turned himself into a good hitter with a good approach at the plate.

[mth123]

Barnhart went from being underrated and overlooked to overrated and underperforming pretty quickly. He's probably the guy in the middle which is a decent tandem catcher not unlike about 25 or 30 others who bounce from team to team on the cheap. He's even considered a bargain contract, but I think very similar guys could be had for about the same or less in free agency every year.

A lot of his value came from taking his walks when he was hitting in front of the pitcher and teams weren't giving him much to hit with the pitcher on deck. I credit him for taking them, but I think it inflated his OBP a bit compared to his true offensive skillset. He should hit in front of the pitcher every time he plays. It's a reason I like the pitcher hitting 8th. Get the slow catcher and the pitcher out of the way before the fast guy comes up in the 9 hole in front of the top of the order. HItting Barnhart in any other spot in the order hurts him.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Casali should play nearly every day.

Barnhart's improved framing numbers are a step in the right direction, but his bat is putrid. Casali's defense isn't quite as good, but his bat is nearly league average.

[757690]

Their career numbers say otherwise. Casali hits lefties much better and Barnhart hits righties much better. I’m not swayed by extremely small sample sizes.

[bigfoot52]

Their career numbers say otherwise. Casali hits lefties much better and Barnhart hits righties much better. I’m not swayed by extremely small sample sizes.

Ditto here.
With that being said, I think Casali deserves a shot at playing every day. See how he does with a larger sample size. I agree no major leaguer should be an everyday starter while batting below .200. Hear that Votto, Puig, and Winker? You guys are close!

[mamell]

Barnhardt drives me nuts with his one handed swing on nearly every strikeout.. He's quickly become my least favorite Reds player.

[KronoRed]

Play them back and forth, ask the pitchers who they like and go with that guy.

[JaxRed]

Does anyone know where to find the catcher's ERA?