Tomas Nido has been a backup catcher with the Mets since 2017, with some stints in the minors interspersed during his tenure. The break that he should catch is a chance to get more playing time. He’s not likely to turn into another J. D. Davis, who blossomed with the Mets after stumbling with the Astros as a reserve. But he could well prove to be an upgrade over the incumbent starter, Wilson Ramos.
Ramos is in his second year with the Mets, with declining production with the bat. In 2019 Ramos put up a SLG figure of .416. That’s a number that could be acceptable with a defense first catcher, which Ramos has never been during his time in MLB. It should be noted Ramos started off fairly well with the bat in 2019, but his figures kept dropping as the season progressed. As for 2020, his slash line is all around ugly at .196/.275/.283. Please note all stats are through Sundays games.
Ramos has just turned 33. He of course plays the most physically demanding of all positions, and catchers tend to reach the end of the line sooner than players at other positions. Ramos was always slow, and now he is pretty much the consensus choice as the slowest position player in MLB ball. He hits a lot of ground balls, his rate is 45.7% of balls hit into play. He’s certainly not going to beat out infield hits, and he is vulnerable to grounding into double plays.
He is not going to be a defensive force either. His DRS last year was minus 11. So far in the shortened season his DRS is right at 0, and no one would be surprised if it fell into negative numbers this year. He is not considered to be a good framer of pitches.
Nido has had 4 starts at the catcher position this year, and so far he has assembled a slash line of .308/.400/.385, in an admittedly small sample. He has shown some good at bats, working the count and picking up a couple of bases on balls. At 26 years of age, he is at a point where improvement in his all around production is possible.
Nido has not really been a defensive whiz, but he does try to frame pitches and he is certainly more agile than Ramos when blocking off-target pitches.
So far this year, Ramos has been a hole in the batting order, and that is something the teetering Mets cannot afford, especially since his defense is lacking as well. Ramos’ contract is up this year, and unless he really turns things around he is not going to be back. If Nido gets to play more he just might see some improvement, as spot assignments really don’t let a player get into a groove. At the very least giving Nido a shot could let the Mets management know if they need to sign another catcher next year, or if Nido could fill the gap until the young catching prospects like Franciso Alvarez are ready for the big time.
Why ? He cant hit.
In his career, Nido has thrown out 9 out of 67 baserunners, which is 13%. Nido’s value is what he did with Syndergaard. He cant hit. If we have a backup catcher who cant hit, Id rather have one who can throw out more baserunners.
In 2019, Sanchez threw out 31 out of 70 in the minors which is 44%.
Ramos had a 107 OPS+ in 2019. He has a team option of 10M or a 1.5M buyout. His value is his bat so if he doesn’t turn around the Mets could take the 8.5M and invest in the free agent market. Nido is not the future and has a tedious future as the backup. Ramos has started around 78% of the games with a .609 OPS. Nido has a career OPS of .529. I’ll stick Ramos four out of five games any time over Nido.
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I agree John based on what we have seen this year. Ramos will hit a mediocre fastball but last night showed no recognition or adjustment to Hudson’s slider, and your stats speak for themselves on his slowed bat speed. While Nido has only showed a small sample size, he looks to be looking for a specific pitch and won’t swing otherwise. Just like past success doesn’t guarantee future success, past failures won’t guarantee future failures if the product is a youngster and right now is producing. If it clicks for a young player, then let him keep growing.
I’d start with a 60/40 playing time share, move it to 50/50 if Nido continues, then start maybe giving Nido the majority if he can keep up the good work. Reward for good results is important.
Your plan sounfs good to me Gus. Nido has never had the luxury of steady playing time, and as I said in the article it’s hard to get into a hitting groove when only playing sporadically