Atlanta Braves Minor League Catching Options; David Freitas

Oakland

Oakland sent him to AA immediately where he continued to hit; .333/.392/.524/.916 including two homers in  74 PA in 20 games. He split 2013 between AA and AAA for Oakland doing well at the higher level but struggling in AA.

In December 2013 the Athletics sent him to Baltimore as the PTBNL in the deal that sent Jim Johnson to Oakland. Freitas worked mostly in AA with a couple of short visits to AAA in 2014 and 2015 posting a .251/.321/.401/.724 line with 14 homers and 26 in 459 AB. His BAbip over that time was just .262 but he walked 8.5% of the time and striking out just 14%.

The Orioles kept Caleb Joseph in front of Freitas even though Joseph has never shown he could hit at a pace worth a spot higher than being a backup catcher and Freitas has always hit well. After the 2015 season the Orioles left him unprotected in the rule 5 draft and the Cubs snapped him up

The Cubs sent him to AA where he had another good year – 286/.344/.423/.768 , four homers, 20 doubles in 248 PA. He had two brief stints in Iowa and continued to hit – .321/.362/.476/.838 in 95PA – but the his path to the majors is obviously blocked there and after the season he elected free agency and the Braves signed him a week later.

What can we expect?

I’ve watched a lot of video of Freitas hitting and saw a player with a simple swing, short to the ball who makes consistently hard contact, goes with the pitch and drives the ball to all fields.  His AA splits last season don’t answer the RHP issue but perhaps Kevin Seitzer and crew can improve that.

He seems to know what to do behind the plate which supports the BA evaluation from 2011 and indicates improvement since. One compilation video calculated his pop-time at 1.90 seconds which would put him about league average but tending towards the slow side. I didn’t see enough of him to have a real idea of his framing and I’m not sure how much that affects minor league umpiring anyway.

Next: Hey Big Spender

That’s a Wrap

Freitas will be 28 years old next season so he’s not going to land on any prospect list. However, there is precedent for a catcher arriving late and sticking around as a starter. Stephen Vogt got his first real shot at 28 and two years later became Oakland’s starting catcher.

Freitas minor league stats are better than Vogt’s at the same point in their careers and he’s better defensively. Who can say whether he’ll make the jump and stick but stranger things have happened. Last year Chris Mitchell at Fangraphs listed him as a “deep sleeper” prospect. Maybe that can happen with the Braves.