30-year old righty swinging catcher Gerald Laird will be the starter behind the plate for the Tigers again in 2010. They are hoping that he will hit a little better this season. He played in 135 games for the Tigers last season and he was 93 for 413 (.225 avg, .626 OPS) with 49 runs scored, 4 homers, 33 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Laird’s game is defense. He made only 3 errors but he had 9 passed balls in 135 games behind the plate last season. Laird has a threw out 40% of the runners trying to steal on him last season and Tigers’ pitchers had a 4.23 ERA throwing to him. Laird’s defense more than makes up for his below average bat.

22-year old lefty swinging catcher Alex Avila will likely back-up Laird in 2010 if he has a solid spring. Avila played in 29 games as a rookie for the Tigers last seasson and he was 17 for 61 (.279 avg, .965 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 5 homers and 14 RBIs. Avila didn’t make any errors in 25 games for the Tigers last season but he did have 4 passed balls which is way too many. Avila threw out 27% of the runners trying to steal on him but Tigers’ pitchers had a 5.52 ERA throwing to him. Avila has a lot of potential but he has a couple of things on defense to work on.

26-year old righty swinging Robinzon Diaz will compete with Avila for the back-up catcher job in 2010. Diaz played in 41 games for the Pirates last season and he was 39 for 149 (.262 avg, .657 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer and 19 RBIs. Diaz will need to improve on defense if he’s going to continue his major league career. He made 2 errors and he had 7 passed balls in only 33 games behind the plate and that won’t be tolerated in the future. Diaz threw out 18% of the runners trying to steal against him last season and Pirates’ pitchers had a 4.04 ERA with him behind the plate. Pirates’ pitchers liked throwing to Diaz and that is something he can build on.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: C