Martin Maldonado has been the least valuable catcher in baseball this season. The 37-year-old has a -1.5 fWAR, which is currently the lowest of any player at the position. He also owns a -25 OPS+ after slashing .081/.132/.128 through 31 games.
Despite the struggles, Maldonado continues to get consistent playing time in a White Sox lineup that ranks last in the MLB in runs, home runs, and batting average. The White Sox believe that his backup, Korey Lee has the potential to be an everyday starter, however, Pedro Grifol likes the experience Maldonado provides behind the plate and has said that he doesn’t want to overload Lee since he is still less than 100 games into his MLB career.
Maldonado is hoping that some improved vision can also help turn his season around. The former Gold Glove winner has begun wearing prescription glasses for the first time in his career. Maldonado told the Chicago Sun-Times that he “wasn’t seeing the ball” and went to an eye doctor who advised him to wear glasses. He has been wearing the glasses for the past three games.
Maldonado remains hitless in his last seven games, which includes the three games he has started to wear the glasses. Offense has never been Maldonado’s strong suit. He owns a lifetime .204 batting average across his 14-year MLB career. When the White Sox signed him this offseason they didn’t expect him to be a .300 hitter. But they did expect him to be an asset to the pitching staff.
“Right now we are comfortable with what’s going on. Martin Maldonado is not a .300 hitter but he’s not a .100 hitter either. So eventually he’ll run into some balls and he’ll do what he normally does,” Grifol told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin on Wednesday.
Maldonado says that he is “seeing the ball better” even though he hasn’t had the results to back that up to this point. However, swinging at bad pitches has been a major factor in his struggles. His 35.1% chase rate and 36% whiff rate are both well above the MLB average.
If he is in fact, seeing the ball better those numbers should improve but the clock is ticking. Korey Lee is hitting .274 with five home runs and a .736 OPS this season. Maldonado’s strong suit is supposed to be his defense, but his numbers behind the plate paint a grim picture.
His Blocks Above Average, Caught Stealing Above Average and Pitch Framing all rank in the bottom third of the MLB. Meanwhile, Lee’s 1.85 pop time is the best in baseball. Maldonado told the Sun-Times that he is happy Grifol continues to give him opportunities which gives him confidence that he can go out and perform the the level he believes he is capable of.
