Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast - Effectively Wild Episode 1069: A Real-Life Left-Handed Catcher

Episode Date: June 9, 2017

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about an odd Neifi Perez appearance, John McCain’s Diamondbacks mention, EW’s August eclipse event, and a questionable fun fact, then talk to Janell Wheaton, a left-handed catcher for the Florida Gators Women’s College World Series team, about why baseball is biased against left-handed catchers (and why it shouldn’t be). […]

It's a nervous tick motion of the head to the left It's a nervous tick motion of the head to the left Of the what? The head to the left So exercise yourselves to your bereft Cause it's a nervous tick motion of the head to the left of the, living, breathing, young, developing left-handed catcher. So we don't want to delay too much before we get to that because it turns out, yes, they should exist. And no, the theories against them aren't correct.

It is very stupid. Yeah. I don't want to give any more details. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to this because long-time listeners know I've always been fascinated by left-handed catchers. And my great regret of my time with the Stompers is that I was not able to sign a left-handed catcher to play for our team and write about it in the book. But they were hard to find. I didn't know where to get a left-handed catcher because they don't really exist at that level. But we have found one, and we will be talking to her very soon yeah turns out it's the fault of like the little league coaches and maybe the high school coaches you can't just create a left-handed catcher at nothing

you need the seeds anyway right uh before we get to the left-handed catcher segment a little bit of banter i don't know what you have but i uh i do have something we had a listener email from john and uh john was pointing out that the other day the Mariners were winning a blowout against the Minnesota Twins, and Chris Jimenez came in to pitch. Now, that's already interesting. That's interesting for two reasons. One, Chris Jimenez, of course, not a pitcher. Two, it was his fourth pitching appearance of the season. Tells you something about the Twins, maybe a little something about Chris Jimenez.enez but then what i didn't even realize when that was happening i heard about jimenez eduardo escobar was catching chris jimenez eduardo escobar not a catcher has never caught before

as a professional that's on record he is a uh he's a utility player a delightful utility player but definitely not a catcher now there's less risk he's catching a catcher so it's not quite like catching a pitcher the stakes were low but it was an unusual circumstance and john was wondering how often something like that has happened or whether or not it's unprecedented i did a little bit of research responded to him it's not totally unprecedented we have had players just catch for like an inning or two at a time don kelly one time for circumstances i can't quite figure out caught six innings in his only ever catching appearance so i don't know the story behind that because i came across one data point that i did want to research i'm just going to

so i i want to talk to you a little bit about a game between the colorado rockies and the anaheim angels they were then the anaheim angels from From June 7th, 1998, I found something when searching in the logs that immediately stuck out as being strange. You remember Nefi Perez, correct? Sure, of course. Yes. Everyone remembers Nefi Perez. Came up recently on this podcast for having a worse full season OPS than Barry Bonds had an on-base percentage in the same season. That's correct.

And Nefi Perez got the Coors Field boost for much of his career. then Barry Bonds had an on-base percentage in the same season. That's correct. And Nefi Perez got the Coors Field boost for much of his career. Anyway, in this particular game, the Rockies lost to the Angels 6-5. It was a walk-off win for the Angels, despite the Rockies' Manning and Anthony comeback. Nefi Perez in this game went 0-5, which was a not uncommon Nefi Perez baseball game conclusion. This is a game in which larry walker played right field second base and third base mike lansing played three positions vinny castilla

played two positions dante bichette played two positions ellis burks played two positions you can already tell this is an unusual game but i just want to read to you from the uh the play by play because it gets weird bottom of the ninth that's tied at five and there is a bunch of activity jerry depoto comes in to pitch for the rockies current mariners general manager jerry depoto makes this extra fun he uh replaced jamie wright who i think was actually still pitching in the major leagues when depoto became the general manager which is odd in any case jeff reed for the rockies has come in to catch. He is now catching, replacing the starter, Kurt Manwaring. I'm going to guess that the Rockies had just two catchers on the roster.

Okay, DePoto comes into pitch. Jeff Reed now catching, Manwaring out of the game. Dante Bichette moves, Ellis Burks moves, Larry Walker is now playing right field, etc. First batter, Dave Hollins, he walks. Then Jim Edmonds comes up to the plate. Edmonds hits a double, and Edmonds hits a double and Edmonds ends up advancing to third on the play because Dave Hollins is thrown out at home trying to score the winning run so the Rockies preserved the tie however there's a problem the relay

went to Nefi Perez Nefi Perez threw to Jeff Reed at catcher Jeff Reed applied a tag however he was badly cut and he had to come out of the game so with a runner on third and one out in a tie game bottom the ninth the rockies have lost both of their catchers and so here is what is listed in the in the play-by-play jerry depoto replaces jeff reed pitching and batting eighth i don't know what that means nefi perez moves from shortstop to catcher other players also move around john vanderwall moved from shortstop to catcher. Other players also move around. John Vanderwall moved from DH to right field, so this caused the Rockies to lose their interleague DH.

Anyway, I will now remind you of the circumstances. Runner on third, one out, tie game, bottom of the ninth, Jared about to pitching. Tim Salmon comes up, and he's intentionally walked to make sense. You want to set up the double play, especially because the next batter is Cecil Fielder, who apparently was on the Angels at some point. I had no so Cecil Fielder comes up runners on the corners just needs to get that run home from third base Nefi Perez is catching Nefi Perez is the catcher so he has caught now four intentional balls which I guess now he would not have to do so the first

pitch to Fielder is fouled off. Perez doesn't have to do too much. Does call a pitch. I don't know what that's like. And on the second pitch, Jerry DePoto throws a wild pitch and the Angels walk off to win because Nephew Perez could not corral the pitch from DePoto. A walk off win for the Angels because Nephew Perez couldn't catch. I just want to read. I haven't actually read this all the way through, but I'll just read a little summary from the LA Times. There's an article.

Hollins led off the ninth of the walk and then dove headlong into Reed after Edmonds' line drive, one hopped the wall in right center, but Burks made a perfect throw to shore us up Neffy Perez, who threw a strike to Reed, who tagged out Hollins before collapsing and clutching his cheek.

Quote, it was almost like watching a horror flick. Colorado manager Don Baylor said, it's the worst cut I've ever seen. It looked like someone took a razor to him. My God. Edmonds had advanced to third on the throw, and Baylor, who had Reed pinch it for starting catcher Kurt Manwaring in the ninth,

was faced with finding someone to catch reliever Jared Poto. I had plenty of volunteers, but I was looking for someone with good hands, and so Neffy came to mind, Baylor said, foresh so perez who had not caught since the little league put on the gear and larry walker came in from the outfield to make his major league debut at second base the rockies then walked what an alignment the rockies then walked tim salmon intentionally to set up the double play depoto's third pitch to fielder i'm sorry third pitch was a slider that eluded perez and skipped to the backstop as Edmonds raced home with the winning run.

Neffy's not a catcher, and it was pretty brave of him to put on the mask and get out there. DePoto said he doesn't want to catch the slider, but at the same time, I'm not a big fan of standing out there and throwing Cecil Fielder three straight fastballs. So that's what we got. So not scored as a fastball. Not scored as a fastball. Sounds like it was DePoto's fault, probably not yeah probably not so we can get a neffy perez handed catcher but we can't get a left-handed catcher teams will go to any length not to use a left-handed catcher that's crazy game i love it also because you know shorts up good hands probably kind of makes sense maybe it

maybe it would have worked but not a not a good luck nephew president ever caught again maybe not a coincidence i wonder if jerry depota remembers it uh the other thing maybe this is too obvious and maybe this is a little too political but just wanted to throw out there john mccain senator john mccain made a baseball reference following what i would say has been characterized as bizarre and incomprehensible testimony in the James Comey hearings. We don't need to talk about the politics of it, but John McCain said, maybe as like a joking remark, but maybe truthful, 80-year-old John McCain said, maybe one shouldn't stay up too late watching Arizona Diamondbacks games, which, you know,

this year more than most years, I guess it makes sense to actually be watching Arizona Diamondbacks games. But the Diamondbacks game from the night before was against the San Diego Padres. It started at 6.40 local time in Arizona, pretty late. John McCain probably not in Arizona to watch the game, so it would have started even later. I'm going to guess here. And the game lasted three hours and 48 minutes. So I don't know if Johnain actually watched that baseball game i don't know if he watched it all the way through to see fernando rodney strike out hunter renfro for the final lap in the ninth

inning however this is a four hour nearly baseball game that went eight and a half innings had an ordinary number of runs ordinary number of hits we could say that baseball has a pace of play problem that might now be affecting open senate testimony regarding one of the bigger controversies in american political history so rob manfred maybe now a slightly greater sense of urgency because the uh the slow pace of the game is beginning to affect the way that our government operates. Yes, doesn't really do anything to counter the stereotype of baseball's audience being old and white. But what was the win expectancy late in that game? Like it was not a

particularly exciting finish, right? Oh, no. So the Diamondbacks took a 5-2 lead in the third inning, which against the Padres means your win expectancy is 105%. Padres did narrow it to 5-3 in the fifth, but the Diamondbacks surged ahead 7-3 in the seventh, at which point the game was effectively over. All right. You have a third item? Only sort of. Just yesterday, I talked in my own house to a reporter for the local Fox affiliate who is putting together a story about our Salem, I shouldn't say our, but sort of our, Salem Kaiser Volcanoes Eclipse-related baseball event coming up in August. I feel a little bad bringing it up because the tickets that we had made available for us sold out immediately. And I cannot emphasize enough that it was immediate however the good news is according to the reporter the actual game is not sold out he says he just he

recently talked to the team and there are apparently still like half the seats are still available which is shocking to me considering that everything else in oregon has been booked up for about 15 years. So in any case, there's going to be a local news story promoting this as a local and neat event. And I don't really have anything else to say about it except that we planned this months ago, right? And the event itself is still more than two months away, but it's starting finally to feel like it's closer. And it's really exciting. Yeah, or it's just a slow news week in Oregon, I guess. But yeah, that's cool. I look forward to seeing it when it airs.

And we do expect to be able to make some tickets available before the event just because some people have been getting in touch with us about refunds. They found out that they can't actually go. So I'm waiting for some details from Dave Cameron about how refunds will be issued to them and then how those tickets will be made available to other people again. But stay tuned in the Facebook group sometime soon. Dave says he's planning to post something about that. But also be aware of the transportation issues and the lodging issues that are sure to be acute at that time because of everyone coming in to see the eclipse.

But yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. If you are in the area and you want to just get a ticket to the game, we will still talk to you, so you can do that. Just one brief thing I wanted to mention. I wanted to ask you how you would assess this fun fact or what is portrayed as a fun fact. So this is from Jenny Kavnar. She is, I believe, a reporter for Root Sports in the Rocky Mountain region.

She covers the Rockies and she tweeted a purported fun fact from Elias. And it is, Colorado is the first MLB team in 80 years to get at least seven wins from two different rookie pitchers within its first 65 games. So we've got, what, five qualifiers here? We've long tracked qualifier-heavy fun facts on this show because the more qualifiers you have, the more suspicious the fun fact is. You are obviously excluding some similar cases there and you're restricting the sample. So we've got the Rockies are the first MLB team in 80 years. So you can assume it happened before like 81 years or something to get at least seven

wins from two different rookie pitchers. So we can assume that there have been teams with more wins from one rookie pitcher or at least six wins from two different pitchers. That has happened, but seven wins hasn't happened within its first 65 games. So we can assume again that it's happened within the first 66 games or something like that. So what do you think of this fun fact two out of ten and i think that the the problem that sort of goes unstated here is there are all these qualifiers but also it just comes down to pitcher wins which nobody cares about nobody should care about it's a horrible statistic it says very little about how well the rookies have actually pitched it says well i mean we all know how pitcher wins work and more specifically do not work. I mean, congratulations to Antonio Sensatella and I assume Kyle Freeland.

Yes, Kyle Freeland on their wins. And congratulations to the Rockies on weathering the storm of pitching injuries, I guess, that they've had. And, well, I don't know if cancer counts as an injury, but pitching health concerns that the Rockies have had. But that is a... I understand the purpose of looking up the fun fact. It's, I guess it's tweetable just because who cares what's on Twitter, but it is, uh, it is not. 45 retweets. 45 retweets. 111 likes. I would not have guessed that, but I guess it, that the spirit of the fun fact is that, Hey, the Rockies are winning a lot and they've got some young pitchers,

which is true. Those are both the true things and worthwhile sentiments. And, and it's fun that the Rockies are winning finally and have some pitchers. So I guess people are, are disposed to enjoy this fun fact because it does kind of point to a, a true thing about the Rockies this year, even if the way it's structured is suspect.

Yeah, I don't love it, but I can. Here's another way you could look at it. Antonio Sensatella leads the team with eight wins. He's 22. Kyle Freeland, seven wins. He's 24. German Marquez, four wins. He's 22.

Jeff Hoffman, three wins. He's 24. Carlos Estevez, three wins. He's 24. There's a fun fact here that you could construct that would be a lot better than the fun fact as expressed. There's got to be a better way to point out how the Rockies have succeeded early on with so many young pitchers. This fun fact did not accomplish that. Now, granted, in the eyes of the retweeters and likes, apparently it did.

So maybe I'm the one who's wrong and so are you. But I still, just on principle, I don't like the fun fact. It could be a lot better. All right. Well, we have got to wrap up here so you can go do a chat. But we have a guest coming up. So after a very brief break, we will be back with a real life left-handed catcher. You see I'm slightly left of center Of the bullseye you created left-handed catcher.

So astute viewers, many of whom belong to our Facebook group may have noticed something strange in Monday's women's college world series game between the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners. It wasn't just that the game lasted 17 innings and almost five and a half hours, which made it the longest game in women's college world series history, but that behind the plate for that whole game, all 17 innings and 249 pitches was a left-handed catcher and people were

posting screenshots. This is something we've talked about on the show before, and we are now lucky to be talking to that left-handed catcher. She is a junior for Florida. They were the top seeded team in the tournament and in the country. Her name is Janelle Wheaton. Hi, Janelle. Hi, guys. How are you doing? We're doing really well. So of course, everyone knows the history or non-history of left-handed catchers in the big leagues. The only one really to have done it regularly is Jack Clements, who retired in 1900. And since then, there have been a handful of guys who have gotten into games here and there.

No one since Benny DiStefano in 1989. So when you read articles about this, there are many explanations, many of them unsatisfying. So we wanted to have you on to ask you about some of them. But first, can we just ask about your history? How did you end up doing this? Because a lot of the times the explanation for why there are no left-handed catchers is that kids are funneled to different positions if they're left-handed early on, or they can't even get left-handed catching gloves right well when i started playing softball at seven realized i was a left-handed thrower and i'm batted right so obviously i'm limited to what positions i can play so i started at first base but i always wanted to be in every pitch involved in every

pitch so my first coach was like oh let's try catcher so like you said with the glove i was using an outfield glove as a catcher's glove especially back then it was hard to get a glove even now so it is and then ever since then I just it was always been at my secondary position just because people weren't sure if that would work out as I got older but once I got to high school I don't know some people they didn't actually have a problem with it like coach wallen at florida um I asked him during the recruiting process if that was an issue because i've heard from previous experiences that it was like that's a disadvantage and he said no absolutely not we'll we'll figure out ways to get around it and we have so that's great so i guess you've just happened to have some open-minded coaches along the way yes and is it equally unheard of in softball

as it is in professional baseball um growing up yes yes, it was. But now in the college level, it's not. Actually, so myself, Florida State and Georgia, just to name a few, have left-handed started catchers. So it's becoming more of a trend. And over this past week, I've gotten messages from younger girls just saying, like, oh, I'm going to try being a left-handed catcher now, like just expanding that opportunity to other people now. So it's becoming more of a trend. That's great. You're the Ginny Baker of left-handed catchers.

Softball is just at the leading edge. I don't know how often you have cases of, it seems like softball would be exploiting an availability that baseball hasn't figured out despite the, I don't know, the abundance of resources that you think baseball... Anyway, so we should probably discuss, I guess you don't have sort of counterfactuals of what it would be like to be a right-handed catcher versus how you are. But I guess along the way, have you met much in the way of resistance? You implied that your coach

was willing to just kind of figure out how to make it work but has there been any hesitation along the way or has it kind of been smooth sailing for you to just show like hey i'm a left-handed catcher this is how it's going to work and and there are really no obstacles during the gameplay um no there's some there's been bumps in the road obviously i'm a more of a visual learner so i've always learned from the right-handed view um no one could really teach me no it's obviously wasn't a trend um so i kind of learned on my own that way but um it's just opposite everything's just opposite the one thing that was like kind of tough is um get framing that inside pitch for me since it's

across my body but that's the same thing for a right-handed catcher coming to to the outside so like when people say there's disadvantages it's really it's really not it's just flipped as to what right-handers can't do is what a left-hander catcher can do. Right. Yeah. There are so many explanations. Maybe we can just go through a few of them. So one of them, people will say that on a throw to second base, you'll hit the batter, which seems crazy because that doesn't happen for right-handed catchers. Yeah, right. And there have been some studies that have shown that there doesn't seem to be any issue there. The handedness of the batter doesn't

matter to the catcher's success at throwing out runners at the big league level. So what about the accuracy of the throw? I've seen claims that throws tail differently. If because you're throwing from a lefty it would like tail away from the runner instead of into the runner is that an issue i mean when i was first learning yeah there was a tail but it kind of it went towards where the batter or the runner was running so i mean it was kind of an advantage if you want to call it an advantage but yes there is some lefty tail to it but i've've been able to manage that now growing up. Yeah, that seems like something that with practice you would be able to adjust for.

Exactly. So what about throwing out the base stealer at third base? This is often the objection that is brought up, and we know that right-handed catchers will make the snap throw to first, but that doesn't happen as often. Not that attempted steals of third are that common, but the idea is that the angle would be harder. first but that doesn't happen as often not that attempted steals of third are are that common but the idea is that the angle would uh would be harder so how have you dealt with that well the pitchers can have a job in that sense as well so if there's a pitch hour a potential steal

opportunity they have to say on all team we pitch towards the inside of the batter so i'm more angled as it is so i get a jump start um i tend to go back in the caster's box so i don't have i can avoid the runner or the batter from the start and i just drop to my knee and snap throw down so i mean that and again that took that took time to develop and it was it quicker for me to come through the strike zone and go in front of the batter or stay back and just snap throw from behind the batter without interfering with her. Yeah, DiStefano, the last catcher to do this in the big league, said that when he had to throw to third, he cheated a little bit.

I sat a couple of inches farther back, and my left foot was a little open. I didn't have to shuffle my feet because I had good arm strength. And we know that the pitcher has a big role to play in keeping the runner close. And you could also say that, you know, maybe you have a harder angle to throw to the base, but the batter is not quite in the way as much as you would be, right, for a right-handed catcher when you're making that throw? Yeah, I feel like for our right-handed catchers, it's been tough for them to decide if they have to go in front of the batter or behind because they have to move their whole shoulders while for me i could just drop down to my knee and open my shoulders that way so i mean that's that's a quicker advantage too and it has to be a quicker throw to third so when de stefano

has talked and we just keep referring to him but i guess we don't have many other people to refer to but what the biggest problem that uh that he identified when he was catching left-handed is that when you have plays at the plate if you have a throw that's up the third baseline then you have to try to backhand the ball which is a little more difficult and if you have a throw up the first baseline not only do you then have to reach across your entire body but it it leaves your body kind of vulnerable you can get blown up as a catcher by someone coming down the line and and your body is fully opened up so what uh what has been your

experience on plays at the plate do you feel like you're particularly vulnerable on those um i mean more so like you said up the line third baseline just because i do have the backhand but actually it's something new that we tried this year from right the right field throws i would step out more towards the field to give my my backside more time or more exposure so i leave the plate a little more open but i would i would backspin towards the plate instead of coming across my body so the drop tag would be quicker to come behind my back instead of doing a 180 circle to come that way so that's something new that we tried it's a lot quicker i never did it in a game we just probably started practicing that maybe three weeks ago and like nothing ever occurred for me to try

that during a game but just in practice that's been a lot more efficient so what was the the breakdown by the way in your innings played this year did you play much more first base or how often did you catch i caught i would say every game besides maybe like eight and a lot of a lot of those were in the in the preseason when we played five games a weekend. So myself and the other two catchers would split those games up. But once it came into conference play and the postseason, I caught every game. And what about plays in front of the plate or bunts or grounders? It seems like you would have, if anything, an advantage there, especially if the ball is hit toward third base because you'd have an easier angle there oh i think that's more of an advantage in softball as it's for baseball baseball you have

more time to throw out the runner but and softball has the slappers so i think being a left-handed catcher in that aspect is way more of an advantage because you can just pick up throw instead of having to switch your feet especially with those quicker runners so i think that's probably the biggest advantage of being a left-handed catcher and And being a flopper is growing in our game as well and how fast these girls are. So I think that's an advantage for me. Yeah. So there was an article a few years ago at Baseball Perspectives by Max Markey, who now works for the Indians.

And he was pointing out that even if there is a throwing disadvantage, and it's not clear that there is based on our conversation here, there could be a receiving advantage also and and now that teams are really prioritizing that at least at the major league level that might take precedence and he mentions catchers can exploit the umpires especially on the outside corner because the umpire often sets up on the inside corner and is less accurate on the outside corner and then it's easier to look steadier and get calls, as you were mentioning, when the ball is delivered to the catcher's glove side. And since there are more right-handed batters than left-handed ones, there are more opportunities for left-handed catchers to get the combination of the two points, a pitch on the outside corner that is to his or her glove side. And there's that sort of lefty strike zone in the major leagues,

a lesser extent than there used to be, but still there are more outside calls against left-handed hitters. So it seems like there would be a framing or a receiving advantage. I don't know if the strike zone is the same in softball as it is in the big leagues, but have you noticed that? Yeah, I think I've noticed that. I think the strike zones are a little bit different, of course, with the way the ball moves as well coming in. But growing up, like in high school and travel,

I would say at least 70% of the pitches thrown are outside. So no one's going to want to come inside so someone can hit a home run. So a lot of people, a lot of pitchers have perfected the outside pitches, whatever they have. So I think I really mastered that. And then in the same thing at the college level, obviously pitchers are better so they can move more pitches around but yeah I think the outside

outside part of the strike zone I can get easier or more calls on just because like you said it's on my glove side and there's less movement so the less movement the better maybe you've already just indirectly answered this question but given that it's still so very uncommon for there to be a left-handed catcher have you found that there's been any sort of difficulty not so much I guess catching your pitchers as with umpires just being familiar with the way that your body's going to move versus a right-handed catcher or or have umpires expressed that it really doesn't make much of a difference in my yeah in my personal experience umpire hasn't ever voiced that um I know like before the game starts they they stand behind

me during the in between any pitches probably just to get a view but they do still set up the on the inside corners but i've never had an umpire express that to me and there was a something that bill james wrote once he said the notion that a left-handed person could not be a major league catcher is absurd the biggest reason there are no left-handed catchers is natural selection. Catchers need good throwing arms. And if you have a kid on your baseball team who is left-handed and has a strong arm, what are you going to do with him or her, make him or her a pitcher? So is that something that ever came into play with you when you made that request to your coach that you wanted to be involved in every pitch. Did he suggest pitching or were you not interested in that? I did try to pitch.

I wasn't very good at it when I first started. So I didn't have patience with it. So I pitched one game when I was, I think, 10 or 11 and I didn't do very well. So I just gave it up and stayed behind the plate. Okay. Yeah. So that's kind of my problem with the Bill James explanation there

is that there have to be some kids who don't want to pitch or maybe they can throw from the catcher's position, but they can't pitch for whatever reason. It seems like there should at least be some who fit the definition there of good arm but doesn't pitch. So I don't know that that would explain everything. And I'm trying to rack my brain for other explanations here. I've seen it proposed that maybe, you know, lefties have this reputation or at least used to have a reputation in baseball as being kind of goofy and, you know, like the, and maybe because the catcher is often the team leader and is working very closely with the pitchers, maybe there would be some bias against lefties because of people think of lefties as being flaky or weird in some way. I don't know whether you've ever encountered that kind of thing.

No, I never heard that. But I know baseball, everyone knows that pitchers always are on a different level. Like there's a certain way to talk to a pitcher and work with a pitcher. So maybe that has to be a baseball thing because I've never, I haven't heard of that in the football world. Yeah. And has a pitcher ever expressed any i guess not surprised but but concerned like you know with if a pitcher sees you and has never been

caught by you before it has never been caught by a left-handed catcher is there any worry or is it like you know one pitch and it's clear that everything's okay yeah in my experience um at first they were kind of like oh this is new like let's see how this works. But like I said, most of the dominant pitches are outside. So I think they grew to the fact that I can frame the pitches. So they got a lot more strikes. But like you said, once they get used to it, they don't even notice that I'm left-handed once they start pitching. You had mentioned that there's a handful of other left-handed catchers around. You are not the only one playing at present.

And I don't know what it what it's like developing relationships with players on other teams but do you do you find that you have some sort of special particular bond with the other left-handed catchers or are they just players on other teams um well i've honestly just kept an eye out for it this season and i've done we played ford state twice and then georgia we had a series with them so i just noticed that no i don't have any particular relationships with them, but I think that's pretty cool that, like, that trend is coming into the college at top tier level.

So just, I think that hopefully that continues to grow. All right. Well, are there any advantages or disadvantages that we have failed to bring up to you think, or have we covered everything? I think, yeah, I think you covered every aspect. Like I said, my personal opinion, like I said before, right-handers, whatever their disadvantages are, could be our advantages. It's just, I think softball obviously has moved on and taken that chance on left-handed catchers. So maybe

baseball should too. You never know. So hopefully one day someone will try it and change the catching game behind the plate. Yeah, I would hope so. Teams are always looking for talent and it seems like, you know, they've questioned a lot of other beliefs about how the game has always been played. And it seems like there's less basis for this belief than a lot of them. So I can't imagine this total absence lasting forever. So hopefully someone's listening and watching you and the other catchers out there and it will give them the idea to try this. Although I guess it's maybe tough you you'd almost have to start converting people at the little league level right because exactly once

you get to the minors they're not around anymore yeah exactly it starts from a young age and hopefully a coach like someone like i did is open-minded and give someone a chance why not you know yeah we need your coach to go on the road and talk to all the other coaches and get them all on the same page all right well are you planning to be the the full-time or primary catcher next year too yep that's the plan same staff and we got all the same catchers coming back so should be fun okay cool well for now if we want to see left-handed catchers watch university of florida gators games next year. And congratulations on the success this year.

Sorry that the World Series didn't work out quite as well as you'd hoped, but you all did great getting there. So we're happy we got to talk to you. Real-life example of a left-handed catcher. They do exist, and there is no reason why more of them don't exist. So thank you very much, Janelle. Thank you for having me. Thank you. All right. Thanks again to Janelle. That left-handed catcher encounter was a thrill for me. There've been a lot of really good articles about this. John Walsh wrote one in the Hardball Times, Max Markey, as I mentioned, for BP, Alan Schwartz for the New York Times. So I'm going to link to all of these articles. If

we and Janelle have not convinced you, maybe some of the analysis and the quotes in those articles will. But come on, coaches. I know some of you listen to this podcast. Encourage your left-handed catchers. By the way, one bit of banter that I didn't get to mention at the beginning of the episode, Marlins starter Edinson Volquez followed up his no-hitter with seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts against the Pirates on Thursday. And he credited his injured ankle. So he hurt his ankle in the first inning of his no-hitter on Saturday. And after the game on Thursday, he said, It's crazy, but my ankle, it keeps me under control.

Volquez said, Perfectly serious. I don't try to do too much. It's something with my delivery, my mechanics. I previously jumped to the plate. I've got to stay back a little bit to make sure my ankle is fine to support my weight. It keeps me more under control. And this reminded me of something Sam Miller wrote in 2014. He talked to Tim Hudson, who at the time had thrown 46 innings and had walked only two batters. And Tim Hudson told Sam,

I think a lot of it is because I'm not driving off the rubber like I have in the past probably has a lot to do with my ankle. probably has a lot to do with my ankle. I can't overthrow it as much this year just because, you know, when I had fresh legs and I didn't have a bad ankle, I had a tendency to overthrow a little bit and leave the rubber early. So we've got at least a sample of two here. Pitchers who claim that injured ankles

had helped them with their control. So this is going to be my suggested solution every time a pitcher has mechanical issues now. Injure his ankle. Folk has actually joked about that. He said, when I fix my ankle, I'm going to hit it again with a bat injured ankles

the new inefficiency alright you can support the podcast and our pursuit of left-handed catchers at patreon.com slash effectively wild five listeners

who have already pledged their support include Jordan Sovron Chris Thrash Sean Cusack Chris Feld and Casey Olney thanks to all of you

you can join our Facebook group at facebook.com slash group slash effectively wild we will pass the 6,000 member mark this weekend And Casey Olney. McNichol, who's a producer for WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio, is doing a podcast for WNPR this spring about the Hartford Yardgoats, the Rockies AA affiliate. Some of you know their story. They played the whole season on the road last year because their stadium wasn't built on time. It's called The Second First Season. Jonathan's published four episodes so far. You can find them at wnpr.org slash programs slash second hyphen first hyphen season i'll link to it too takes a behind the scenes look at the making of a double-a baseball team on a year-long do-over and it's

been described by some guy on twitter as this american life meets the only rule is it has to work which sounds like something a lot of you would like keep your questions and comments for me and jeff coming via email at podcast and fancrafts.com or via the patreon messaging system if you're looking for something else to listen to, Michael Bauman and I interviewed Noah Sindergaard on the most recent episode of the Ringer MLB show. I'll be doing draft-related episodes on both of my baseball podcasts on Monday.

They will be very different draft-related episodes, so stay tuned for that. Have a nice weekend. We'll talk to you next week.