Eleven catchers have spent more than 500 innings behind the plate this season. Two have spent more than 600 innings behind the plate. One is Christian Vázquez. The other is Willson Contreras.
The Cubs have needed Contreras this year. Their other catching options have been:
- Sold to San Diego before the season for prospects.
- Out for three-plus months with a wrist injury.
- Demoted for not being good enough at baseball.
- Sidelined with a torn flexor tendon in their throwing arm.
- Sidelined after landing crushingly on their shoulder while trying to avoid hurting one of the Brewers’ most indispensable players.
- Demoted for not being good enough at baseball. (Remix!)
- A 37-year-old whose best career season is suspect because it came on the Houston Astros in 2019.
Willson Contreras has kept the Cubs in the race, or at least he did until he couldn’t anymore, and while WAR doesn’t capture that (Contreras is fourth on the Cubs in fWAR, trailing two All-Stars and a former MVP runner-up), everyone knows it. Willson Contreras has been asked to squat behind the plate all day, to get pummeled with pitches in the dirt, to take pitches up near and against his head while hitting, to provide stability in a shaky lineup, and to do it basically every single day (only Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javy Báez have played more total defensive innings than Contreras on the year, and none of them is playing a position near as grueling as catcher, though Rizzo did pitch two thirds of an inning that one time).
I know that not everyone is going to play as hard as Willson Contreras. I don’t think everyone should. I think most hearts would give out if subjected to the intensity to which Contreras subjects his heart. But at the same time, Contreras has earned every right to say whatever the hell he wants about his teammates’ effort, especially in a way that doesn’t throw anyone under the bus and acknowledges the reality of the Cubs’ current situation.
Viva Willson Contreras.
