As of right now, 36-year old Jose Molina will be the Rays’ starting catcher in 2012, with Jose Lobaton, Robinson Chirinos and Chris Gimenez duking it out this spring for the backup job. Righty swinging Jose Molina played in 55 games for the Blue Jays last year and he was 48 for 171 (.281 avg, .757 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 3 homers, 15 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 666 games in his first 12 years in the majors and he is 430 for 1,787 (.241 avg, .630 OPS) with 183 runs scored, 29 homers, 163 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Expecting Molina to be a starting catcher at this point in his career is probably a reach as he has caught 100 games just one time in his first 12 years. Molina was behind the plate 48 times for the Blue Jays last year and he had 1 error and 8 passed balls. He also threw out 12 of 36 (33.3%) base stealers as he has a big time throwing arm. Blue Jays’ pitchers had a 4.38 ERA last year with Molina behind the plate. The Rays definitely signed Molina because of his arm and how well he works with pitchers.

27-year old righty swinging Jose Lobaton is a pretty solid defensive catcher but he just hasn’t been able to master hitting major league pitching quite yet. Lobaton played in 15 games for the Rays last year and he was 4 for 34 (.118 avg, .378 OPS) with 2 runs scored. He has also played in 60 games in A+AAA-ball last year and he was 62 for 202 (.307 avg, .922 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 8 homers and 33 RBIs. Lobaton has now played in 22 games in his first two years in the majors and he is 7 for 51 (.137 avg, .371 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 0 homers and 0 RBIs. Lobaton played in 14 games behind the plate for the Rays last year and he had 1 error and 0 passed balls. He threw out 2 of 10 (20%) runners trying to steal on him last year and Rays’ pitchers had a 2.45 ERA with him behind the plate.

27-year old righty swinging Robinson Chirinos is the opposite of Lobaton as he is a decent hitter but not much of a defensive catcher. Chirinos played in 20 games for the Rays last year and he was 12 for 55 (.218 avg, .592 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. He also played in 78 games in AAA-ball last year in which he was 73 for 282 (.259 avg, .719 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 6 homers, 24 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Chirinos played in 19 games behind the plate for the Rays and he didn’t have any passed ball or errors. But, he only nailed 2 of 23 (8.7%) base steals and Rays’ pitchers had a 4.43 ERA with him behind the plate. He’s going to have to improve on defense if he wants to win the backup catcher job this spring.

29-year old righty swinging Chris Gimenez will also be in the competition to back up Jose Molina this spring. Gimenez played in 24 games for the Mariners last year and he was 12 for 59 (.203 avg, .585 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer and 6 RBIs. He has now played in 97 games in his first three years in the majors and he is 39 for 228 (.171 avg, .551 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 5 homers and 21 RBIs. Gimenez played in 20 games behind the plate for the Mariners last year and he had didn’t make any errors or have any passed balls. He threw out 6 of 20 (30%) runners trying to steal on him and Mariners’ pitchers had a 4.91 ERA with him behind the plate. Gimenez also can play 1B and OF, which might help his cause a bit.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2012: D