Micro Conference: Catchers

The 2022 DMBL All-Star Game is nearly here and balloting will begin shortly. Here's a breakdown of some of the contenders at each position.

For years, catchers were strictly defensive focused. Any offense that teams got out of the catcher spot was a bonus. It's still rare to see catchers among the league's leaders in hitting categories, so they can easily be overshadowed by the league's biggest boppers.

Here's a first look at potential selections for the 2022 DMBL All-Star game for the Micro Conference, starting with catchers. The 10 teams in the Micro Conference are Allentown, Blue Ridge, El Paso, Erie, Hillsborough, Livingston, Marietta, Philly, Poovey Farms, Rockland.

CATCHER

The catching corps in the Micro Conference is quite an motley crew of contenders. For instance, Don't sleep on Erie rookie Alejandro Kirk, who's putting together a solid first year at a position where you don't often expect much offense. His 6 HR, 21 RBI and .273/.362/.442 may look pedestrian but his OBP and RC/27 (5.0) ranks 2nd among Micro catchers and his 24.2 RC is right there with other bigger name contenders.

One big name is Buster Posey, who playing with Marietta in his final DMBL season and hopes to make one last All-Star squad. The 2016 batting champ leads all Micro catchers in hits (63) and RBI (36), along with 8 HR, but recently was hitting a meh .250/.298/.389). If it's power you're looking for, you can't argue with Livingston's Eric Haase, who leads the conference backstops with 17 HR, along with 33 RBI and 30 R -- but at a cost of .198/.261/.469. He also is tops in extra base hits (22) but also leads DMBL catchers in errors (6) and passed balls (9).

Then there's Mike Zunino of Poovey Farms, who makes an interesting case. He's 2nd to Haase in HRs with 14 but leads Micro catchers in RC (27.8) and RC/27 (8.3) by a wide margin (8.2). The draw back is he's doing it strictly against left-handers; he's only 2-for-23 against righties (even those 2 hits were HRs) and played in just 29 games, platooning with J.T. Realmuto. Still, it's impressive that half of his hits have been long balls for a slash line of .262/.363/.710.

Another rookie worth noting, El Paso 1st rounder Tyler Stephenson. He leads the league in starts at catcher (66) and caught stealing (9) and is tied with Haase for most runs scored among Micro catchers (30) as are his 50 hits but you'll have to overlook his .189/.248/.288. Rockland's Austin Nola leads Micro catchers with 13 doubles, and also has 50 hits, but has missed time due to injury.