Seattle Mariners spring training position preview: Nowhere to go but up for the catchers

(TNS) — Entering this season, the Mariners are confident their production from the catching position will be improved and the overall offensive numbers will increase.

The reason for that optimism?

Well, it seems almost impossible that it could get worse after an abysmal 2015 season.

New general manager Jerry Dipoto acquired two experienced catchers to address the situation -- signing free agent Chris Iannetta to a one-year contract and trading for Steve Clevenger to serve as Iannetta’s backup and platoon mate.

The moves addressed a position that was a gaping hole of ineptitude and lost at-bats last season.

Here’s is our spring training position preview of the catching position. Mariners pitchers and catchers report to Peoria, Ariz., on Feb. 19.

The past

From an offensive standpoint -- the Mariners had the worst catchers in baseball in 2015. No collection of catchers put up a lower batting average (.159), on-base percentage (.205) or slugging percentage (.259).

Here are the full numbers from Baseball Reference ...

Opening-day starter Mike Zunino struggled with his approach at the plate and making consistent contact. After an outstanding spring training, the Mariners hoped Zunino had taken a major step forward and would improve on his 2014 numbers when he hit .199 with 22 homers and 60 RBI and had a .658 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).

But it didn’t happen. Zunino started slow and panicked while trying to fight his way out of it. By the end of April, he was hitting .129 and was striking out an alarming rate.

Even worse, then-GM Jack Zduriencik had not provided a capable backup that could allow Zunino to regroup, either with some days off at the big-league level or time in the minor leagues. Zduriencik shrugged off suggestions about bringing a higher level backup catcher on the chance that Zunino might struggle during the offseason. The Mariners signed veteran John Baker to a minor-league deal, but it was obvious during spring training that he wasn’t an option. Instead, Jesus Sucre -- a solid defensive catcher with no potential as a hitter -- served as the backup.

By mid-May, something had to change. Zduriencik made a smart move May 19 in acquiring Cubs catcher Welington Castillo for Yoervis Medina. Castillo had proven to be more than competent hitter during his time with the Cubs. He never got that chance with the Mariners. Castillo was with the team for 15 days and appeared in six games. But with the team faltering offensively, Zduriencik on June 3 traded Castillo and three players to the Diamondbacks for designated hitter/outfielder/first baseman Mark Trumbo and pitcher Vidal Nuno. Castillo hit .255 with an .813 OPS, 13 doubles, 17 homers and 50 RBI in 80 games with Arizona.

The veteran help for Zunino and the lineup was gone, and Sucre returned. The plan for the Mariners was to acquire another veteran catcher. But with injuries at the position all over the league and the Mariners’ obvious need, opposing general managers tried to take advantage of the situation, requesting absurd returns for the likes of aging and unproductive Carlos Ruiz or minor-league catcher Tomas Telis.

The Mariners couldn’t make those deals. So Zunino was forced to stay as the main catcher and Sucre as his backup. The situation did not improve.

Zunino continued to fight himself at the plate. He was overwhelmed by suggestions from myriad voices in the organization. For a 10-game stretch from July 20 to July 31, he seemed to have found success with a very simplified stance at the plate that lacked the pre-swing movement and swing trigger he had used. He hit .361 (13 for 36) during that span with a .978 OPS and five doubles and a homer.

But it was followed by a nine-game stretch in which he went 0 for 25 with nine strikeouts and reverted to all of his old habits. On Aug. 28 with Zduriencik fired, the Mariners sent Zunino to Class AAA Tacoma to finish the season. He didn’t return for September call-ups. The Mariners instead sent him to their spring-training complex in Peoria, Ariz., to work on his swing. The Mariners finished the season with the combination of Sucre, Steve Baron and John Hicks. They combined for 14 hits in 93 at-bats in September/October.

The present

Iannetta, 32, enters spring training as the opening-day starter. He was one of the first targets for Dipoto after taking over the Mariners. The two have a history. Dipoto traded for Iannetta as GM with the Angels. He’ll see the bulk of the time at catcher with the left-handed hitting Clevenger as his backup/platoon mate. Barring injuries to either, Zunino likely will start the season with Tacoma, where he can perform without the results-oriented pressure of the big leagues.

Think about this: Iannetta had the worst season of his career in 2015 -- hitting .188 with a .288 on-base percentage -- and that still would have been an improvement over what the Mariners got from the position.

“It was just bad,” Iannetta said. “I can’t make any excuse for it. I don’t really know what happened. The only thing I can kind of put a finger on is I tried to do a little too much. Going into two years ago, I made a conscious effort to be a little more aggressive, and it really paid off. I had a really good year. And I tried to make another little more incremental progress by being even more aggressive, and it was too much.”

Iannetta had a career .375 on-base percentage entering 2015, including .373 in 2014.

“I got away from being myself, which is being patient at the plate, getting a good pitch to hit,” he said. “I found myself in a lot of 1-2 and 0-2 counts last year because I was swinging at marginal pitches that I don’t normally swing at. It took me a while to get out of that. It took me a while to get back to being the player that I am -- it’s seeing a lot of pitches and getting on base.”

Clevenger, 29, hit .287 (29 for 101) with four doubles, two triples, two home runs and 15 RBI in 30 games over two stints with the Orioles in 2015.

“I’m very glad that Jerry came and got me in the trade,” said Clevenger, who is out of minor-league options. “I knew I was going to get shipped out. There really hasn’t been a place for me on that team.”

He relishes the chance to stay at the big leagues for a full season.

“This past year I got more consistent at-bats than I had in previous years and fine tuning my game at the big-league level instead of Triple A,” he said. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to get 200 or 300 at-bats and helping the team any way I can.”

He’s not an outstanding defensive catcher. The Mariners hope they can help him improve his receiving and throwing this spring.

The future

Iannetta has a $4.25 million club option for 2017 that automatically vests if he starts more than 100 games. So there is a chance he comes back for next season. Clevenger is out of options, which means any time he is removed from the 25-man roster -- with the exception of a designated-list stint -- he’ll have to be designated for assignment and go through the waivers process.

Zunino is still the Mariners’ catcher of the future. Dipoto believes his swing issues can be fixed and added that his defense and leadership are too strong to give up on. After Zunino was rushed to the big leagues, the new front office won’t make a premature mistake of getting rid of him. They plan to be patient with his development, because they have other current options, unlike years past.

“Mike comes in, and we’re not holding him back from accomplishing whatever he can accomplish,” Dipoto said. “Our goal is that we have the opportunity to start him in Tacoma and watch his season develop. Mike went to the big leagues awfully quickly, and to get to the big leagues in under 1,000 plate appearances is a quick journey. To do it in under 500 is a very quick journey.”

“This season is going to be about what’s best in the career development of Mike Zunino, and we’re going to make sure that that happens. If Mike needs two months, if he needs four months, if he needs a season of AAA to cultivate the offensive approach that we saw while he was at the University of Florida, we know it’s in there. We saw it through the first half of his minor-league journey. We’ve seen it periodically in the big leagues. Now we need to tap into that full time, and this goes for all of our front-office staff. It goes for our performance team. It goes for our major-league staff, and as importantly, it goes for his teammates. We hope Mike to be a very big part of what we’re doing, not only in 2016 but going forward. This season is going to be about what’s best for him.”

Beyond Zunino, the depth of catching in the system isn’t outstanding. Hicks, once considered a prospect, was designated for assignment in the offseason and claimed off waivers by the Twins.

Baron, a first-round draft pick in 2009, is a defense-first catcher who looked overwhelmed at the plate in his brief big-league stint in September. He’ll return to Tacoma. But he’s unlikely to be more than a light-hitting backup for his career.

Perhaps the most promising catching prospect that could surface within the next few seasons is Tyler Marlette. After putting up good numbers in hitter-friendly High Desert in 2014, Marlette was inconsistent in 2015. But he closed the season with Class AA Jackson, hitting .257 with 15 doubles, a triple, five homers and 14 RBI in 59 games. The new Mariners regime likes his potential at the plate. They have concerns with his defense and conditioning. He’s considered to be subpar defensively, and they’d like to see more focus to detail and preparation.

Marcus Littlewood, who was converted from shortstop to catcher, has shown promise. The conversion hasn’t been simple for him. But he has earned an invite to big-league spring training for a second consecutive season.