Rod Barajas vs. Michael McKenry, August & September Starts

Threw together some data about the Pirates catching situation since August. In this time frame the Pirates are 11-21 in this time. Here's the breakdown of who has started what games at the catching position.

Rod Barajas has made 17 starts and has hit .183/.254/.250 in those starts. The team is 4-13. A.J. Burnett has made six starts, Wandy Rodriguez, Kevin Correia, and Erik Bedard have all made three, and James McDonald and Jeff Locke were both caught by Barajas once in that time.

McKenry's numbers are better. Despite being the better hitter all year long, he's started just 15 of the last 32 games, in which the Pirates are 7-8. McKenry has hit .235/.307/.412 in that time, still not a good line but he's hitting for power when he's hitting and compared to Barajas he looked likes Johnny freakin Bench. He has become Jeff Karstens personal catcher, catching all six of his starts. The Pirates also prefer McKenry to catch McDonald, and five of his six starts have come with McKenry behind the dish. Rodriguez has made three starts with The Fort and Bedard made one.

There's no question that McKenry gives the Pirates a better chance to win than Barajas does. One thing I don't think people understand is that one catcher can't start every game. We're into September now, and these two have been at it all year long. All of the games this year have been caught by one of these two, so it's very probable that they're both probably pretty worked by now. You really have to split time at the catching position in this situation. It still seems like Barajas is getting more of the time, which is opposite of what should be happening. If the Pirates really think Burnett is that much better with Barajas, that's fine. But they need to find a way to get McKenry more than half the starts. I'd say it should be a 3-2 split with McKenry getting that 60%.

Is it a coincidence that the Pirates have three more wins in two less games with McKenry starting over Barajas? It probably is. Like I said, he really hasn't been doing much offensively either. Having McKenry behind the plate gives the Pirates a better chance to win, but not a much better chance. They need better performances from their starting pitchers to win, that is the bottomline. However, it just doesn't seem like the Pirates are doing the little things correctly here.