Cincinnati Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco is a happy man after coming to terms with the club on a four-year, $28 million contract this offseason. He's even more ecstatic about the Reds' plans to keep him as the team's primary backstop rather than transitioning him to first, saying that “I wouldn’t want to play any other position. I love catching.”
Reds manager Bryan Price is also happy to have Mesoraco in tow for the long haul, and he doesn't see any roadblocks for Mesoraco playing the vast majority of his games behind the dish - despite the calls by some for Mesoraco to become the oft-injured Joey Votto's backup plan at first.
“I’ve been asked that question a lot about Mesoraco playing first base,” said Price, via Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News. “How much would he play? Only if Votto was injured. Realistically, I see him as a Yadier Moilina type guy who is going to catch 145 games a year, more so than I see him catching 110 a year and playing 20 or 30 at first base.
Price is aware that some of the talk arose from his decision to link catcher Brayan Pena with starter Johnny Cueto last year. He says that won't be the case (at least to the same degree) in 2015.
“It stood out more last year because I linked up Johnny Cueto with Pena catching,” Price said. “I anticipate Mesoraco catching a lot more games this year, especially if he stays healthy. We won’t pair Pena with Cueto as much. Devin did a real nice job with Johnny the times he caught him.”
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