The Pittsburgh Pirates are now far enough removed from the catcher desert that it’s possible to look at the old days with a sense of morbid amusement.
Stocking a farm system with catchers isn’t an easy undertaking. It’s not like other positions. First of all, catchers get hurt a lot. And second, it’s harder to cover for injuries. In the minors, if all your third basemen are hurt, you just move somebody to the spot, even a pitcher on rare occasions.
You can’t do that with catchers. A team needs to worry both about producing catching prospects and about keeping its minor league rosters properly staffed.