PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner spent hours this offseason studying old games in order to sharpen everything from his in-game management to his pitch calling.
He tried to drill down on all of the little moments in which a catcher puts his fingerprints on a game.
Enough touches of the right kind can swing an outcome in a catcher’s team’s favor. Or vice versa. Knizner had some of both in the Cardinals' 8-5 Grapefruit League loss Friday to the Mets.
On one hand, the 26-year-old catcher made the finest defensive play by a Cardinal in the game when he threw out Mets superstar Francisco Lindor during an attempted steal of second base.