Heading into this offseason, Washington Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo told reporters that upgrading the catching corps would be a focus after two seasons with an oft-injured veteran, Matt Wieters, behind the plate as the No. 1 backstop in the nation’s capital.
“Wieters is a free agent,” Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s The Sports Junkies back in late September.
“We’ve got our two young kids in [Pedro] Severino and [Spencer] Kieboom, who — Kieboom has had a nice year as a backup catcher for us this year, but I agree that a frontline catcher is a guy that we should target and go after, because it’s a huge position defensively, first of all, it’s a guy who controls a game, and I think you saw when Wieters went down, the way the pitchers threw to the catchers was as important as any type of offense you’re getting from the catcher’s position.