The Senior Circuit: TCU Catcher Bryan Holaday
May 20, 2010
In today's article at The Hardball Times, Jeff ranked the draft-eligible catchers with the best statistical resumes. There are plenty of familiar names near the top of the list, but a surprise at number three was senior backstop Bryan Holaday of Texas Christian.
What stands out the most about Holaday is his defensive prowess. He can hit, too--we'll get to that in a minute. He's near the top of the Division One rankings with 4.3 defensive runs above average and was even better last year, at +5.3. Remember that we're talking about 50-60 game seasons! We don't yet know exactly how those translate to pro ball, but I think it's safe to say he'll be competent behind the plate in the minors.
After going undrafted last year as a junior, his improvement at the plate--370/437/635 so far--has gotten him more attention. His achilles heel is plate discipline. His strikeout totals are manageable (13.5 percent this year, 15.1 percent last year), but he doesn't walk much. At 7 and 5 percent the last two years, he falls well below the 12 percent threshold we identified earlier this week.
But if any type of player can get away with offensive failings, it's a strong defensive receiver. The numbers are in his favor, and anecdotally, he sounds like the kind of guy who doesn't know how not to work his ass off. He's a fiery character, a team leader, the kind of guy you want on your team.
And hey, he might be able to hit better than Jason Kendall right now.