The White Sox Catcher Conundrum

Martín Maldonado started at catcher yet again for the White Sox yesterday afternoon, turning in another typical Martín Maldonado performance. He went 0-3 at the plate with a strikeout and caught a game in which the White Sox pitching staff gave up six walks, eight runs, and four stolen bases. It has reached the point where people are shocked if Maldonado does something productive because he has been so bad. Yet he still plays consistently.

Maldonado's Pitiful Offensive Performance

Maldonado enters the day slashing .053/.100/.079. He has two hits all season. For comparison's sake, all pitchers combined for a slash line of .110/.150/.142 in 2021, the final year they hit for themselves before MLB instituted the universal DH. Pedro Grifol would likely be better off telling any of his pitchers to grab a bat and hit in Maldonado's place than letting Maldonado hit for himself. That is how bad he has been offensively this season. Watching Maldonado hit in 2024 is like giving a regular civilian a bat and hoping for the best.

Korey Lee, on the other hand, is hitting .273 this season with a .739 OPS. He has been above league average offensively with a 113 OPS+ and is one of the few players in the White Sox lineup who puts up consistently good at-bats. Somehow, he has fewer plate appearances this season than Maldonado does.

Maldonado's Declining Defense

In fairness to Maldonado, hitting has never been his strength. Even in his best years, he was always below average with the bat. His defensive reputation is why he has stuck in the majors this long. Unfortunately, he has also cratered in that department. Putting Maldonado's defensive stats alongside Lee's paints a startling picture.

Blocks Above Average: Maldonado, 34th percentile; Lee, 64th percentile

Caught Stealing Above Average: Maldonado, 8th percentile; Lee, 86th percentile

Framing: Maldonado, 8th percentile; Lee, 23rd percentile 

Exchange Time: Maldonado, 0.72 seconds; Lee, 0.62 seconds

Pop Time: Maldonado, 1.98 seconds; Lee, 1.83 seconds

Average Arm Strength: Maldonado, 81.9 MPH; Lee, 85.4 MPH

dWAR: Maldonado, -0.1; Lee, 0.3

White Sox Pitching Staff ERA With Each Catcher: Maldonado, 5.26; Lee, 4.43

The stats and metrics prove that Lee is the best defensive catcher on the White Sox by a substantial margin. Lee also ranks favorably defensively amongst all MLB catchers in specific categories. He has the best average arm strength of all qualified catchers and the second-quickest pop time. Lee is developing into a respectable catcher both offensively and defensively before our eyes, but is still not the White Sox starting catcher because of Maldonado's presence.

Youth Movement Is Needed

Age is another factor in the equation. Maldonado is 37 years old and will not be back next season if his performance so far is any indication. Lee is only 25 years old and might have a long-term place on the team, even if it is just as a backup catcher. There is no reason why Maldonado should be playing this much. Chris Getz brought him in Maldonado because of his veteran presence, but that only means so much when said veteran presence is an active detriment to the team's performance on the field.

Catching prospect Edgar Quero is destroying the AA level right now and will hopefully be the White Sox long-term solution at catcher. However, he is not MLB-ready yet, and someone has to catch at the MLB level in the meantime. That someone should be Lee, with Maldonado riding the bench. The sooner the White Sox figure this out, the better.