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The Houston Astros are certainly not the best team in MLB, quite the opposite actually. What they do have is what is quickly becoming the best organization in baseball as far as depth is concerned. That has been on display this weekend as they have had to call up minor league catcher Cody Clark to man the catcher position. Clark’s story doesn’t exactly mirror Mike Trout’s but he certainly is making noise now.
Make hay while the sun is shining, country folks sometimes say. Clark seems to be doing just that. One quick glance at Sunday’s highlights will show you a catcher that is very well versed in the art of playing the catcher position on the baseball field. He should know how to though because he has been playing in the minors for 11 seasons.
This is not a hot young up and coming star story. This is a story of persistence, patience and know-how rising to the highest level of the Astros organization to fill a need when it needed to be filled. What did Bo Porter need Clark to do? He needed him to catch and boy did Clark ever do it. He threw out two would-be base stealers, one of whom was Jose Reyes. He led the pitcher to a quality start that should have gotten the Astros the win if they didn’t have so many inconsistencies in the bullpen.
Who is this guy and why hasn’t he made it the big time yet? Honestly I don’t know why he hasn’t debuted as of yet. He isn’t exactly Johnny Bench with the bat but who cares? Anyone that can post 11 seasons, 420 starts and 3764 innings as a catcher and only have 23 pass balls and 22 errors should have been noticed by someone before now. A .993 fielding percentage with only 23 pass balls over that many innings catching sometimes wild minor league pitching should show up on someone’s radar.
Either way I’m sure he is on several people’s radar as of now and he most certainly should find his way onto someone’s MLB roster by next season. If he doesn’t I would be completely shocked.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
