Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training: Five Battles To Watch For

BACKUP CATCHER

Sep 16, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks catcher

(54) at bat during the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Miguel Montero will be the everyday (or most days) catcher, but after him the bottom drops out. The Diamondbacks only have one other catcher on the active roster — Tuffy Gosewisch. They don’t even have another catcher on the 40-man roster at this point and look like they’d be in serious trouble if Montero went down.

Gosewisch hit just .178 in limited time last year and although he’s got just 14 games of majors experience, he’s already 30 years old and has played 742 games in the minors (hitting .239). In a nutshell, he’s what they’ve got, not what they’d like (or need).

The Diamondbacks are inviting Henry Blanco, Blake Lalli, Steve Rodriguez and Bobby Wilson to camp, but none are favorites to make the roster. Blanco is being groomed as a coach and the others are longshots at the very best. The Diamondbacks don’t have to go after a backup catcher unless something happens to Montero, but if something does….that’s going to be a major hole.