Catching on ... and on

October 11, 2007 | Boston Globe| By Gordon Edes

 

At 35, Varitek remains productive at plate - and invaluable behind it

 

News item: The Detroit Tigers picked up the $13 million option on catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who turns 36 Nov. 30, for the 2008 season. "People just throw around other options like you can get anybody to catch, but there are not a lot of future Hall of Famers available," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.


No one has yet said much about it, being that they're more focused on getting back to the World Series, but the Red Sox this season may have found the man who will catch for them after Jason Varitek's contract runs out following the 2008 season.


This guy finished fourth among American League catchers in home runs with 17, was third among AL catchers in RBIs with 68, was third among AL catchers in games started (121), and ranked fifth among AL catchers by throwing out 23.2 percent of runners attempting to steal (19 of 82). He's a switch hitter, handles a pitching staff better than anybody around, and engenders enormous respect in his own clubhouse and in the opposition.


Oh, and there isn't anyone in baseball who knows Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jonathan Papelbon better than he does.


His name, of course, is Jason Varitek. He is 4 1/2 months younger than Rodriguez, and because he got a late start in the big leagues (27), he has started nearly 1,000 fewer games behind the plate than Pudge (1,005 to 1,998). And this season, as Jorge Posada of the Yankees and Rodriguez have demonstrated, the traditional boundaries regarding the aging process for catchers are being redefined.


Varitek said he hasn't thought about playing beyond next season. "No, I can't," he said. "There's too much work to do this every day to think about that. But I've proved a lot to myself over the years, things like playing day games after night games, to handle that, to be dependable for your staff. That's the toughest turnaround for our position. If it counts for winning games over the long haul, then you'll take the hit statistically, because your ultimate goal is to win."


On Aug. 31, 2006, the Red Sox traded David Wells to San Diego for a young catcher named George Kottaras. At the time, Varitek was on the disabled list, having undergone surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee. Varitek rushed back into the lineup Sept. 3, hit .213 the rest of the month, and finished the season by whiffing 13 times in his last 18 at-bats. His .238 average and 55 RBIs for the season were his worst since he became a regular in 1999, and his 12 home runs were fewer than half the career-high 25 he'd hit in 2003. No surprise, then, that the Sox were thinking ahead when they acquired Kottaras.


But while Kottaras struggled for Triple A Pawtucket this season, Varitek rebounded in a major way. Posada's career year (.338, 20 HRs, 90 RBIs) overshadowed Varitek's performance - Posada's .970 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) was the highest ever for a catcher 35 years or older with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. But Varitek, who batted .255 with an on-base percentage of .367 and a slugging percentage of .421, finished the season with an OPS of .788. Only two AL catchers, Posada and Cleveland's Victor Martinez (.879), topped that this season, and in history, only Posada, Carlton Fisk (three times), and Elston Howard have ever posted a higher number among the 35-and-over set.


Varitek had his usual second-half fade: He batted .225 after the All-Star break, just .222 in September. Terry Francona, among others, cited the wear and tear that comes with being a catcher as the reason Varitek's numbers fall off late in the season and pitchers regularly blow fastballs by him.


"I don't necessarily agree with that," Varitek said. "Sometimes I just get caught up trying to do too much at the plate. I kind of get a little ticked off, hearing that all the time. I'm not more worn down than I was in June."


Varitek didn't look too tired the last 10 days of the season, when he hit three home runs in six games, including a tying ninth-inning blast in Tropicana Field Sept. 22, the night Sox clinched a postseason spot with a win over the Devil Rays. He didn't do much at the plate in three games against the Angels in the Division Series, going 2 for 11 with a double and an RBI while striking out four times and hitting into a double play. But the Angels had handled him all season (3 for 29, .103), and he still ranks as Boston's postseason leader in games and runs, ranks second in home runs and hits, and is third in RBIs.


Besides, when pitching coach John Farrell was standing in the middle of a champagne-drenched clubhouse, reflecting on Schilling's performance in the Division Series clincher last Sunday, he didn't talk about what Varitek had done at the plate.


"What's so impressive," Farrell said, "is the working relationship Jason has with every starter. Really, that's with every pitcher. In the seventh inning, when he had to be at his best, he was, and Schill stepped up. For us to allow two earned runs in 27 innings was an entire team effort, by the pitching staff and by Tek."


Varitek attributes his periodic struggles at the plate, especially late in the season, to excessive tinkering with his swing, and placing a greater emphasis on what he does behind the plate than when he's standing at it.


"But I've learned a lot about myself, different things about trying to concentrate on myself sometimes," he said.


There are signs, Varitek said, that will tell him when he is starting to slow down.


"I'll know if I'm starting not to be able to get to balls. Gary Tuck [bullpen coach and catching instructor] keeps track of a lot of catching stuff - how many balls you've blocked out of how many, how many balls you keep in play, how many runners advance - and he kind of tabulates it. Those are the things when I can't do those things anymore, that's when I'll know things are starting to decline. Those are the hard things, those are the wear-and-tear things, those are the concentration things and the demanding things."


Any slippage there? "It's not as easy as it was when I was 22," Varitek said, "but I'm also smarter now, and I do a lot of things better now."


And who would have guessed that at 35, you can teach an old catcher new tricks? That's exactly what has happened, Varitek said, with the addition of former Yankees bullpen coach Tuck to the Sox' staff.


"I'm getting help," Varitek said. "Roger Hansen [who tutored Varitek in Seattle] and Tuck, they've been great to have.


"Catching has never been, like, easy. Dougie [Mirabelli] has great, great hands. We've had to work on mine to catch the ball better, to do those things.


"I'm more of just a battler, a grinder. I need help with some technique to help me out. I'm 35 and I've been coached this year. That's pretty nice."


Nice to know the kid's still learning. Might want to keep him around for a while.