2012 Dodgers Player Profile: Matt Treanor

Matt is a right handed hitting catcher, born on March 3rd, 1976 in Garden Grove, California. Matt was a fourth round pick of the Royals in 1994, in 1997 Matt was traded to the Florida Marlins for Matt Whisenant. His path to the major leagues took 10 years of minor league ball involving 3300 plate appearances.

In 2005 when he finally made it for good, he was the backup catcher to our own Paul LoDuca the year after the big trade. Matt has had a career you would expect from a journeyman bouncing around the league. He has played with the Marlins, Detroit, Texas, Kansas City, and back to the Rangers. In 2011 he was the opening day catcher for the Royals. His biggest hit of his career might have been his three run walk off home run against the Angels last year on April 3rd.

Matt Treanor was not the worse offensive catcher in baseball last year but he was in the bottom 10%. I was unaware that he had an offensive skill but lo and behold he does know how to take a walk. When you hit .214 but carry a . 338 on base percentage you are not totally useless. To bad his slugging % can't break .300.

We may have found the older version of AJ Ellis. I'm not sure if I've seen a better comp for AJ Ellis then Matt. Like AJ they had very very very very long minor league careers. Like AJ, Matt showed a propensity for taking a walk but with zero power. Treanor has a career .90 split between his batting average and on base % so last year was no fluke. The man can take a walk.

Defensively I know nothing about Matt Treanor but I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying he's "probably" an above average catcher because why else would he be haunting the major leagues given his career OPS of .623. He did throw out three runners in a game on April 15th, 2005.

Since Treanor made the major leagues in 2005, only Jeff Mathis has a lower slug%. Bottom 5 for your enjoyment are:

                                                                  
Rk              Player  SLG   PA From   To   Age HR   BA  OBP  OPS
1          Jeff Mathis .301 1360 2005 2011 22-28 26 .194 .257 .557
2         Matt Treanor .309 1299 2005 2011 29-35 16 .224 .316 .624
3          Brad Ausmus .311 1778 2005 2010 36-41 12 .240 .323 .633
4        Jason Kendall .318 3419 2005 2010 31-36  8 .260 .333 .651
5    Humberto Quintero .319 1035 2005 2011 25-31 13 .234 .266 .585

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/21/2012.

It was easy to stop at the bottom five because number six had a slug% jump all the way to .347. These five are as futile a five as you will find. Yet all five have been able to carve out a major league career.

Trivia

Married to Misty May in 2004, one of the greatest female volleyball players of her generation. Misty is a Los Angeles native who might be one of Los Angele's greatest athletes. Her string of accomplishments is a long one and still growing.

Matt has also been in the last two world series so there is that.

Contract Status

Per the TBLA Payroll Worksheet

Treanor signed a one-year deal worth $1 million on November 15, 2011, which includes a club option for 2013.

2012: $850,000
2013: $950,000 club option ($150,000 buyout)

Previous Dodgers Player Profiles

None

Stats

2012 Outlook

Backup catcher to AJ Ellis. How long he stays with the Dodgers probably depends more on how FedEx does this summer than anything Matt does. Treanor is a given, he won't hit much but he will get on base.