Should Brayan Pena be playing a little bit more? Here's a quick performance and playing time breakdown.
- In 113 PAs, Humberto Quintero has hit .234/.265/.364. Humberto has caught 272 innings thus far.
- In 96 PAs, Brayan Pena has hit .269/.281/.376. Pena has caught 96 innings.
Combined, Royal catchers are hitting .249/.273/.371, good for a .644 OPS, which is actually 11th best in the AL. Want to be horrified? Oakland catchers have hit .195/.250/.246. The American League average is .244/.314/.400. So yes, even though they're catchers and this is the new deadball era, we're giving away runs.
OBLIGATORY LINE ABOUT SALVADOR PEREZ BEING GONE AND ROYALS BEING .500 IF HE WAS AROUND AND OMG HE HAS SUCH AMAZING PEREZENCE BEHIND THE PLATE AND WOULD HIT .320 WITH LIFE-ALTERING DEFENSE !!!!!
I'm going to assume that Quintero is considered better behind the plate, because he can't hit and because Pena has never had a good defensive reputation. However, now that Pena has also shown very little ability to truly hit well himself, I expect his defensive reputation will creep upwards.
Pena, incidentally, has had a weird career. I ran through all my former Brave jokes when Dayton acquired him in 2009. He even slugged .442 in his first season with the team. However, it's like the Royals keep forgetting he's around. His career high in games played is 72. Sure, he's lost playing time to greats like Jason Kendall and Miguel Olivo, but he's also been benched in favor of Treanor!!!!!! and Quintero. This season, when Perez went down, the team's response was to go get Quintero, as part of the completely baffling Beourgeois (not even trying to remember how to spell it anymore) trade, which may have been the least sexy trade of all time.
And, depressingly, Quintero has, while being awful, actually been better than expected. He hit that random homer in the first week, and he's even managed some occasional doubles. In 2011 and 2010, he slugged .317 both years. Where have you gone John Buck?