Austin Barnes is Not Roki Sasaki’s Personal Catcher, Says Dodgers Manager
Roki Sasaki and Austin Barnes have been battery mates for back-to-back starts, but manager Dave Roberts wanted to clarify that there is nothing exclusive about the pairing.
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“They’ve spent a lot of time together,” Roberts said Sunday. “It’s not like a dedicated battery at all. But I just felt that Roki had a good one over there (in Philadelphia). There’s some familiarity, and let’s kind of just go with that for a little bit.”
Sasaki pitched the most innings of his MLB career in his start against the Philadelphia Phillies with four, and his latest start versus the Chicago Cubs saw a new career-high with five. Barnes was catching for both of the contests.
“I don’t want to box myself in,” said Roberts. “Will [Smith]’s our starting catcher. So when you start playing that game and then you box yourself in. I’m not going to do that.”
Smith is off to an excellent start this season slashing .341/.481/.488 with an OPS of .969. He is seeking an All-Star honor for a third straight season.
Roberts has done a good job of alternating Barnes and Smith this season as Smith has yet to catch for three consecutive outings.
“I think for me, I’m just more playing the long game,” Roberts said. “I think that all catchers across the board in the second half of the season start to get weary and get tired. I just wanted to make sure that we keep Will wanting for more and there’s a lot more left in the tank. I just think that right now, it’s just kind of good to kind of pick my spots. But yeah, he’ll get about the same number of at-bats that he’s gotten the last few years.”
The Barnes and Sasaki pairing is likely not going to turn into a Clayton Kershaw and Barnes-like pairing as he has been Kershaw’s exclusive backstop since 2015, but Dodgers fans will hope that Sasaki keeps up his recent productive outings regardless of who is catching for him.
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Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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SaSaki is improving for sure. I think he has been getting used to the larger MLB baseball. Roberts better be careful with all the pitchers. Last year his handling of the pitchers led to many injuries. The Dodgers were fortunate, the staff, or what was left of it, stepped up in the postseason.