Although it is rare that what we see during spring training actually carries over into the regular season, it does happen occasionally.

I mean, who can forget when a then 21-year-old Corey Seager, who hit .350 during Spring Training 2016, would go on to finish the 2016 regular season with a .308 batting average, 26 home runs, be named to the National League All-Star team, finish third in the NL MVP voting, and win the 2016 NL Rookie of the Year title.

It does indeed happen, but not often.

On the other side of that coin is Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, who hit an impressive .289 during the 2017 regular season, only to come out of spring training 2018 hitting a dismal .111 and finish the 2018 regular season hitting .205; and then going 0-for-11 in the 2018 World Series.

‘Water under the bridge,’ as they say.

The now 29-year-old Fullerton, California native and 2011 ninth-round draft pick by the Miami Marlins out of Arizona State University is flat out tearing it up this spring, with a remarkable slash-line of .323 / .417 / .613 for an OPS of 1.030. He has also slugged two home runs, three doubles, and driven in a team-high 12 runs. The four-year MLB veteran has also thrown out two would-be base stealers while posting an excellent .983 fielding percentage. The mere thought of Barnes carrying these types of numbers over into the 2019 regular season is absolutely intoxicating.

And then there’s 36-year-old / 13-year MLB veteran Russell Martin, whom the Dodgers (re)acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays during the off-season, with Toronto picking up $16.4 million of the $20 million owed to Martin for the final year of his 5-year / $82 million contract.

This spring, the current former Dodger is 4-for-16 with one home run and one double in the six spring training games in which he has appeared thus far. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he has missed the majority of spring training games due to a strained lower back suffered when he “overdid it” (his words) in the batting cage less than three weeks into camp. However, the extremely popular East York, Ontario, Canada native and Dodgers 17th-round draft pick in 2002 has returned to action and is unquestionably a huge asset to the (mostly young) Dodgers pitching staff.

So therein lies the dilemma. Who comes out of spring training 2019 as the starting catcher and who is the back-up catcher?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past four years, you already know the answer to this question. Both; because that’s how Dodgers president of operations Andrew Friedman does things.

Although the younger Barnes will probably see the majority of the action – at least to begin the season and barring a complete 2018-like meltdown – you can expect to see Martin behind the plate quite often as well. In other words, Barnes and Martin will be “platooned” (a popular word around Dodger Stadium these days) on a relatively regular basis. And while this most certainly has its merits for those who wear ‘the tools of ignorance’ over a brutally long 162-game regular season and (hopefully) into the postseason, it is often difficult for Dodger fans to embrace the thought that the better hitter, whomever that may be, is sitting on the bench.

That said, Friedman’s platooning thing is nothing new for Dodger fans, especially among the Dodgers outfielders. The difference here, however, is that Barnes and Martin are both right-handed hitters, whereas Martin’s predecessor, former Dodgers (and current Milwaukee Brewers) catcher Yasmani Grandal is (was) a switch-hitter and always batter left-handed against right-handed pitching.

Be that as it may, it is very likely that Barnes and Martin will probably split the catching duties right down the middle, at least until one shows more promise than the other with the bat.

In other words, the winner is…

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