Ask Dodgers future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw who his all-time favorite catcher is/was, his answer will be, without hesitation, 11-year MLB veteran A.J. Ellis … and it isn’t even close. In addition to being one of, if not the best Dodgers batteries over the past decade (or ever), Clayton and A.J. are still best friends.

But hidden in the shadow of A.J. Ellis, at least from 2011 to 2014, was his back-up catcher – (now) 33-year-old Tim Federowicz, affectionately known as FedEx.

“Nobody in the league is better at blocking balls in the dirt than Tim Federowicz, not even Yadier Molina or Buster Posey,” former MLB manager and longtime Dodgers farmhand catcher (and Dodgers broadcaster) Kevin Kennedy said when Federowicz was with the team back then.

During his four seasons with the Dodgers, FedEx posted an impressive .985 fielding percentage behind the dish. Unfortunately, he was far less impressive with his bat, posting a mediocre .237/.340/.348/.688 slash line with five home runs and 22 RBI.

As Dodgers fans are well aware of by now, 22-year-old highly-ranked Dodgers catching prospect Keibert Ruiz has yet to show up for Spring Training at Camelback Ranch due to “visa issues.” As a result, he has undoubtedly surrendered his number-three catcher slot (behind Austin Barnes and Will Smith) to Federowicz. In fact, Dodgers manager Dave Robert said so during his media briefing on Thursday.

“We kind of moved [Federowicz] over there. He’s getting more repetitions over in the bullpen with some of the guys we’ll see this year. We’re still expecting Keibert to arrive. Don’t know when.”

During his Zoom presser on Saturday morning, Smith had high praise for Federowicz.

“He’s awesome, man. He’s in here every day; he’s ready to go, he’s fun to talk to, he’s fun to be around, he’s a good clubhouse guy,” Smith said. “You can see throwing to bases why he’s been in the big leagues for a while – taking BP, receiving and blocking, doing all of the drill work, you can see why he’s been in the league for such a long time and why he’s been successful, just because of the intent he puts in with his work.

“I try to follow the older guys if I can, and I respect the heck out of him. Yeah, he’s been cool to be around so far,” added Smith.

All of this said, it is unrealistic the believe that FedEx will break camp on the Dodgers active roster. But what is realistic is that, as it stands right now, Tim Federowicz would probably be the guy called up to the Dodgers if (Heaven forbid) Barnes or Smith get injured.

Play Ball!

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