May 12th, 2023 at 11:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka When the NL West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers take the field against the NL West third-place San Diego Padres at beautiful Dodger Stadium at 7:10 PM (PT) on Friday, it will be the 38th game of the 2023 regular season for both teams. For you non-mathematicians (such as myself), this equates to exactly 23.4567% of the regular season (let’s just call it 24%), or almost 1/4 of the season.
At the almost 1/4-mark of the 2023 regular season, here are the Dodgers offensive numbers:
What jumps out at you first (and perhaps most) about these numbers is that of all 18 Dodgers on this list, eight are hitting below the ‘Mendoza Line‘ (.200-ish). Of these eight, four are almost everyday players – including Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, who sits at the bottom of the list of almost everyday players with a dismal .111 batting average and who has struck out in 18 of his 54 official at-bats. That’s exactly 33.3333% of them (for us non-mathematicians).
(MLB.com)
Obviously, the Dodgers – and every MLB team – absolutely positively must carry (at least) two catchers, but 6-for-54?
There is no disputing that the 33-year-old Fullerton, CA native and ninth-round draft pick in 2011 by the Miami Marlins out of Arizona State University is an exceptional defensive catcher and is, in fact, future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw‘s (more or less) personal catcher and very close friend. But it’s hard to get past that .111 thing when the Dodgers number one prospect – catcher or otherwise – is 21-year-old Maracay, Venezuela native Diego Cartaya, who is not only a bit closer to that ‘Mendoza Line’ at .192 at Double-A Tulsa, but who is also already on the Dodgers 40-man roster. Cartaya is also considered one of the best defensive catchers in the Minors.
(MLB.com)
Now granted, hitting in the Bigs is waaaay more difficult than hitting Down on the Farm, but perhaps spending a little time at Triple-A OKC (or a little time on the IL) would help the struggling Barnes ‘get right’ (as they say), and would give Cartaya invaluable experience at baseball’s highest level.
Please understand that this is not a personal attack on the extremely popular Dodgers backstop, it is merely to suggest that Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman has a very viably alternative with a guy who, as noted, is already on his 40-man roster.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
Barnes is staying put. Very popular with the pitching staff. CT3 contributing both on offense and D. Plus he’s the back up SS.
Rojas is a great defensive SS and is starting to climb above 200 for sure.
Trayce hopefully breaks out soon.
Dodgers in a great spot rebuilding and contending.
Fangraphs stats are brutal on Barnes offense at 92% below ML wRC+ (offensive runs created) and his defense is now only marginally average, the result of having 3 errors when he only had 4 in 2022 (55 games) and only throwing out 10% of attempted steals. Of course the pitchers must bear some (most?) of the responsibility of stolen bases, but the stats go to the catchers. That being the case, would the Dodgers add a third catcher so that they can pinch hit for Barnes earlier in a game? I don’t expect to see Cartaya any earlier than September, but Hunter Feduccia may be an alternative although he is currently slumping with the bat.
I think Roberts and Company won’t rock the boat for now. He has been awful but his past history suggest he’s better. We shall see.