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Brewers Catchers- the present.
Catching is a position that has been in great flux for the Brewers these past few years. Since trading their former team captain Sam Rogers in May of 1968, they have seen two other veterans, Brett Wood and most recently Matt Webb, who recently filed for free agency, come and go. In the past two seasons Joey Townsend has spent a good deal of time on the major league roster as the backup. And while Townsend isn't a bad defender and had his moments of heroics with the bat, he is not thought to be anything other than a stop-gap option at this point. There are also serious reservations about Townsend's work ethic and baseball smarts.
Another youngster who has seen some action with the Brewers the past 2 seasons is Kevin Curtis. Curtis is a very strong defensive catcher who in spite of having poor contact skills at the plate does show a very good eye and some gap power. The scouting staff has recently become even more bullish on Curtis and he will likely supplant Townsend as the primary backup during the 1970 season.
With the recent trade of Diego Ramirez and the acquisition of gold glover Carlos Rivera, likely for this coming season if not for several after that Curtis and Rivera will be the Brewers catching tandem.
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