Royals’ Martin Maldonado saw a potential future with the Astros
Royals catcher Martin Maldonado received a polite smattering of applause the first time he stepped to the plate in Monday night’s series opener against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
After all, he’d taken part in the Astros quest to make another World Series run in 2018 after they won it all in 2017. However briefly, he’d been one of their own.
Just as Royals followers have become acclimated with Maldonado as a defensively minded catcher with knack for working with pitching staff and a gifted right arm, so did the Astros’ faithful during last year’s stretch run.
“I was very impressed,” Maldonado said of the Astros. “I think they’ve got a pretty good idea of what they believe, the analytics, the scouting reports, all that. Great people, great players, I really enjoyed my time there.”
Having been traded from the Los Angeles Angels to the Astros in July and knowing free agency awaited at the end of the season, Maldonado took note of how Houston did things and thought there was a possibility of him returning to the Astros again this season.
Maldonado, 32, said he and Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow had talked at the end of last season about keeping the conversation open, but ultimately “it didn’t work out.” He certainly left an impression on Tuesday night’s Astros starting pitcher, Collin McHugh, who described Maldonado as a big part of the team’s run to the ALCS last postseason.
“He came with the reputation of obviously having a great arm that would kinda shut down the running game single-handedly, which is very impressive because fast guys in this league steal at a pretty high clip because not many guys do it anymore,” McHugh said. “So if a guy’s going to run, you’re not going to give up a free out. But with him behind the dish, it kinda just shut down that chance of taking an extra 90 feet.
“I was more impressed with how quickly he got on the same page with us pitchers, both when I was in the bullpen and in the starting rotation.”
Maldonado played 41 games with the Astros to finish the regular season. He posted a slash line of .225/.276/.351 with 18 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 44 RBIs (119 games combined between the Astros and Angels).
Behind the plate, Maldonado ranked second among major-league catchers in caught stealing rate (45.5%) and trailed only Perez (47.1%). He started six of their eight playoff games.
Maldonado was one of several veteran free agents who remained unsigned going into training camp. Former Astros pitcher and past Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel remains a free agent.
Maldonado being available worked out perfectly for the Royals in light of Salvador Perez’s season-ending Tommy John surgery. The Royals signed Maldonado less than a week after Perez’s surgery, replacing one Gold Glove catcher with another.
“(His arm) is the best I’ve seen in the big leagues in terms of accuracy and just flat-out MPHs,” McHugh said of Maldonado. “If you don’t get out of the way, it will catch you square in the teeth. It carries the line for the whole time. When he comes up throwing, you’re like get away however you can (jumping back in movements reminiscent of The Matrix) because it’s coming in hot.”
According to MLB Statcast data (baseballsavant.mlb.com), Maldonado had the third-fastest throw recorded by a catcher in 2018 (87.5 mph) behind only Jorge Alfaro (90.8) and J.T. Realmuto (87.8). Maldonado has ranked no lower than fourth in the majors since 2015 in that regard.
Since the start of 2012, his 37.4% caught stealing rate leads catchers in Major League Baseball (minimum 400 games).
“There’s not a batter arm in baseball,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “There’s not a stronger arm in baseball.
“Now, Salvy’s arm is not quite as strong, but Salvy is quicker. Salvy is as quick and athletic of a big man as I’ve ever seen. That’s why one day he has a chance to maybe be a Hall of Famer because he’s going to continue to rack up Gold Gloves, his hitting too.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 12:17 PM.
