Bob Walk: Personal Catchers Are Silly
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – Pirates broadcaster Bob Walk joined "The Fan Morning Show" Wednesday for his regular weekly spot and made his views on personal catchers abundantly clear.
For nearly all of this season, the Pirates have paired ace pitcher Gerrit Cole and backup catcher Chris Stewart together, rather than having starting catcher Francisco Cervelli catch Cole on a regular basis. That trend will be reversed tonight, though, as the Pirates have made clear that Cervelli will catch for Cole, which is likely because they hope to have Cervelli start every day during the postseason, even if Cole is pitching.
Walk said that he's not wild about the concept of a pitcher having a personal catcher.
"I really am not a big fan of private catchers," Walk said. "There's several reasons I'm not a fan of that...your catcher is a big part of your offense. What happens when you get into games that you really must win? Then, you're going to have to make a change from something you've been doing all year. So, I've never really liked the idea. And another side of the coin here - you have a very big game, and now Cole's going to have somebody back there that he hasn't really worked with much at all all year long."
So, why exactly did Cole and Stewart become a pair?
"I'm not sure why things like this happen," Walk said. "I don't really get it. Because I dislike it, I don't ask a lot of questions about it. To me, it's like the pitcher hitting eighth. I've heard all the explanations, and I don't agree with them, so I just turn the page and move on. It makes no sense. I think it's silly and I just don't get it."
Walk joins The Fan Morning Show every Wednesday at 9:03 a.m.
The interview can be heard here:
