Willson Contreras Will be the Best
Via NBC Sports
A day which seems like forever ago, a little known Chicago Cubs third base prospect grabbed a catchers mask and gear and screwed around before a game. A lot of baseball players have the urge to toss the gear on from time-to-time. The thought of framing a pitch, blocking a ball in the dirt, calling a game, and throwing a base runner out is a powerful one. Only when most players joke around during pregame warm-ups their coach yells at him to stop screwing around and go shag balls. Instead, Oneri Fleita, former director of player personnel, watched on and encouraged that he take a stab at catching in the game later that evenin.
Five years later that srewing around in warmups turned a little known third base prospect into one of the best catchers in Major League Baseball.
Willson Contreras took to catching quickly. It was natural, and his fireball personality allowed him to take to the task and succeed.
Playing the game you learn there are two types of catchers that really do well. The first is the Yadier Molina type. A leader on the field, takes charge, can talk to the most veteran pitcher and demand that he gives his best. Then there is the funny type. The guy that seems like he’s been hit in his head one too many times, but he has the trust of every single guy on the roster. He is “their guy” and would bend over backwards for him.
Contreras has both of those traits. I mean look no further than this past weekend’s Cubs Convention for proof. Willson got in one of the most veteran pitchers on the roster, and forced him to do something he is completely uncomfortable doing. Then he came off like the class clown by telling the story, unedited, in front of thousands of fans.
Catching is the most demanding position in the game. The catcher needs to know pitcher tendencies, hit charts and reports, control the defense, call a game, receive balls, control the running game. Basically he is the coach of the team while they are between the foul lines.
To be a truly great backstop, it take some years upon years to master. Contreras has been able to master all of this in just six short years.
This all brings us to today, where Contreras declared that he will be the best catcher in the MLB, not Molina, not Buster Posey.
“I used to watch a lot of those guys, but now I’m watching myself because I know that I’m going to be better than them. That’s my plan. That’s my [mindset],” Contreras said at the Cubs Convention.
This may have irked Molina, to which he responded in a cute Instagram post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeDwuBVBS1k/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_legacy
Molina should be a little irked, but only because Contreras speaks the truth. Willson’s quick progression from third baseman to superstar catcher has been a quick one. If you put stock in WAR, as I do, Contreras has already passed Molina in overall value to a team.
He has come on like very few have before. But he is the best now? No, and he wasn’t saying that. Willson was simply saying he wants to be the best, and he plans to do what he can to get there. It is that same attitude which jolted Contreras to this point, and will be the same attitude which pushes him to continue to improve.
In 2011 Oneri had a gut feeling that Willson could be a catcher. The entire organization believed Contreras had the ability and work ethic. Willson is just showing the world that he believes in himself too.
How could anyone doubt him?
