Rays 2009 player preview: Shawn Riggans

March 17, 12:31 PMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Tampa Bay Rays Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Riggans enters his second year as the backup AP/Kathy Willens

If the world of baseball were anything like the real world, then backup catchers would be among the luckiest people alive. You only have to work once, maybe twice a week. When you do work, your boss has quite reasonable expectations of you, nobody expects you to be a world-beater out there. Short hours, no pressure – what a dream job! Baseball, however, is not the real world. The backup catchers who have this dream job are not satisfied with it. They want more playing time. Shawn Riggans is happy to be in the big leagues for the Rays, but down the road, I’m sure his goal is to be a starting catcher in the Major Leagues.

For now though, as the Rays’ backup catcher, Shawn Riggans’ responsibilities include spelling Dioner Navarro once or twice a week, providing a minimal offensive impact, and most importantly calling a good game behind the plate.

Riggans actually got some starting experience last April when Navarro made a short stint on the DL and hit .237 with 2 homers and 8 RBI in Navi's absence. Overall, he had an up-and-down season offensively, winding up with a .222 average. The former 24th-round draft pick did show a little pop, though, launching six homers in his 144 at-bats. If it were not for a late-season slide due to an injury which landed him on the disabled list for most of September and forced him out of the playoffs, Riggans could have put up better numbers.

Manager Joe Maddon has made it clear he strongly approves of the job Riggans has done for the Rays. He fits in well with the Rays’ team-first attitude and selfless approach to winning. If Riggans can stay healthy all year and be around if the Rays make another playoff run, then he really might consider backup catcher a dream job.

My 2009 prediction: 39 G, 155 AB, 5 HR, 19 RBI, .248 AVG

The backup catcher doesn’t get much recognition, but his importance is underrated. He needs to keep the pitchers comfortable when their normal battery mate is getting a required day off. With a year on the job under his belt, Riggans should handle the pitching staff quite well this year and hopefully allow the Rays to duplicate their incredible pitching success from a year ago.

Shawn Riggans on Baseball Reference

Shawn Riggans on RetroSheet

Shawn Riggans on FanGraphs

Think being a backup catcher is the ultimate dream job? Let me know in a comment.

Sitting on a great story idea and want to share it with me? Want to ask me about my upset special for the NCAA tourney? E-mail me at raysexaminer@live.com

I am also the co-host of "Speaking of Sports" with Tampa Bay Sports Examiner Ted Fleming and Althea Pashman. The show airs from 7-9 p.m. each Sunday night on WSRQ 1220 AM Sarasota. Listen live here. The show will be taking a week off this week, but come back and check us out on Sunday, March 29!