For the second year in a row, catcher Jonathan Lucroy is on the move in advance of the MLB Trade Deadline. On Sunday night, the Colorado Rockies acquired the 31-year-old backstop from the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal first broke news of the trade.
One of the biggest names dealt last season, Lucroy's stock took a massive hit this year. Now on the wrong side of 30, a sudden breakdown defensively and at the plate occurred and raised questions about his ability to perform at a high level going forward.
Across 306 plate appearances for the Rangers this season, Lucroy posted some of the worst numbers in his career. The 31-year-old's .242/.297/.338 slash line is the worst of his career and his 6.2 walk percentage is the lowest since 2011. But further evidence of Lucroy's struggles come with his woeful 66 wRC+, .279 wOBA and .635 OPS.
But Lucroy's issues at the plate go beyond an inability to get on base or drive in runs consistently. His power, which as of last year helped him put up a .207 isolated power, vanished this season. Amongst catchers with 250-plus plate appearances, Lucroy is last with a .096 ISO. That ranks behind the likes of Tucker Barnhart, Yan Gomes and Francisco Cervelli.
The move to Coors Field should help and a change of scenery would hopefully help turn the cold spell around, getting out of an environment and landing in a new one. Lucroy's six percent HR/FB rate is a mammoth decline from his 15.6 percent rate last year, but not as far off from 7.6 percent in 2015 and 7.1 percent in 2014. The biggest issue is the lack of fly balls, with nearly a 10 percent drop in fly ball rate this season compared to his career line.
While his defense behind the plate remains strong, his issues when he steps into the box present an alarming concern and are a big reason why he carries a 0.2 fWAR thus far.
Yet, he still provides a significant upgrade for the Rockies at catcher. Tony Wolters encountered even more issues at the plate this season and that's with half his games spent in Coors Field. The 25-year-old will now return to a backup role, a suitable position given he can learn from one of the best catchers in the past five years and pick up some lessons from the veteran.
Given Lucroy's struggles and his status as an impending free agent, the return for Texas would never have matched what they surrendered last season. But that is in the past and for an organization that now seems focused on moving past 2017, to get any return for Lucroy represented a positive.
Given it's a player to be named later, we'll have to wait and see to analyze this deal further for Texas. If Lucroy gets hot and returns to what we saw for years in Milwaukee, the Rangers could net a solid prospect to make this even more worthwhile. If Lucroy continues to struggle, then Texas salvaged a prospect in exchange for a player that would have left them and the team would have received nothing in return.