A Look at Gabriel Moreno's Growth Over Past Season
The Diamondbacks knew they wouldn't be able to trade for Gabriel Moreno unless they did it two off-seasons ago which cost them Daulton Varsho. That's because they knew that he was going to perform as excellently as he did in 2023 and that the Blue Jays would not let him go at all. Now, the team has their franchise catcher for the next half-decade, and potentially longer if they sign him to an extension.
Moreno, in his first full season in MLB, was asked to do a lot in the wake of Carson Kelly's injury last Spring Training. He did everything that was asked and even more. Moreno won a Gold Glove as a catcher, the first time a D-backs catcher had ever won. Had he been rookie-eligible, he would've finished top-five. He was one of the biggest reasons for the team's success.
The team went 61-50 in his 111 games. Manager Torey Lovullo took notice of that. "Our team's record with him in the lineup was a difference maker. When he was hurt, things did not go well...and that's because of his ability to play on both sides of the ball. He's a run-stopper, he's a strong accurate thrower. He receives the ball very well. Offensively, he's got a tremendous input inside of an already very potent lineup. There's a fearlessness to him adjusting and getting a game plan and making adjustments. "
His defense was impeccable. His 3.1 dWAR was higher than every other player by 0.2. Moreno was credited with preventing two runs from scoring due solely to his blocking this season along with allowing just 22 passed balls or wild pitches.
No one was better than Moreno at catching potential base stealers. He led the Catcher's Caught Stealing Above Average (9) by three with the next closest being Patrick Bailey who had six. Moreno caught 39% of potential base-stealers, which was the best in all of MLB (Minimum 20 attempts). Moreno led all of MLB backstops in defensive runs saved with 20.
According to Lovullo, his defense is what showed the most growth by him over the season."I think the biggest area of growth for me was his receiving, ability to call a game plan and understand what we do here in Arizona. It just took a little while to get used to that and there was a relentlessness of the coaches and an eagerness to him accepting that coaching. That's what equaled more success towards the end of the season...If you look and see his receiving numbers, they got better as the year went on and that's what we look for. He's a very engaged smart baseball player who cares about the right things that continued to grow through the course of last year."
His offense as a 23-year-old catcher was equally impressive. While the league average OPS+ is 100. The actual average for catchers was 90 for the 2023 season. Moreno's OPS+ was 104. This indicates that he was 4% better than the average MLB hitter and 14% better than the average catcher. He's not even reached his potential or prime yet, the sky is the limit.
Perhaps that's why he's projected for even better numbers than his 2023 numbers that saw him hit .284 with an OPS of .747. Inside the Diamondbacks project him to hit .281/.341/.415/.755 with 3.2 total WAR. He's expected to hit for more power, fewer strikeouts, and walk close to the same as last year. If he does that, he could find himself in the All-Star Game come July. This all happens with nearly 100 more plate appearances.
It was noticed that Moreno wasn't doing as much on offense early in the season as compared to when he hit over .300 over the final couple of months in the season. This was part of the plan, according to Lovullo.
"Early in the year, he was probably a little more shy. I don't know if there's a better word but just a little more reserved. Trying to find his own footing. We count on our game-planning so much and we talked to him about don't worry about your offense. We know you're a strong offensive player... But you're number one focus should be for your pitcher and sell out to that. Got off to a little bit of a slow start offensively because of that reason and then started to really stride it out until he got hurt."
Moreno returned from his injury as a different catcher and hitter. He had a swagger and confidence to him that exuded on the field, clubhouse, and dugout. He was more relaxed and just played his brand of baseball. This was confirmed by Lovullo who mentioned below how Moreno came back from injury.
"When he came back the next time, there was a certain confidence to him that said I will call time out and make a mound visit when I need to. I will talk about a different strategy that's on my wrist and calling a game plan. I will read swings and trust my instincts. That was his own personal development. A lot of people were helping him along the way, but still, you've got to be able to take that leap and go out there and do it and he was fantastic in making adjustments."
All of this explains why Manager Torey Lovullo is in awe of his franchise catcher and his growth.
So far, Moreno is continuing right where he left off of from the end of the 2023 season. So far in nine at-bats, Moreno is hitting .333/.455/1.233 with a double, home run, and three RBI. He's doing this while throwing out multiple base runners and playing an excellent defense behind the plate.
