SAN DIEGO — For the first time in nine years, Ryan Hanigan, a catcher’s catcher, a backstop in the old-school sense with the bruises to prove it, started a season in the minor-leagues. Not ideal. But at least he did not have to catch a knuckleball.
“That’s no joke, man,” Hanigan said. The Rockies on Wednesday called up the 36-year-old catcher to replace 25-year-old Tony Wolters, who was placed in Major League Baseball’s concussion protocol after taking a backswing to the temple Tuesday night against the Padres.
Hanigan’s arrival gives the Rockies, and by extension their pitching staff, a veteran presence that was otherwise absent.