In the press release announcing their signing of 34-year-old catcher Alex Avila, Washington Nationals’ PR folks highlighted the fact that the 12-year veteran, “ranks fourth among Major League catchers in on-base percentage (.354),” since 2019, while noting that, “[b]ehind the plate, [Avila] ranks second among Major League catchers [minimum 75 games] in caught stealing percentage (43.8%),” in that same period, over which, “he’s thrown out 14 of the 32 runners attempting to steal off of him.”
The plan in D.C. is to pair Avila with incumbent catcher Yan Gomes, (who’s under contract for 2021 after two seasons in D.