Being a catcher on the Shorebirds sometimes means sacrificing personal stats to help out the team. Generally the team doesn’t have a full-time starting catcher, instead splitting duties among two or even three guys.
One of those in the catching platoon this season is this week’s Shorebird of the Week, Wally Crancer. A 12th round pick in the 2007 draft by the Orioles, this Californian by way of Georgia Tech is hitting really well in his limited duty as he sports a .336 average in 110 at-bats this season. This includes 14 extra-base hits out of his 37 total and 18 runs batted in. Most importantly, the only split he has where he’s under the .300 mark is batting .296 in away games; otherwise he’s quite consistent at the plate and hits both righthanders and lefties at a better than .330 clip. Crancer is also useful as a spare outfielder, making a handful of starts in left field for the Shorebirds this season.
Obviously a couple knocks on him are the limited playing time and the fact he’s a little older than the league peer group (he turns 24 in July). However, the improvement from his rather pedestrian numbers at Aberdeen last season (.241/5/31 in 67 games with the IronBirds) shows that Crancer may have made the adjustments needed during the off-season to become a more successful hitter. Certainly Wally is making a statement that he needs to get more time both behind the plate and in the left-handed batters’ box with his performance and may get his chance as the Shorebirds look to contend again in the second half.
With apologies to Tina Turner among others:
He’s a private Crancer
A Crancer for money
He’ll do what you want him to do