Many Baltimore Orioles catchers have taken the field over the years, but only a few stand out above the pack.

This article focuses on those top catchers in Baltimore Orioles history based on a player's  single-season and career wins above replacement (WAR).

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Background on the Orioles

Legendary owner Bill Veeck sold the St. Louis Browns to a group of Baltimore businessmen after the 1953 season. These new owners renamed the team the Orioles and the newly re-branded franchise began playing in 1954 at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.

Since their inaugural '54 season, the Orioles have won three World Series championships and they have fielded a wide variety of Hall of Fame players (guys like Ripken, Robinson, and Palmer). 

Some very talented catchers have also played for the O's over the years. This article explores these men in more detail, as we highlight Baltimore's best backstops since '54.

Wins Above Replacement (WAR)

Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, is a metric in baseball that is used to quantify the overall value and amount of contribution of an MLB player to his team.

For much more detail on the topic, we'd suggest reading this. 

In our opinion, WAR is the best single metric to understand a player's value. So in this article, we looked back at each catcher to have played for the Baltimore Orioles since 1954 and ranked them by highest single-season and career WAR (utilizing the Fangraphs calculation, or fWAR).  

What follows is a summary of the top five Baltimore Orioles catchers in franchise history based on career WAR, and then an overview of the top five seasons by Orioles catchers based on single-season WAR.

Top 5 Orioles Catchers by Career WAR

Please note: The player must have at least 100 games played as a member of the Orioles to be eligible for the career WAR list.

#1. Javy Lopez, 30.7 career WAR

The primary catcher for many of the legendary Atlanta Braves teams of the 90s, Lopez had a number of very productive years in Atlanta prior to signing with the Orioles in 2004. 

The best season in Lopez's career was 2003. That year, Lopez set an MLB single season record among catchers for most home runs. In addition, he was the starting catcher for the NL in the '03 All-Star Game.

In 15 big league seasons, Javy hit .287/.337/.491 with 260 career home runs and 864 RBIs. He caught in over 1,300 MLB games, maintaining a .992 fielding percentage and a caught stealing percentage, or CS%, of 28%.

#2. Mickey Tettleton, 28.5 career WAR

The switch hitting, tobacco chewing Mickey Tettleton is second on our list of Orioles catchers with the highest career WAR. He had a 14 year MLB career, three years of which were spent with the Orioles (1988 - 1990).

Tettleton started his career with the Oakland Athletics before moving to Baltimore. After that, he spent four years with the Detroit Tigers and then three years with the Texas Rangers.

Over the course of his career, Tettleton had a .241 batting average and collected 1,132 hits, 245 home runs and 732 RBIs. His career fielding percentage behind the dish is .991 and his CS% is 29%. Tettleton won silver slugger awards and made two All-Star teams.

#3. Rick Dempsey, 27.7 career WAR

One of the ultra rare MLB players to play in four different decades, Rick Demspey had a 24 year big league career that was spent with six different teams. The club he spent the longest time with was the Orioles.

A career .233 hitter, Dempsey finished his career with 1,093 hits and 96 home runs. He was never really known for his offense, except during the 1983 World Series when his performance earned him Series MVP honors.

Where he really excelled during his career was in his defense.

Demspey caught over 12,000 MLB innings, had a lifetime .988 fielding percentage behind the plate and a CS% of 40%. During his time in the majors, Dempsey led league catchers more than once in key categories like caught stealing and fielding percentage. 

#4. Charles Johnson, 25.7 career WAR

Charles Johnson is one of the most accomplished African American catchers in MLB history. Although primarily remembered for his time with the Florida Marlins, Johnson spent parts of two seasons with the Baltimore Orioles (specifically, 219 games between 1999 - 2000). 

Johnson collected 167 home runs, 570 RBIs, and slashed .245/.330./433 over the course of his career. Defensively, he maintained a solid .993 fielding percentage as a catcher and threw out 343 runners attempting to steal (39%).

Johnson's key MLB accomplishments include two all-star game selections, four gold glove awards and a World Series ring with the 1997 Marlins.

#5. Chris Hoiles, 24.8 career WAR

Chris Hoiles spent his entire ten year career in Baltimore. The Orioles' go-to catcher for much of the early/mid 90's, Hoiles was a lifetime .262 hitter, and he collected 739 hits and 151 home runs.

In 819 MLB games behind the plate, Hoiles had an impressive .994 fielding percentage as a catcher. He gunned down a total of 228 runners caught stealing, good for a 28% average. Hoiles was a great defender and led AL catchers in fielding percentage four different times.

Honorable Mentions

• Ramon Hernandez, 22.0 career WAR
• Gus Triandos, 19.0 career WAR
• Matt Wieters, 17.5 career WAR
• Clay Dalrymple, 17.2 career WAR

 

Top 5 Seasons by Orioles Catchers, Ranked by WAR

Please note: The player must have at least 70 games played in one season as a member of the Orioles to be eligible for the single-season WAR list.

#1. 1993 - Chris Hoiles (7.0 WAR)

From a statistical point of view, 1993 in practically every way was a career year for Chris Hoiles. 

That year, Hoiles set career highs in runs (80), hits (130), home runs (29), RBIs (82), and batting average (.310), just to name a few categories. His 7.0 WAR in 1993 led the team.

Behind the dish, Hoiles caught 124 Orioles games in '93 and maintained a .993 fielding percentage. His 41% caught stealing percentage (CS%) was five points better than the league average. 

Hoiles finished 16th in AL MVP voting that season, the only time in his ten year career he would earn MVP shares.

#2. 2011 - Matt Wieters (5.7 WAR)

In just his third year in the majors, Matt Wieters had a breakout campaign in 2011. That year, he slashed .262/.328/.450 and doubled his prior season's home run total, from 11 to 22.

Wieters caught 1,150 innings in 2011. He had a .995 fielding percentage, a 37% CS%, and he led AL catchers in double plays turned (14) and total zone runs (14) in '11.

As a testament to his strong season in 2011, Wieters won his first gold glove award and earned his first (of an eventual four) All-Star game selection.

#3. 2022 - Adley Rutschman (5.4 WAR)

Adley Rutschman’s rookie season in 2022 was so good that it ranks third best among Orioles catchers based on WAR. 

Although he didn't win AL Rookie of the Year (he came in second), Adley nonetheless had a solid season. In 113 games the former #1 overall pick hit .254/.362/.445 with 13 home runs and 45 RBIs.

Defensively, Adley had a .989 fielding percentage over 762 innings caught. He threw out 11 runners attempting to steal, good for a 31% CS%. 

#4. 2023 - Adley Rutschman (5.1 WAR)

In 2023, Adley established himself as one of the league’s best catchers. 

He played in 154 games that year and collected 163 hits, 20 home runs, 80 RBIs and owned a .277/.374/.435 slash line. 

In 934.2 innings behind the plate, he maintained a .994 fielding percentage and threw out 22% of would be base runners. 

In recognition of his strong season, Adley was named to his first MLB all star game in 2023 and he won a Silver Slugger award.

#5. 2012 - Matt Wieters (4.5 WAR)

Wieters followed his 2011 campaign with another impressive season in 2012. That year he earned career highs in home runs (23), RBIs (83), and total bases (229).

He caught 134 of Baltimore's games in 2012 and kept a .991 fielding percentage behind the dish. His 39% CS% was third in the league and he finished tops among league catchers in putouts (994).

Similar to 2011, Wieters was named an All-Star in 2012 and he won his second consecutive gold glove that year.

List of All Orioles Catchers With a 2.0+ WAR Season

A season with a WAR that reaches 2.0 + often indicates that a catcher had a productive year.  A number of Orioles catchers have hit or exceeded this mark since the Browns moved to Baltimore and started playing as the Orioles back in 1954. 

Take a look at the below list which shows every Baltimore Orioles catcher with a 2.0 WAR or better in a season.

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Orioles Catchers over the Last 10 Years

Please note: the following catchers are listed based on the order of games caught per season for the Orioles. Catchers with the most games caught per season start at the top. 

2014 Orioles

• Caleb Joseph (primary)

• Nick Hundley

• Steve Clevenger

• Matt Wieters

 

2015 Orioles

• Caleb Joseph (primary)

• Matt Wieters

• Steve Clevenger

• Ryan Lavarnway

 

2016 Orioles

• Matt Wieters (primary)

• Caleb Joseph

• Francisco Pena

 

2017 Orioles

• Welington Castillo (primary)

• Caleb Joseph

• Chance Sisco

• Francisco Pena

 

2018 Orioles

• Caleb Joseph (primary)

• Chance Sisco

• Austin Wynns

• Andrew Susac

 

2019 Orioles

• Pedro Severino (primary)

• Chance Sisco
• Austin Wynns
• Jesus Sucre

 

2020 Orioles

• Pedro Severino (primary)

• Chance Sisco

• Bryan Holaday

 

2021 Orioles

• Pedro Severino (primary)

• Austin Wynns

• Chance Sisco

• Nick Ciuffo

 

2022 Orioles

• Matt Wieters (primary)
• Adley Rutschman (primary)
• Robinson Chirinos
• Anthony Bemboom

 

2023 Orioles

• Adley Rutschman (primary)
• James McCann
• Anthony Bemboom
• Mark Kolozsvary

 

Complete List of All Orioles Catchers Over the Last 10 Years

The below list shows every Baltimore Orioles catcher who played in at least one defensive game as a catcher for the team since 2012. 

Catchers are listed in alphabetical order by first name.

• Adley Rutschman
• Andrew Susac
• Anthony Bemboom
• Austin Wynns
• Bryan Holaday
• Caleb Joseph
• Chance Sisco
• Francisco Pena
• James McCann
• Jesus Sucre
• Luis Exposito
• Mark Kolozsvary
• Matt Wieters
• Nick Ciuffo
• Nick Hundley
• Pedro Severino
• Robinson Chirinos
• Ronny Paulino
• Ryan Lavarnway
• Steve Clevenger
• Welington Castillo

 

Thank You for Reading

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Sources for this Article

• Baltimore Sun
• Baseball Reference
• Baseball Almanac
• Fangraphs
• Retrosheet