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Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin wants to catch R.A. Dickey's knuckleball
Russell Martin isn't afraid of a challenge. After signing a five-year deal with the Blue Jays this offseason Martin wants a shot at catching R.A. Dickey's knuckleball, telling Sportsnet he expects to be behind the plate when Dickey is on the mound:
"I’m preparing that it’s going to be my job. Really, I don’t know why I shouldn’t. If I can catch the guy and be in the lineup, put me in the lineup. If I’m not good at it when I first try, I’ll work until I am good at it. I’m just going to have to put in the time with R.A. I have to go through the actual physical action of catching the ball, got to do a lot of repetitions. I’m going to put in the work and do the best I can."
Martin has a reputation as one of baseball's best defensive catchers but his in-game experience catching a knuckleballer is limited. He caught 13 2/3 innings of Charlie Haeger while with the Dodgers in 2009 and 2010.
If Martin can handle Dickey, the plan is for the pair to get to work right away in spring training and assess the feasability of Martin's idea, it would make Josh Thole expendable and give general manager Alex Anthopoulos more flexibility to tweak the roster.
Thole has caught 75% of Dickey's start since 2010 but the Blue Jays would be better off with Martin's bat in the lineup. Displaced starter Dioner Navarro is also still around although he did ask for a trade after Martin signed in Toronto. On Monday, Fox Sports' Jon Morosi tweeted that the Arizona Diamondbacks had inquired about Navarro. Anthopoulos' preference would be to keep Navarro and split his at-bats between catcher and DH while Martin gets the bulk of the playing time behind the plate.
Catching Dickey won't be easy, but it sure seems like Martin is ready to prove he can do it.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
