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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Shoppach equals power

Posted Dec 2, 2009 by Roger Mooney

Updated Dec 2, 2009 at 06:57 PM

OK, the Rays didn’t trade for Carlton Fisk or Mike Piazza or Javy Lopez when they picked up Cleveland catcher Kelly Shoppach on Tuesday for a player to be named later. Shoppach is not in that group when it comes to hitting home runs.

But the right-hander’s bat is far more potent than any swung by a Rays catcher past or present.

Consider Shoppach’s 12 home runs last season. They were two less than the total of home runs by Dioner Navarro (8), Gregg Zaun (4), Michel Hernandez (1) and Shawn Riggans. Shoppach’s total is one less if you don’t include Zaun’s pinch-hit grand slam.

Either way, the Rays lack of power from behind the plate is sad.

The Rays have never really had a power-hitting catcher. John Flaherty holds the club record for homers in a season with the 14 he hit in 1999. Flaherty followed that Ruthian effort with 10 homers in 2000. The only other Ray catcher to reach double digits in home runs was Toby Hall, who hit 12 in 2003.

Navarro’s highest total was nine in 2007. He followed that with seven in his All-Star season in ‘08 and eight last season.

Shoppach’s 12 homers in ‘09 appear to fit right in with the Rays, except ‘09 was considered a down year for Shoppach.

He hit a career-high 21 home runs in 2008.

“He’s coming off a disappointing ’09 season, but we feel like he has all the ability to be a much better player than that,” Rays vice president of baseball Andrew Friedman said Tuesday.

While the Rays put a premium on defense with their catches, Friedman has expressed disappointment with the offensive output in 2009.

Shoppach is a career .241 hitter, which is nothing to brag about. But he is a .295 hitter against left-handed pitchers, and that is something that will help the Rays offense. Especially since the Rays hit .260 as a team against lefties.

Here’s another reason to like Shoppach: He lists Tropicana Field as his favorite road stadium, and why not? He’s a career .381 hitter in 21 at-bats under the dome.

“I just thing it’s just such a neat deal to play baseball indoors,” Shoppach said. “I always liked Tampa (Bay). Coming down here, the stadium is nice. The fans have a great time, and I think that’s important. At times, there haven’t been a huge number of fans, but when they are there, they’re excited, and it’s a good time. I’ve always had fun playing there. The conditions are perfect every time you go out, so there are no excuses. It’s you against them, the other team.”

Of course, his production at the Trop has come against Rays pitching.

It will be interesting to see how much pop Shoppach brings to the lineup in 2010, especially if he is the Rays everyday catcher.