Twins catcher Mitch Garver putting up big numbers – when he gets the chance

Maybe it's all the gear he wears and the mask that covers his face. Whatever the cause, Mitch Garver has an image problem, an appreciation gap. So let's put his 2019 season at the plate in proper perspective:

At the plate, Garver has turned himself, at least for this season, into a 21st century Johnny Bench or Carlton Fisk. Well, half of one, anyway.

Few players have taken advantage of this high-offense era like Garver, who entering the weekend had more extra-base hits (28) than singles (27). Combine that with a walk rate that trails only Miguel Sano and Nelson Cruz on the Twins, and you get a hitter who leads his team in on-base percentage (.378) and has a stratospheric, Killebrew-esque .646 slugging average, which would set a franchise record. As would his 1.023 OPS.

It would, anyway, if Garver played more.

Garver's rate numbers would fit right in with the prime of Bench, Fisk or any number of great hitters. But there's a big difference: Garver, half of a platoon that also includes veteran Jason Castro and, when he's not injured, Willians Astudillo, has started fewer than half of his team's games.

Catchers like Butch Wynegar or Joe Mauer once started more than 130 Twins games a season, and Bench averaged 131 for the first six years of his career. But that workload is unthinkable now.

"The rest is nice. Yeah, there are times when you're hot and you want to stay in the lineup, but we've got a good thing going," said Garver, who has 42 starts behind the plate and two more as designated hitter. "It helps that 'Stro is having a good year, too. It would be different if he wasn't."

With Castro around, though, Garver has started back-to-back games only 10 times all season, and three straight just once. Yet his production at the plate, combined with his big strides defensively this season, means he ranks ahead of most players at any position.

Garver's wins above replacement (WAR), which quantifies a player's entire contribution, is 2.9 this year, according to baseball-reference.com, ranking him among the top 20 performers in the American League. Yet every AL player except New York slugger Aaron Judge, who missed six weeks to injury, who owns a WAR above 2.0 has started at least 62 games this year, compared to Garver's 44.

Which raises a complicated question: Is Garver enjoying a breakthrough season because he doesn't play much, or despite of it?

"I couldn't tell you," he said. "It doesn't really matter right anyway. Catchers catching 120 games a season, that's just not happening anymore. The game has changed. Maybe Wilson [Ramos] or Salvy [Perez] can do it, but at some point, you're hurting your return with that many games."

He's willing to play first base, designated hitter or even the outfield — "I've done it in the minors," he said of a 14-game stint at Rochester in 2017 — when he's not catching. But with Astudillo injured, manager Rocco Baldelli became less willing to play both catchers at once, fearing injury or fatigue.

"I do think it becomes challenging when you try to run a guy out from behind the plate and put him at first base and then DH him and then put him behind the plate again," Baldelli said. "There is value to getting him off his feet at times."

Besides, Garver realizes, the Twins already have established regulars at those spots.

"When we signed Marwin [Gonzalez], when we signed C.J. [Cron], it became pretty clear there was no need for me to play first anymore," he said. "That's OK. I like catching. I think I bring value to the position. We have such a talented lineup, it's a lot easier to understand. It's not like I'm being benched for no reason."

Phil Miller covers the Twins for the Star Tribune. Twitter: @MillerStrib