John Buck, backup catcher?

John Buck, the 2009 season, backup catcher for the Royals may not stay the backup for long.

The Royals currently have two catchers getting playing time. One, Miguel Olivo, officially the starting catcher and two, John Buck, officially the backup catcher. Those are their formal roles as of now. However on paper John Buck is looking like he should be the starting catcher for the Kansas City Royals.

During spring training Buck had a batting average well above Miguel Olivo. Buck batted .378 compared to Olivo's .292 and they each had 4 home runs. Miguel Olivo had 2 stolen bases during spring training and Buck had none. Other than stolen bases there was no area of offense in which Olivo performed and Buck didn't or excelled at where Buck struggled. The numbers from the Royals spring training begs the question, why is Miguel Olivo starting in front of John Buck?

What was Trey Hillman (royals manager) thinking not giving John Buck the starting role? There may be a few possible explanations. Hillman may feel more comfortable with Olivo behing the plate. He may enjoy Olivo's potential to steal a base here and there. Or he may be attempting to push Buck to get even better and regain his starting role. No one knows except Trey Hillman and these explanations are only speculation.

Looking further into the past, during the 2008 season Olivo's and Buck's performances were comparable. Both did not have an outstanding season. Olivo batted .255 while Buck batted .224. Their home runs and runs batted in where comparable but Buck well surpassed Olivo in runs scored. However Olivo had 7 stolen bases and Buck had none. When stepping outside of the Buck/Olivo battle royale and comparing their statistics to the rest of the league and what should be expected of a major league catcher, neither one of them did well. They did not play terribly, or they wouldn't be around this year but they were by no means impressive.

Back to the present Buck has started this season ablaze while Olivo has struggled to get by. Buck is batting .400 and Olivo is batting a miniscule .143. In 4 games and 15 at bats John buck has 6 hits, scored 3 runs, hit 3 home runs, driven in 8 runs, and struck out only 3 times. Miguel Olivo so far this season has played in 6 games, had 21 at bats, accumulated 3 hits, and truck out 13 times. These are terrible numbers.

John Buck is leading the team in batting average, tied for the lead with 16 total bases, leading in runs batted in, and homes runs. The eye opening aspect is that he has done this while playing in only 4 of the 9 games so far. To top it all of the Royals have not lost a game when Buck has been in the lineup. The Royals have only won one game with Olivo in the lineup and lost 5.

On Tuesday night against the Indians Buck hit two home runs, one a grand slam and tied a career high with 5 runs batted in in a game. The next day, playing the Indians again, the Royals lost 5-4. Wouldn't you know it Miguel Olivo started that game. The Royals are currently tied for first place in the American League Central Division with a record of 5-4, no thanks to Miguel Olivo.

Hopefully Trey Hillman will wise up and give Buck the starting job. Even if he doesn't hand the starting job back to Buck he at least needs to ride out his hot streak.

Figure it out Trey!