A quick look back at the Rays behind the plate.  For now, John Jaso is more than an adequate catcher and hopefully the defensive lapses behind the plate are mechanical and can be fixed through practice.  What's behind Jaso in the organization and if injury was to hit Jaso or Shoppach who would be the next in line to assume the position?  

Since the Rays played their first game in 1998, a total of 17 catchers have caught at least 5 games in a season.  This list includes John Flaherty (1998 through 2002), Mike Difelice (1998 through 2001, and 2008), Toby Hall (2001 through 2006), Paul Hoover (2002), Javier Valentin (2003) , Brook Fordyce (2004), Charles Johnson (2005), Kevin Cash (2005), Pete Laforest (2005), Dioner Navarro (2006 through 2010), Josh Paul (2006 through 2007), Shawn Riggans (2006, 2008 through 2009), Raul Casanova (2007), John Jaso (2008, 2010), Michel Hernandez (2008 through 2009), Gregg Zaun (2009), and Kelly Shoppach (2010).   Of that last, only 4 catchers have caught 100 games and this was accomplished a total of  9 times by John Flaherty (1999 and 2000), Toby Hall (2003, 2004, and 2005), Dioner Navarro (2007, 2008, and 2009), and John Jaso (2010).

One fact that didn’t get by me is that the Rays have had both a Hoover and a Shop-Vac on their roster, you’d figure that catchers in Tampa would clean up.  Unfortunately, the catching position in Tampa hasn’t been a source of power for the organization.  The Rays all time single season leader in home runs for catchers is John Flaherty (1999) with 14, which ranks 14th among all American League teams since 1998. 

A.L. Single Season Home Run Leaders Per Franchise: 1998-2010