Angels' Logan O'Hoppe Makes Unconventional Change to Game

Los Angeles Angels catcher Logan O'Hoppe is altering his approach in a significant way that defies a trend of modern baseball.

One of the biggest changes adopted by most baseball catchers is using one knee on the ground while catching the ball behind the plate. This technique aims to enhance the framing of pitches without sacrificing much in terms of defense and blocking, while also reducing the strain on the player's knees.

O'Hoppe is instead reverting to the old-school two-knee stance, which is used only by Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes and Texas Rangers’ Kyle Higashioka.

His transition to catching has made the catcher feel much more comfortable behind the plate, allowing for better pitch framing, and showing

“The numbers weren’t as good on my receiving and blocking, and that pissed me off, to be honest with you,” O’Hoppe told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

“What bothered me even more than that was that I didn’t feel like myself behind the plate either.

“Getting back to my rawest form of catching, and it’s been way more comfortable. I felt more mobile. I feel less taxed, like my body’s in a better position. I’m not moving. I’m physically not moving as much as I was in the past. And it’s been a big change so far.”

O'Hoppe has been one of the worst framing and blocking catchers this season, ranking in the 5th and 6th percentiles, respectively.

Since his shift to the two-knee stance, he is 16th out of 28th in getting "borderline" pitches called strikes, a huge upgrade from 30th out of 32nd, where he previously ranked.

It has only been just over two weeks since the change, and the results are promising, boding well for his projects for the rest of the season.

Despite his defensive struggles, he has generated 0.2 WAR, hitting .256/.293/.480 and has a wRC+ of 114, contributing a significant portion of offense for the Angels this season.