Washington – The national teams finally found the right combination in the catcher in 2019, when a tandem of veterans Kurt Suzuki and Jan Gomez helped steer the throwers to the Wild Card venue and then World Series title.
A few years earlier it turned out that Matt Withers could be the catcher who overcame the national teams in the first round of the playoffs.
But that didn’t happen, including because of a strange pass with Max Scherzer on the mound one memorable October night.
On February 21, 2017, Withers agreed to terms with the national team after spending his entire previous Premier League career in Baltimore orioles.
“On Tuesday, Withers, who will play this season at 31, agreed with the citizens on a two-year contract for $ 21 million with a waiver after the first year, the source said. He will receive $ 11 million this season and $ 10 million when he returns in 2018, with $ 5 million postponed to 21 years, ”the Daily Curve reported when Witters signed in 2017. Jose Lobaton, and third with the promise of Pedro Severin. Their biggest need is still to find closer. “
Outstanding in TechWithers was selected in the first round of the 2007 Orioles Draft. When he was called to major two years later, the promotion attracted a lot of attention on social media – but not at the level of hype for Bryce Harper when he made his major league debut.
Withers participated in the All-Star Game as part of the Orioles in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.
Since 2011, he has scored at least 22 homers in three consecutive years.
After the 2016 season, many predicted that Witters would sign with the national team, and it eventually happened.
Withers played in 123 games in 2017 with the national team and reached 0.225 with 10 homers and 52 IRBs.
The following season he played in 76 games and scored 0.238 with eight homers and 30 RBIs.
He was behind the plate at Nationals Park in a playoff game against Chicago Cubs in October 2017, when everything that could have gone wrong happened to Max Scherzer on the embankment of the bullpen.
“In fact, Scherzer is not guilty of that. His catcher, Matt Withers, had perhaps the worst inning behind a plate of all time. He failed to block the ball with a three-pointer break against Javier Baez, which allowed Baez to come out first and keep the inning alive. In the process, Withers wildly and pointlessly rushed to the first, which allowed Addison Russell to run home from second base during the game. The home referee, Jerry Lane, realized that Baez had undercut Withers with his result on the swing, but misinterpreted the rule and failed to summon Baez. Or Lane just missed what happened in the chaos of the moment and it was beyond revision. Your guess is as good as mine. Dusty Baker defended his case, but was ignored when the crew of the judge went forward in ignorance, ”wrote Brandon Day of blessyouboys.com.
The National, of course, lost the game and the Cubs series.
Washington will have to wait until 2019 to get to the World Series.
Until then, Witters was a reserve catcher for the Cardinals, having played in 67 games that year and then played in 19 games for St. Louis in 2020.
In 2021 Withers did not play in the majors.
A native of South Carolina, he turns 36 in May. He played in 1167 games in the majors with 146 homers.