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Iannetta continues to blossom as Rockies catcher

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 22, 2009 at 8:23 p.m.

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Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta will play for Team USA this spring in the WBC. Iannetta will also be the Rockies starting catcher this year.

Photo by David Zalubowski © AP

Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta will play for Team USA this spring in the WBC. Iannetta will also be the Rockies starting catcher this year.

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Chris Iannetta knew he was going to the World Baseball Classic last fall.

He just didn't realize he would be part of Team USA.

"Jason Grilli brought it up last year, about playing for Italy," Iannetta said. "Both my parents were in Italy. He told me about the experience and I didn't feel like it would be something I could turn down.

"I never expected to be with Team USA. I figured they would take (Brian) McCann and (Joe) Mauer. Unfortunately, Mauer had the kidney surgery and the opportunity arose."

Unfortunate for Mauer, but fortunate for Iannetta, who after a disappointing rookie season with the Rockies in 2007 lived up to the advance billing a year ago, reclaiming the starting catcher job and getting the attention of folks outside the Rockies organization.

It's not surprise to Iannetta.

"I always had confidence in myself, even when I was going through the hard times, but when you do have success, things snowball, things seem easier," he said.

A career .303 hitter in the minor leagues, Iannetta had hard times in 2007. He had split the 2006 season between Double-A Tulsa, where he hit .321 in 44 games, and Triple-A Colorado Springs, where he hit .351 in 47 games, and then compiled a .260 average in a 21-game big-league audition at the end of the season.

A month into 2007, Iannetta was relegated to backup duties, eventually being given a 16-game refresher course at Colorado Springs before finishing the season with the big-league team.

He was the second catcher on the team during the stretch run to the postseason but started only four of the 15 games in the 14-1 regular-season finish, and never got into one of the postseason games.

And if that wasn't enough, when he showed up for spring training last year, he heard general manager Dan O'Dowd thought Iannetta might be better served catching every day at Colorado Springs instead of being a backup in the big leagues.

"I said at the time I didn't think there was anything for me to gain by going back to Triple-A," Iannetta said. "I'd proven I could hit there. I had to prove I could play at the big-league level."

And Iannetta did. A strong spring training earned him a backup role to Yorvit Torrealba, and a month or so into the season, Iannetta had worked his way into being the primary catcher.

He put together arguably the most complete offensive season for a Rockies catcher, hitting .264 in 333 at-bats with 18 home runs, second among Rockies catchers to the 20 that Charles Johnson hit in 2003, and 65 RBI, one more than the previous high for a Rockies catcher that Brent Mayne established in 2000.

The defense was sharp, too, but that never was a question. Even during his struggles in 2007, Iannetta was a solid receiver who worked well with pitchers and was able to handle a running game.

"Defense has always been my comfort zone," Iannetta said. "It is a lot less complex than hitting. You have more control over what happens. As a hitter you can do everything right, crush a ball and line out. Defensively, when you do everything right, when you catch the ball in the right position, when you call the right pitch, when you throw with proper mechanics you are going to have success."

There were outside factors involved in Iannetta's offensive struggle.

There was the constantly tinkering that comes with a slump.

"Everybody had advice," said Iannetta, who got caught up in trying to make a multitude of adjustments that only added to his failures.

The best advice came when he was sent to Colorado Springs that August and worked with Carney Lansford, the Sky Sox hitting coach that season.

"He saw me that first day and told me I looked nothing like I did in spring training," Iannetta said. "Everyone had made so many changes to my swing to try and help me that I wasn't close to where I needed to be. We spent a couple days trying to simplifying things and one day I took a swing out of anger.

"Carney looked at me and said, 'That's where you were in spring training. Just keep swinging hard.' "

And if mechanical problems weren't challenging enough, Iannetta was dealing with physical problems, too.

There was a constant pain in the back of his right hand he had played through in previous seasons, but the ache became a more persistent problem during the course of the season. After the 2007 season doctors operated and removed bone fragments that were rubbing on a tendon, creating the irritation.

"I knew I had to do something at the end of that season when I was taking batting practice, but not playing, and the pain was the worst it had ever been," Iannetta said.

But now, Iannetta's career is at the best place it has ever been.

Comments

  • February 23, 2009

    10:54 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JosinSLC writes:

    I like Ianetta...I think he is very deserving of his position behind the plate.

    I have been asking around different sites, but my friends and I are looking to set up some Rockies watch parties in the Salt Lake City area...any fans from Utah read this paper that may be interested? There are a lot of games to choose from but we were looking at maybe doing 2 or 3 (or more) at a bar in SLC. Let me know.