Yasmani Grandal expects A.J. Ellis to catch Dodgers' ace

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have made a lot of noise so far this spring about wanting to break up Clayton Kershaw's reliance on A.J. Ellis so it doesn’t become a personal-catcher scenario, but most people view that as mostly lip service -- even the man who stands to lose playing time because of it.

“I’m expecting [Ellis] to catch him. Yeah, I am,” Yasmani Grandal said. “But at the same time, I need to be ready.”

After all, Grandal reasoned, “When you’ve seen a guy have success for a while, you don’t want to change that.”

Grandal caught Kershaw’s second bullpen session of the spring on Sunday. He didn’t need to squat 60 feet away to realize how special Kershaw’s ability is. He had seen that plenty of times with a bat in his hands.

“I think a guy like that, you appreciate even if you’re not catching,” Grandal said.

Plenty of catchers have made a pretty good living as a personal catcher and Kershaw’s preference might be Ellis’ clearest path to playing time, considering the Dodgers like Grandal’s bat and pitch-framing ability enough that they traded slugger Matt Kemp for him. Brian McCann and Mike Scioscia, among others, broke into the major leagues as personal catchers -- McCann for John Smoltz and Scioscia for Fernando Valenzuela.

Even if Grandal doesn’t catch Kershaw much, he said he hopes to help him succeed by watching video during games and making suggestions about game planning. Grandal said the Padres had a “real good game plan,” against Kershaw though that’s not necessarily reflected in Kershaw’s 2.25 ERA vs. San Diego. Grandal is 5-for-14 with a double and five strikeouts against Kershaw.

So, what is San Diego’s game plan against the Dodgers’ ace?

“If I tell you that, then the whole league would know, right?” Grandal said. “I won’t give you the exact thing, but our game plan was basically, ‘Stay on the heater.’ “


(espn.com)