Most Games Caught in a Season

Posted by Raphy on December 4, 2009

This past season, no player caught in more than 138 games. Managers are particularly careful about giving their catchers time off to rest and it is rare that a catcher will go behind the plate for more than 150 games in a season. In fact, the last player to catch at least 150 games was Brad Ausmus in 2000 (Jason Kendall and Russell Martin both just missed in 2008 with 149 games apiece.) In baseball history only 27 seasons of at least 150 games caught been turned in, including 3 each by Randy Hundley (and 1 by son, Todd) and Jim Sundberg. (Obviously, this feat is much easier with a 162 game schedule.)

Please note that games listed are total season games and not necessarily games caught. However, a player must have played at least 150 games at catcher to be included.

Rk	Player	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Brad Ausmus	2000	31	DET	AL	150	604	523	75	139	25	3	7	51	69	0	79	.266	.357	.365	.722	*2/435
2	Todd Hundley	1996	27	NYM	NL	153	624	540	85	140	32	1	41	112	79	15	146	.259	.356	.550	.906	*2
3	Benito Santiago	1991	26	SDP	NL	152	614	580	60	155	22	3	17	87	23	5	114	.267	.296	.403	.700	*2/7
4	Jody Davis	1983	26	CHC	NL	151	550	510	56	138	31	2	24	84	33	5	93	.271	.315	.480	.795	*2
5	Gary Carter	1982	28	MON	NL	154	653	557	91	163	32	1	29	97	78	11	64	.293	.381	.510	.890	*2
6	Jim Sundberg	1980	29	TEX	AL	151	581	505	59	138	24	1	10	63	64	3	67	.273	.353	.384	.737	*2
7	Jim Sundberg	1979	28	TEX	AL	150	561	495	50	136	23	4	5	64	51	5	51	.275	.345	.368	.713	*2
8	Gary Carter	1978	24	MON	NL	157	607	533	76	136	27	1	20	72	62	11	70	.255	.336	.422	.758	*2/3
9	Carlton Fisk	1978	30	BOS	AL	157	658	571	94	162	39	5	20	88	71	6	83	.284	.366	.475	.841	*2/7
10	Carlton Fisk	1977	29	BOS	AL	152	632	536	106	169	26	3	26	102	75	3	85	.315	.402	.521	.922	*2
11	Ted Simmons	1975	25	STL	NL	157	649	581	80	193	32	3	18	100	63	16	35	.332	.396	.491	.887	*2/37
12	Jim Sundberg	1975	24	TEX	AL	155	540	472	45	94	9	0	6	36	51	0	77	.199	.283	.256	.539	*2
13	Manny Sanguillen	1974	30	PIT	NL	151	632	596	77	171	21	4	7	68	21	9	27	.287	.313	.371	.684	*2
14	Ted Simmons	1973	23	STL	NL	161	690	619	62	192	36	2	13	91	61	15	47	.310	.370	.438	.808	*2/39
15	Randy Hundley	1969	27	CHC	NL	151	595	522	67	133	15	1	18	64	61	7	90	.255	.334	.391	.725	*2
16	Johnny Edwards	1969	31	HOU	NL	151	559	496	52	115	20	6	6	50	53	12	69	.232	.306	.333	.639	*2
17	Johnny Bench	1968	20	CIN	NL	154	607	564	67	155	40	2	15	82	31	8	96	.275	.311	.433	.743	*2
18	Randy Hundley	1968	26	CHC	NL	160	606	553	41	125	18	4	7	65	39	6	69	.226	.280	.311	.591	*2
19	Randy Hundley	1967	25	CHC	NL	152	597	539	68	144	25	3	14	60	44	6	75	.267	.322	.403	.725	*2
20	Buck Rodgers	1962	23	LAA	AL	155	624	565	65	146	34	6	6	61	45	6	68	.258	.309	.372	.681	*2
21	Jim Hegan	1949	28	CLE	AL	152	529	468	54	105	19	5	8	55	49	0	89	.224	.298	.338	.635	*2
22	Mike Tresh	1945	31	CHW	AL	150	532	458	50	114	12	0	0	47	65	0	37	.249	.342	.275	.617	*2
23	Frankie Hayes	1945	30	TOT	AL	151	579	495	51	116	17	7	9	57	71	0	66	.234	.335	.352	.687	*2
24	Frankie Hayes	1944	29	PHA	AL	155	647	581	62	144	18	6	13	78	57	0	59	.248	.315	.367	.682	*2/3
25	Ray Mueller	1944	32	CIN	NL	155	618	555	54	159	24	4	10	73	53	0	47	.286	.353	.398	.751	*2
26	Ray Schalk	1920	27	CHW	AL	151	576	485	64	131	25	5	1	61	68	0	19	.270	.362	.348	.711	*2
27	George Gibson	1909	28	PIT	NL	150	571	510	42	135	25	9	2	52	44	0	0	.265	.326	.361	.686	*2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/4/2009.

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Which player caught the most? In 1968 Randy Hundley caught 160 games. Hundley started 156 of those games and played every inning in 146.

Second place is a 3-way tie at 155. Jim Sundberg did for the Rangers in 1975. 31 years earlier Frankie Hayes and Ray Mueller also both accomplished this feat even though their teams only played 155 games.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Game Finders, Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Most Games Caught in a Season”

JohnnyTwisto Says:
December 4th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
In 1969, Leo Durocher reduced Hundley's workload to only 151 games at catcher. Still, I've heard the Cubs' collapse that season blamed on fatigue. They were one of two teams that season (Twins) to have five players play at least 150 games.

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