The Toledo Mud Hens experimented with different defensive alignments all season.

Toledo shifted infielders to corner outfield spots, moved a first baseman around second and third, and had a shortstop filling in at center when needed.

The Mud Hens also operated with three catchers on their roster — Ali Sanchez, Dustin Garneau, and Chris Rabago — causing Toledo to manage playing time for the three players. The rotation of catchers can help maintain players’ health through the season.

“It just takes less toll off your body, because you're not catching every day,” Rabago said. “The less you're back there, the better off your body's going to be in the long run.”

Rabago was the only catcher of the three who began the season on the Mud Hens roster. He was optioned to Double-A Erie on May 7 before getting promoted back to Toledo on July 8.

Sanchez arrived to Toledo in June after being claimed off of waivers by the Detroit Tigers from the St. Louis Cardinals. Garneau started the season with the Tigers before being designated for assignment and outrighted to Toledo on May 4.

“We prepare ourselves to play every single day,” Sanchez said. “So wherever they put us in the lineup, we'll just be ready for that.”

Sanchez has been the most successful of the trio at the plate, batting .261 with a .363 on-base percentage.

The threesome during their time in Toledo has committed a combined five errors and thrown out a combined 32 of 101 attempted base-stealers (32 percent)

The depth in the catcher role gives Garneau, Rabago, and Sanchez an opportunity to learn from each other. Each catcher has their own style and technique, but it also gives each individual a different viewpoint of how their teammate calls a game.

How Garneau calls a game with a pitcher might differ from how Rabago or Sanchez operate.

“We do everything differently, but we try to pick the good things that they do better than me or whoever it is,” Rabago said. “We learn from each other as far as what the other person is doing, how they're calling pitches, and stuff like that. And we take it into our game.”

The movement behind the plate hasn’t hindered Toledo’s pitching.

As of Monday, the Mud Hens pitching staff combined for a 4.35 earned-run average, which is sixth in the International League. Toledo pitchers have nine shutouts, tied for sixth in the IL, walked the fourth fewest batters in the league (459), and have the 10th-lowest walks plus hits per innings pitched rate in the IL at 1.37.

The trio of catchers relay info they’ve noticed about pitchers before the start of a six-game series. If there’s something a catcher notices from Tuesday’s starter, who tends to start for the final game of a series, they’ll relay that info to Sunday’s starting catcher, Garneau said.

“Basically whoever starts the series has the best view of the team that are coming in,” Garneau said. “I pick the brain with him and then guys that either I haven't caught or he hasn't caught to know what [the pitchers] actually have to get guys out with.”

Mud Hens manager Lloyd McClendon said Toledo tries to pencil in Sanchez to catch three games a week with Garneau and Rabago shuffling the other three games.

“All three of them have done a nice job,” McClendon said. “It's tough trying to juggle three catchers and trying to manage the playing time. But I think we've done a pretty decent job.”

First Published September 12, 2022, 5:23 p.m.