'New guy' Bethancourt building rapport with Marlins' staff

JUPITER, Fla. -- “Oh, I've seen you before. Where’re you from?”

“Hey, you were nasty that time I faced [you] last year.”

Those are a couple of icebreakers Marlins catcher Christian Bethancourt has used when meeting members of the pitching staff for the first time this Spring Training.

“It's more about me getting to know them,” Bethancourt said. “Obviously, they've been here. I'm like the new guy. It's part of my job to get to know them, have them feel comfortable with me, get familiar with them, build that relationship. There's a lot of guys in Spring Training, but I'm doing my best, and I'm going to do my best to get to know all of the guys.”

Bethancourt, 32, is a former top prospect who couldn’t find his footing in the big leagues from 2013-17. After a four-year hiatus from The Show, he returned with Oakland and Tampa Bay to produce a 100 OPS+ in ‘22.

Though René Pinto surpassed Bethancourt on Tampa Bay’s depth chart toward the end of last season, the Rays’ Top 5 pitching staff had a better ERA (3.60) with Bethancourt catching compared to Pinto (4.44) and Francisco Mejía (3.99). After being designated for assignment over the offseason, Bethancourt was claimed by Cleveland only to be dealt to Miami for cash in December.

Through the first three days of pitchers and catchers workouts, Bethancourt has been behind the dish for bullpen sessions of projected starters Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and Edward Cabrera and closer Tanner Scott.

Unlike last season, when Jacob Stallings served as the personal catcher to reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara, manager Skip Schumaker expects Bethancourt and returnee Nick Fortes to catch everyone. In 2023, Schumaker also took into account who matched up with whom and how to get certain guys at-bats to find more offense.

“I think it's a healthy competition, and they're both going to play and figure out who is best suited for who in that relationship,” Schumaker said. “Obviously, [Braxton Garrett] and Luzardo threw to Nick quite often, maybe all their starts, except for maybe the postseason. But I think it's a work in progress, and again, we watch it and see what happens.”

Bethancourt, who played for Panama in the Caribbean Series earlier this month at loanDepot park, has hit the ground running since the club got eliminated. After watching video of the Marlins' pitchers, he has leaned on Fortes and catching coach Rod Barajas to prepare for these initial sessions. Though Bethancourt faced Luzardo and Cabrera last season, it’s not the same having them work against rather than with him.

Following each session, it is common practice for the catcher to provide feedback. It has been no different for Bethancourt and his new Marlins teammates, with the added benefit that since Bethancourt is a newcomer, he can offer fresh insight. In these sessions, the pitchers also can learn more about Bethancourt.

“I was just talking about overall how do I feel like it went,” said Scott, who marveled at Bethancourt’s throwbacks to the mound during Saturday's bullpen session. “Then I want to see what he thought, and we just go back and forth on certain things, and what he saw that if I could utilize and go from there.

“Whenever you get a new catcher or someone new, you just try to pick their brain as much as you can and see what type of catcher they are, or person. You build a relationship with that. This is Day 1 for me, so it's good to have that.”

Another element that already has come into play is Bethancourt’s ability to speak both English and Spanish. He conversed with Spanish-speaking Cabrera in his native tongue and defaulted to it with the bilingual Luzardo. With pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. around, they can revert to English.

“It was awesome,” Luzardo said. “I felt like he was great back there, good communication. Obviously, [he’s] a great target, a great defensive catcher, and he's just a good guy, being able to talk to him a little bit and get to know him. Hopefully [I] get to know him a little bit more throughout the year.”