When Pirates second baseman Josh VanMeter agreed to having the emergency catcher designation, he probably never expected to actually find himself behind the plate in a big-league game. After all, it would take something extraordinary to have the Pirates turning to the journeyman infielder for catching duties.
Uh, something extraordinary happened on Saturday.
In Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Reds, the Pirates lost backup catcher Andrew Knapp in the sixth inning when he was ejected by home plate umpire Will Little for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout. So, just like that, the Pirates were down to one catcher. That nightmare scenario was realized in the eighth inning when starting catcher Roberto Perez got hurt diving into second base.
At that point, they had no choice. VanMeter — who hadn’t played catcher since he was 14 years old — needed to grab Knapp’s gear, Perez’s glove and play catcher in a Major League game. It didn’t exactly go well.
I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been. VanMeter told reporters after the game that it was “pure panic” once he realized it was his time to play catcher. He looked like someone who really shouldn’t have been there.
VanMeter did the best he could, though. There was a wild pitch, and nobody really tested his arm. The Reds scored seven runs in the inning. Still, VanMeter was a good sport about it and said that he was already hurting after the one inning.
MLB fans had plenty of jokes about the whole ordeal — mostly at the Reds’ expense. Cincinnati managed to win, 9-2.
