What catchers Hunter Feduccia & Ben Rortvedt provided in August

The Dodgers will get Will Smith back on Tuesday, activated off the 60-day injured list after missing almost three months with neck inflammation. That’s nearly half a season without a three-time All-Star, a middle-of-the-lineup staple of three different championship teams in Los Angeles.

Getting Smith back at anywhere near his established norms will be a huge boost to a Dodgers team that has struggled offensively for the last two months. But they weren’t just without Smith in August. Dalton Rushing, who held down the fort with starter-level duties behind the plate for two months, only played one game in August before succumbing to a partially-torn UCL.

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The Dodgers responded by trading for not one, but two old friends, bringing back Hunter Feduccia and Ben Rortvedt in separate deals at the trade deadline.

Both were activated on August 4, and the duo covered every inning of the last 24 games, Feduccia with 15 starts and 129 innings behind the plate, and Rortvedt starting nine times with 84 1/3 innings. In 11 of the 24 games, both players caught, usually when one replaced the other after a pinch-hitter was used late in games, or on August 18 at Coors Field when Feduccia thew up behind the plate and was replaced by Rortvedt for the rest of the game.

Offensively, Rodrtvedt had five singles in 27 at-bats and drove in a run, plus a sacrifice, pretty much in line with what the Dodgers got from Eliezer Alfonzo (5 for 27, two doubles, four RBI) and Chuckie Robinson (2 for 23, one RBI), the duo who combined to start 15 games behind the plate as Rushing’s backup with Smith out.

Feduccia found some actual success at the plate in his return to Los Angeles, hitting .262/.354/.381 with a home run, two doubles, six walks, and a 109 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances. You’d take that type of production from your catcher any day of the week.

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What Feduccia and Rortvedt did the last four weeks was stabilize the actual catching, the defense and calling games behind the plate. But that was more a product of Rushing not catching after August 1. Baseball Savant has Rushing’s Fielding Run Value at -3 runs, while Baseball Prospectus rates his Catching Defense Added at -3.7 runs.

By Fielding Run Value, Rorvedt is at -1 with the Dodgers and Feduccia at -2, while Baseball Prospectus has their Catching Defense Added -0.1 for Feduccia and -0.2 for Rortvedt, the latter both marked improvements over Rushing. Where the duo really shined was in ABS challenges, with Feduccia successful in 12 of 19 challenges (63.2 percent), and Rortvedt getting five out of eight (62.5 percent) correct.

Baseball Savant measures net overturns over expected for ABS challenges, and Feduccia and Rortvedt are the only two Dodgers catchers with a positive impact in that regard this season.

ABS net overturns over expected, Dodgers catchers

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With the two new catchers behind the plate in August, opposing teams were running wild on both catchers, with each catcher allowing as many steals as games started. Feduccia (15 steals in 16 tries) and Ben Rortvedt (nine steals in 12 attempts) allowed a total of 24 steals in 28 tries (85.7 percent) in their 24 starts. The other four catchers allowed 62 steals in 79 attempts (78.5 percent) in 113 starts. Steals by inning is even more telling.

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