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Jed Hoyer: Cubs Discussing Having Kyle Schwarber Be Personal Catcher For 1 Starter

(CBS) In their quest to develop young players, get everyone enough at-bats to stay in rhythm and still be a quality defensive team, the Cubs have discussed the idea of using second-year pro Kyle Schwarber as a personal catcher for one pitcher in the team's rotation, general manager Jed Hoyer told the Spiegel and Goff Show on Wednesday.

Schwarber came up through the college ranks and minor leagues primarily as a catcher, but he mostly played left field for the Cubs last season after being called up for good in July. The Cubs continue to have him split work between catcher and left field in spring training.

What's certain is that Kyle Schwarber will get "a lot" of playing time in left field, Hoyer said. What the Cubs are weighing is how much to use him at catcher. Doing so would keep catching in his future and open up more at-bats for fellow outfielder Jorge Soler, who appears to be the fourth man in the outfield rotation behind Jason Heyward, Dexter Fowler and Schwarber.

The downside is Schwarber's defense isn't nearly as good as that of Miguel Montero or David Ross.

"The debate is going to be how much catching do we have him do?" Hoyer said. "Do we want to have him catch one of our starters every time? That may be the most comfortable thing, just knowing who he's matched up with so he can get to know that guy.

"That will be the big decision we make with regard to Kyle, because he's going to play a lot of left field. The question is do we want to do that catching one to start the season?

"He can get better at blocking. He can get better at receiving. He can get better at throwing. I don't think any of those things in particular are things that are limiting factors for him catching. He just has to keep getting better at all that. Being a good catcher's really hard."

If Schwarber did serve as a personal catcher for a starter, it'd be either for John Lackey, Jason Hammel, Kyle Hendricks or someone else if they surprise and nab the fifth spot. Reigning NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta has great comfort working with Montero, and left-hander Jon Lester has long had Ross serve as his personal catcher.

"It's just a matter of which guy he clicks with," Hoyer said of this possibility. "Again, this is something we've talked about, but we haven't made a decision yet. It's the kind of thing we're thinking about in terms of him ... continuing to catch and getting Soler more at-bats as well."

Adding a layer of intrigue to the future too is that the Cubs love the potential and defensive savvy of catching prospect Willson Contreras, who finished last season at Double-A. Contreras has clocked a glove-to-glove time in the low 1.8-second range in trying to throw out runners at second base in spring training, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said Tuesday. That's considered a really good big league "pop time."

If Contreras is Chicago's everyday catcher of the future, working Schwarber wouldn't seem to be as much of a concern.

"We're a couple weeks away from having to make some harder decisions," Hoyer said.

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