Somerset Patriots: New Atlantic League rules could diminish Blue Crabs catcher’s stats

BRIDGEWATER — Perhaps no player in the Atlantic League will be impacted more by the upcoming rule changes than Southern Maryland Blue Crabs catcher James Skelton.

When League President Rick White was quoted as saying, “A catcher, generally at our level of play, is not the one who people go out to watch run. There are other people, generally, on our rosters who are much faster,” he clearly didn’t have the 28-year-old former Patriots backstop in mind.

Of the new rules set to go into effect on Aug. 1 at the recommendation of the Pace Of Play Committee, a “courtesy runner” will now be mandatory any time a catcher reaches base. For the stereotypical catcher, the impact on his overall statistics would, according to the league, be minimal. But for Skelton, who was second on the Patriots with 20 stolen bases last season, it changes everything.

“It’s going to affect our team in the fact that he’s a base-stealer, he’s not just a guy that can run a little bit as a catcher,” said Blue Crabs manager Lance Burkhart, himself a former backstop.

“He can steal bases, score on a double from first, and it’s going to affect us in that way. He brings some speed from the bottom of the order. But they’re making the changes, and we’re going to have to adjust.”

Skelton, who had the game-winning hit against his old team on Sunday night, was batting .245 with no home runs, six RBI and four steals for his new squad heading into Monday’s contest at TD Bank Ballpark. The former Detroit Tigers draft pick began the year with the Lancaster Barnstormers – for whom he also stole four bases – but was dealt to Southern Maryland midway through the season.

“(Getting traded) was a surprise, I didn’t find out from the team, I found out from a player first ... but I would say this is a better situation as far as playing time,” he said. “They had a good team over there and they were winning games. This team didn’t start off strong, but we have a good group of guys here and we should win a lot of games this year.”

But, perhaps his biggest ability to help the Blue Crabs do just that will be adversely affected as of Friday. Skelton, who has a very realistic chance to return to affiliated baseball, is hopeful that scouts will still be able to see him on the basepaths when he serves as the “courtesy runner” for his teammates, but acknowledges that his game will be directly impacted.

“There’s not too many catchers in this league or any other leagues that can run, go first to third, score from second and steal bases,” he said. “I would say it would affect me the most, but we also have two other catchers that can get on base, and when they get a hit I’ll be the one who’s running … but when I’m in the lineup it’s going to hurt the team that I can’t score on balls that I can score on and other catchers can’t.”