Angels catcher Mike Napoli hopes for a summer of glove

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TEMPE, Ariz. -- Catcher Mike Napoli went into what Manager Mike Scioscia called a ‘defensive slump’ in August, struggling so much with his throwing and receiving skills that Scioscia held a lengthy closed-door meeting with the catcher.

Napoli, who receives far more acclaim for his offensive power than his defensive skills, has vowed to improve defensively this season, and one change he might incorporate is a bigger glove, which he will try out in spring training.

‘It’s not so much that it will give him a bigger target, but it makes things a little easier when you get that late movement, you’re still able to put the glove on the ball and control the ball,’ said Scioscia, who suggested Napoli try a mitt that is ‘less than an inch’ bigger than his old one.

‘If you’re adding a half-inch to the glove, it doesn’t sound like much, but that pocket is going to be really different,’ added Scioscia, a former Dodgers catcher. ‘If there’s an inch difference, the pocket might get too big and too deep, and your transfer [from glove to throwing hand] becomes a challenge.’

Napoli has hit 20 homers in each of the last two seasons, but he has shared the job with Jeff Mathis because Mathis is the superior defender of the two. In 657 innings with Mathis behind the plate in 2009, Angels pitchers had a 3.99 earned run average; they had a 4.86 ERA in 758 innings with Napoli catching. Mathis caught almost 25% of attempted base-stealers; Napoli caught almost 15%.

‘I think with Mike there were a number of things that he got away from,’ Scioscia said. ‘We tried to address them during the season, but he gradually got away from the things that were important to a pitcher back behind the plate. Not that he wasn’t in the game mentally; he was. He just started to fight himself a bit and lost a little confidence.’

-- Mike DiGiovanna