Why the Angels believe O'Hoppe can turn into an All-Star catcher

ANAHEIM -- It all started out so promising for catcher Logan O'Hoppe last season.

Coming off his first full season as a catcher that saw him hit a respectable .244/.303/.409 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs in 136 games in '24, O'Hoppe got off to a blistering start in ’25. Through the end of May, O'Hoppe looked like he was developing into one of the better offensive threats as a catcher in baseball, batting .264/.299/.517 with 14 homers and 30 RBIs in 50 games.

But then O’Hoppe scuffled the rest of the season both offensively, hitting .177/.229/.269 with five homers and 13 RBIs in 69 games the rest of the way, and defensively with -12 fielding run value on the season that ranked as the third-worst mark among catchers. The 25-year-old’s strikeout rate was particularly troubling at 30.8 percent, which is much higher than the league average of 22.2 percent.

O’Hoppe, though, is well aware of his struggles and now will be getting plenty of help to prime him for a bounceback season. The Angels hired a pair of longtime former catchers -- who are also ex-teammates of O’Hoppe -- this offseason, with Kurt Suzuki serving as manager for the first time in his career and Max Stassi hired as a catching coach.

“Logan had a tough year,” general manager Perry Minasian said. “There's no sugarcoating that. He’d be the first one to stand up here and tell you that it was a rough last four months on offense. He had a rough time on defense. Receiving was not where it was the previous year. I do believe the game-calling improved significantly, which was a step in the right direction. It's his second full year of catching and it's a really tough position and I'm not making excuses, but to break in a young catcher takes time.”

Suzuki, who was briefly O’Hoppe’s teammate with the Angels in 2022 and enjoyed a 16-year career as a catcher, will be tasked with getting O’Hoppe back to form. But he believes he can help O’Hoppe, especially with the mental side of the game and with how to handle pitchers better.

“Logan is a special player,” Suzuki said. “Obviously he's a young player. He's still learning just like all of us when we were younger. You never stop learning. I'm excited for Logan to keep trying to get better. The guy is one of the hardest workers that I've ever been around. He wants to be better. He's determined to be better.”

Stassi is also plenty familiar with Suzuki and O’Hoppe, as he played with Suzuki on the Angels from 2021-22 and O’Hoppe in ’22. Stassi was known for his pitch framing and ability to work with pitchers during his 10-year big league career and already has ideas to help O’Hoppe with his receiving skills.

Suzuki said he’s been in regular contact with O’Hoppe, Stassi and veteran backup catcher Travis d’Arnaud this offseason and can tell that Stassi is excited for his first big league coaching experience following his retirement as a player.

“I call it an obsession he has with receiving, with catching, all the drills that he does,” Suzuki said of Stassi. “I mean, this guy never stops trying to learn, and I think having a young catcher in Logan is definitely going to be helped by having Stassi around. That's one of our biggest focuses. I've been talking to him this offseason, and he's got all these plans and ideas that he wants to do with Logan. And I couldn't be more excited.”

New hitting coaches Brady Anderson, John Mabry and Derek Florko will also be tasked with helping O’Hoppe improve his contact rate. When he makes contact he hits the ball hard, ranking in the 83rd percentile in barrel percentage and in the 72nd percentile in hard-hit percentage, but he just doesn't put the ball in play enough.

Minasian said he’s looking forward to the new coaching staff making an impact on O’Hoppe and believes he’ll continue to develop into a top catcher.

“I'm expecting a better Logan O’Hoppe,” Minasian said. “Logan is a big part of this thing, and [Kurt and him] have a great relationship. And I believe Logan can turn into an All-Star player. He's got that type of potential.”