TEMPE, Ariz. -- Coming off a frustrating year that saw him both struggle at the plate and behind it, Angels catcher Logan O'Hoppe spent the offseason reflecting on what he needs to improve while actively making changes to his routine and mentality.
He was also thrilled when he heard that the club hired former catcher Kurt Suzuki as manager while bringing in Max Stassi as catching coach. O’Hoppe was briefly teammates with Suzuki and Stassi during his first taste of the Majors in 2022 and said he believes they both have already played huge roles in helping him improve.
“It’s awesome, two teammates in ‘Zuk and Stass, so I’m getting old now,” O’Hoppe said with a smile. “Suzuki is an ear to lean on. He's done it. I did it with him for that one week I was up in ‘22. Relief, isn't the word, but it's just nice to walk around and have him here every day.”
O’Hoppe, 26, is headed into his fifth season with the Angels and his third as a full-time catcher. He got off to a strong start offensively last year, only to scuffle over the last four months. He also had a tough season defensively and experimented with different ways to receive the ball, switching from a knees down stance to a traditional crouch back to a knees down stance.
All told, O’Hoppe slashed .213/.258/.371 with 19 homers and 43 RBIs in 119 games, as he failed to build on his '24 campaign that saw him bat a more respectable .244/.303/.409 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs in 136 games. And according to Baseball Savant's advanced defensive metrics, he ranked in the sixth percentile in blocks above average, the 11th percentile in framing and the 15th percentile in caught stealing above average.
O’Hoppe has openly admitted he’s often too hard on himself and doesn’t take failure well. But he said he worked on that this offseason, including learning to pace himself better over the winter.
“I got a lot of answers for what was going on,” O’Hoppe said. “It was different than what I thought was going on. And I found out pretty quickly into the offseason, so I got to spend an entire winter training and working on those things. I’m still learning things as I go as far as what happened where I'm at now. It was a lot of stuff, like neurologically that was going on, and also mechanically, with my swing and stuff behind the plate, too.”
O’Hoppe spent the winter sharing time in his native New York, Tampa and a few trips to the club’s Spring Training facility in Arizona, including for a minicamp last month. He said it was important to change his routine because he was wearing himself out. As a perfectionist, he’s often hitting in the cages even after games and was the only player hitting early on a practice field at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
“It was really just the structure of my training,” O’Hoppe said. “Making sure I wasn't cooking myself too early in the day. So not having too heavy a workload early and then sitting around and doing nothing, then going back in for another heavy workload. That took a lot out of me. So now I've changed a couple things.”
Suzuki, who played 16 years in the Majors as a catcher from 2007-22, is plenty familiar with O’Hoppe, as they were briefly teammates before Suzuki joined the organization as a special assistant in ‘23. He said he’s seen O’Hoppe work to build the trust of his pitching staff and teammates and believes he’s in for a big year. He said it also helps that he knows what it’s like to go through the grind of catching.
“Just having that perspective of how hard it is to be a catcher,” Suzuki said. “Obviously, everybody loves hitting. But I know how important defense is and how important handling the staff is. It's not always about your stats offensively. It's about how you communicate with pitchers, how you make them feel on the mound when they're not feeling the greatest.”
Veteran Travis d’Arnaud, who has caught 13 years in the big leagues, saw O’Hoppe go through his trials and tribulations last year but believes he’ll be better for it and has the potential to be a franchise cornerstone.
“He can be a perennial All-Star,” d’Arnaud said. “He can hit 30 homers. Catch a bunch of winners and just continually improve. I see that in him and I think it’s coming this year.”