SAN DIEGO -- The Padres announced on Thursday that they have avoided arbitration with catcher Derek Norris and left-hander Drew Pomeranz. Norris, who made $545,000 in 2015, agreed to a salary of $2.925 million for the upcoming season, his second with the Padres. Pomeranz will make $1.35 million this season after making $517,500 a year ago.
The Padres leaned on Norris a lot in 2015, and he responded by starting a career-high 116 games behind the plate and catching 1,040 2/3 total innings. Those far exceeded the marks Norris had in '14 with the A's (93 starts and 870 1/3 innings).
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Better still, Norris led the big leagues in CCS (catcher caught stealing) with 38, 12 more than Brian McCann of the Yankees. That's the most in a single season since Gerald Laird threw out 40 would-be basestealers for the Tigers in 2009.
Norris threw out eight baserunners in all of 2014 with the A's.
Norris made big improvements in pitch-framing as well. BaseballProspectus.com had him catching 69.8 extra strikes (in 7,432 framing chances), the 10th-most in the Major Leagues. In 2014, he actually cost the A's 15.1 strike calls and ranked 85th among big league catchers.
Last season, Norris hit .250 with 14 home runs and 62 RBIs.
Pomeranz, who the Padres acquired in a December trade with the Athletics, posted a 3.66 ERA in 53 games -- nine of which were starts -- last season.