SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Even if you don’t see him, you sure can hear him.
Willie MacIver, the Rangers’ third-string catcher, has been turning heads and catching ears through his infectious personality during his first Spring Training with the team.
“He’s been fun to have around,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “His personality is unbelievable. He's talking every pitch. There's always something positive coming from that kid's mouth. I think everybody is requesting him [when they] throw a bullpen, because they feel like a Hall of Fame pitcher when they come off the mound. It's a blast to hear him talk, honestly. He reminds me of an Austin Hedges personality. It's been fun to listen to him talk. He never has a bad day. He has said that ‘God's blessed me with one thing for sure: I always wake up in a really good mood.’ He is, and it's all day long.”
The 29-year-old was claimed off waivers from the A’s back in November, solidifying some much-needed catching depth behind Kyle Higashioka. Danny Jansen was also added this offseason to share the workload.
And while MacIver hit just .186/.252/.324 in 33 big league games for the A’s last season, he’s a quality defensive catcher that provides depth to the position.
But it’s his personality that stands out above all else.
“That's God's gift to me,” he said. “It makes me excited to be here working with these pitchers, especially how good of a staff we've got. It makes my job really fun. I'm a guy who, for the most part, wears my emotions on my sleeve. So when I'm catching guys who are nailing their spots and throwing good bullpens, it gets me fired up. It's important to know, for all catchers, that pitching is really hard. When these guys execute a good pitch, you gotta let them know. I think that’s what it comes down to. I love being here. I love baseball.”
MacIver admits that this will definitely be the best pitching staff he’s caught. That tends to happen when there’s a two-headed monster of Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi atop the rotation. But he believes in his ability to connect with every pitcher on staff and get the most out of them.
“You definitely want to make sure that you're staying in your own lane a little bit and not overstepping your boundaries being a new guy,” MacIver said. “Fortunately for me, last year I had my first experience going to a new organization with the A's. I learned kind of how to navigate that situation pretty well with them. At the end of the day for me, it's like, just be myself, put yourself out there a little bit. I'm really excited about this pitching staff. They make my job easy.”
The Austin Hedges comparison seems apt. Fans of the Rangers remember well how much Hedges brought to the Texas clubhouse down the stretch in 2023. Hedges himself will tell you that it wasn’t because of his production on the field. It was because of the energy he brought each and every day.
Schumaker was on the Padres’ coaching staff from 2018-21. Hedges was with San Diego up until the 2020 Trade Deadline. The Rangers’ new manager knows first-hand exactly how a catcher with that type of personality can impact a pitching staff.
“[MacIver] is a great teammate,” Schumaker reiterated. “He has been a very positive guy. After pitchers have a conversation with him, they always feel like they just dominated that bullpen session. Whether they did or not, that's how they feel. I think that a lot of these guys can learn from him. Obviously, Higgy and Jansen are the same way. They're veteran guys. MacIver just brings a different element to that catching spot.”
During bullpens on the backfields, you can hear MacIver after every pitch, talking and encouraging the pitchers. Higashioka joked that he “says what he needs to say,” but MacIver never stops talking. He makes the pitchers feel good. He lightens the mood.
More than anything else, he just understands the leadership position that comes with being the catcher.
“The best quality of a pitcher is conviction,” Schumaker said. “I feel like the best quality from a catcher is also having conviction that this is the pitch you need to throw right now. Him having confidence in it, that he's putting down the right signs, that type of thing. That's how this relationship works. Maybe I'm biased, because I had [Yadier] Molina for a long time [on my team as a player], and I know what that position should look like. Luckily, we have a couple guys in camp who can play like that.”