Juhl Adjusts To Backup Role

This is a piece that will run in this week's Minor Happenings, but wanted to run on its own as well. Even though the season is over, there will still be several player interviews and news updates to provide through the end of the month.

Indians minor league catcher Brian Juhl is what you would call an organizational soldier. A player who has little chance of making it to the big leagues or even to Triple-A, but still important where he provides depth and fills a need at catcher in the middle levels of the system. As an organizational player, the playing time can be a bit sporadic, especially for a backup catcher. Through it all Juhl has kept a positive attitude and adjusted to not only the limited playing but also the transition to the professional ranks.

"To be honest, playing time [was] hard to come by,” said Juhl in a recent interview. “But I almost expected it my first year with just learning the ropes and seeing how I fit into the organization. It is pretty tough showing up at the field everyday as it is different from college in that you show up everyday and your sole concentration is baseball. What can you do to get better that day and what can you do to help your team. It has kind of been an adjustment with the wood bat, and also the toll just being out there everyday takes on your body. Some days you wake up and you are like ‘oh man’, and I [didn’t] even play everyday."

Juhl was a 35th round pick out of Stanford University in the 2007 Draft. He did not sign until mid-July in 2007 and had limited playing time that year at Single-A Lake County where he played in just 21 games and hit .235 with 1 HR, 7 RBI and a .681 OPS. In a backup role in advanced Single-A Kinston this year Juhl only played in 41 games and hit .240 with 3 HR, 21 RBI and a .737 OPS.

Juhl, who resides in the Houston, TX area, started his season way back in spring training around mid-February when he was one of the first players to report to camp. During his time in spring training and all throughout the season Juhl worked a lot on his throwing. Minor league catching coordinator Tim Laker worked with Juhl several times in spring training and throughout the season, and Juhl made progress.

“I was not throwing that well when I got to spring training, so we worked on that a little bit and I started to throw a lot better [by the end of the season],” said Juhl. “The catchers work with [Chris] Tremie (Kinston manager) a lot too, so we work on footwork and our exchange. Specifically I worked on some follow through things with Laker where I was not using my lead arm very well. If you use [the lead arm] well you can get a little more carry on the ball."

Juhl needs more work as a hitter, but as a backup the opportunities to get regular at bats is challenging. As a result, Juhl had a lot of time for cage work and with two to three games before his next appearance in a game he had ample time to dissect his approach at the plate.

"For me, the biggest thing was just being ready to hit,” said Juhl. “A lot of times, especially if you have not hit in awhile, you try to go up there and get comfortable. Sometimes you don't have that luxury, especially [at this level] where guys can throw a lot of pitches for strikes. A lot of times getting down 0-1 you are almost playing into the pitcher if you don't hit the pitch you wanted to hit. I am [worked on] getting myself ready to go up to the box and hit the first pitch but stay within my approach. Also to stay relaxed at the same time too."

It will be interesting to see what Juhl’s fate in the organization is this offseason. The Indians have an abundance of catching prospects, so much so that Juhl himself and other fellow catchers taken in the 2007 Draft like Doug Pickens and Michael Valadez will be on the bubble to stick in the organization when camp breaks next spring. Juhl is the most advanced of the three, and played at a higher level this season, so he has that going for him.

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