When Pirates second baseman Josh VanMeter agreed to having the emergency catcher designation, he probably never expected to actually find himself behind the plate in a big-league game. After all, it would take something extraordinary to have the Pirates turning to the journeyman infielder for catching duties.
Uh, something extraordinary happened on Saturday.
In Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Reds, the Pirates lost backup catcher Andrew Knapp in the sixth inning when he was ejected by home plate umpire Will Little for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout. So, just like that, the Pirates were down to one catcher. That nightmare scenario was realized in the eighth inning when starting catcher Roberto Perez got hurt diving into second base.
Pirates back-up catcher Andrew Knapp got ejected from the dugout and starting catcher Roberto Perez got injured
So second baseman Josh VanMeter had to catch for the first time in his four-year MLB career. Pittsburgh allowed seven runs in his first inning behind the plate pic.twitter.com/E0yqtTHyi5
— Momboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 7, 2022
At that point, they had no choice. VanMeter — who hadn’t played catcher since he was 14 years old — needed to grab Knapp’s gear, Perez’s glove and play catcher in a Major League game. It didn’t exactly go well.
Welcome to professional catching, Josh VanMeter pic.twitter.com/q0CW2meJJf
— Justice delos Santos (@justdelossantos) May 7, 2022
I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been. VanMeter told reporters after the game that it was “pure panic” once he realized it was his time to play catcher. He looked like someone who really shouldn’t have been there.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are down to their emergency catcher…
2nd Baseman Josh VanMeter
VanMeter hasn't caught since he was 14 years old 👀 pic.twitter.com/cDzlKZZTC9
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) May 7, 2022
VanMeter did the best he could, though. There was a wild pitch, and nobody really tested his arm. The Reds scored seven runs in the inning. Still, VanMeter was a good sport about it and said that he was already hurting after the one inning.
Tyler Stephenson on Josh VanMeter catching: “When I went up to hit, I told him just to take it to arbitration, so he could get paid a little more. When he came up his last at-bat, he was like, ‘Man, my legs are already hurting.’ It was funny.”
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) May 7, 2022
MLB fans had plenty of jokes about the whole ordeal — mostly at the Reds’ expense. Cincinnati managed to win, 9-2.