Should McKenry get more playing time?

Last night, Michael McKenry helped spark an amazing comeback win for the Bucs. He went 3-4 with a double, a key home run, scoring twice and collecting two RBI. The home run was his ninth in only 138 plate appearances. For the season, he's hitting .267/.341/.567 and has a 1.4 WAR.

By contrast, starting catcher Rod Barajas has struggled at the plate, posting a .205/.280/.362 slash line. He has 19 RBI in 236 plate appearances, three less than McKenry in nearly a hundred more PAs. Barajas has managed eight homers of his own, but sports an uninspiring -0.3 WAR. His defense, supposedly his strong suit, hasn't been much better. He has five passed balls and has only thrown out four of the 59 runners who have attempted to steal off of him. Granted, some of the blame has to be put on the pitchers, but that's an awful ratio.

So, should McKenry get more playing time? By all accounts, Barajas has handled the pitchers well and he is at least partially responsible for A.J. Burnett's renewed success. Barajas is also likely to catch the newest member of the rotation Wandy Rodriguez for awhile, as his facility with Spanish should help with communication and ease Wandy's transition to a new team. So, really we'd be talking about catching a maximum of three out of every five days. That would mean basically flip-flopping roles for the two catchers, as McKenry generally starts a couple of times a week anyway to keep Barajas fresh.

At this point, I would definitely be in favor of riding the hot bat and seeing what McKenry can do. His defense hasn't been great either, but I think both of these catchers have the confidence of the starters and McKenry seems to have generally improved on offense. He's made terrific strides for a guy who was by no means guaranteed a roster spot heading into Spring Training. Maybe all those offseason sessions with Clint Hurdle have really payed off.