StaTuesday: Lucroy's legacy with the Brewers

By foxsports
Published

In a mid-April series during the 2010 season, Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond collided with Milwaukee Brewers catcher Gregg Zaun on a play at the plate.

Zaun would continue to play for the Brewers for another month, playing through the pain until he couldn't any longer -- he reinjured it on a swing in May. It turned out Zaun had torn his labrum in his right shoulder and his season, as well as his career, was over.

To take Zaun's place on the roster, the Brewers called up their third-round pick from 2007 -- Jonathan Lucroy.

It took a week or so, but Lucroy quickly became Milwaukee's main catcher, a role he'd hold until being traded to Texas on Monday. 

In those seven seasons, Lucroy became arguably the best hitting catcher in Brewers history (as well as one of the top fan favorites).

A two-time time All-Star who twice batted better than .300 in a season, Lucroy tied the club record for doubles with 53 in 2014. He has the most home runs by a catcher in Brewers history and also is tops in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS.

Lucroy's main "competitors" are Charlie Moore and B.J. Surhoff. Like Lucroy, who played some first base and designated hitter, Moore and Surhoff played other positions with the Brewers. Moore would appear in 850 games behind the plate in his 15 seasons in Milwaukee, Lucroy 725 and Surhoff 704. However, for our purposes (because this is how baseball-reference.com spits it out), we use the total career stats for the players, regardless of position, the only caveat being catcher had to be the main position in his career.

In addition to the above-mentioned statistics, among all-time Brewers catchers, Lucroy is third in  games, plate appearances, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, stolen bases and on-base percentage as well as fourth in walks. Lucroy also recently passed Moore for most strikeouts.

Here's the statistics for every Brewers catcher who played at least 500 plate appearances in Milwaukee franchise history:

* - The 1969 season was with the Seattle Pilots

So long Jonathan Lucroy. You might be gone, but won't be forgotten. At least in the record book.

Statistics courtesy baseball-reference.com's Play Index

Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns