Andrew Mogg: The Replacement for Mark Zagunis

May 26, 2013; Durham, NC, USA; A fly ball falls between Virginia Tech Hokies outfielders Mark Zagunis (2) and Kyle Wernicki (4) against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the ACC baseball tournament at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Mark Zagunis was a critical player for the Hokies over the course of his three seasons and Blacksburg and definitely is one of the best baseball players to come out of the Virginia Tech baseball program. Zagunis was a very good offensive catcher and consistently one of the top catchers in collegiate baseball which earned him some impressive honors including All-ACC Second Team for 2014.

Now, Mark Zagunis is gone and the Hokies will have to replace him.

Andrew Mogg hasn’t played too much in his time at Virginia Tech but Mogg seems likely to be the man that will replace Mark Zagunis at catcher. Mogg played in 17 games last season with 13 of those being starts so Mogg does have some experience. Mogg is also purely a ctcher unlike Zagunis who not only played a lot behind the plate but also played some games in the outfield. Andrew Mogg still seems fairly raw as a hitter but defensively, Mogg could be an upgrade.

Andrew Mogg threw out 25% of the runners that attempted to steal a base on him which is better than Zagunis who threw out less than 20% of base stealers. Mogg’s fielding percentage of .978 is almost as good as Zagunis’s fielding percentage which is very good given that Zagunis also played a lot in the outfield.

Andrew Mogg is a very good defensive catcher but has a lot of work to do on the offensive side and seems very unlikely to be able to replicate the offensive production of Mark Zagunis. However, Mogg will have the offseason to improve his hitting and being a full-time catcher might allow him to get in rhythm at the plate.

The Hokies will miss Mark Zagunis but Andrew Mogg is definitely ready to surprise a lot of people.