Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Alludes to Areas Defensive Improvement with Diego Cartaya

Although he is a great hitter, the prospect will continue to develop all facets of his game.

There are high expectations this year for Diego Cartaya as the Dodgers No. 1 overall prospect. Although the 21-year-old is coming into this season with an incredible skill set, there is still a lot of room for the young catcher to develop.

Now that spring training has started, Cartaya has all the opportunity to work with the big league coaching staff and fellow big league teammates.

While at camp, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to the media and shared his thoughts on the ways in which the team has been working on improving Cartaya’s game: 

 "I think that there's some things with the receiving that we're trying to address with Diego and there's a lot of opportunity to clean some things up. With the game calling, I think the game calling is very subjective. There's one group of people that could say he's a great game caller and there's another group that can say he doesn't call well -- and this is not just specific to Diego. So I don't know enough. I know that he's got great makeup, he wants to learn, he asks the right questions and so it's our job to educate him on hitters and his job to learn his pitchers to know what they can and can't do so, it works both ways. But for me, I'm very pleased with Diego, I'm very bullish on him. I like him a lot."

Looking at the 2022 season, Cartaya hit .254 across High-A and Single-A, with 22 home runs and 72 RBIs. Although he is a great hitter, the catcher will continue to develop all facets of his game while strengthening his defense.

As both Will Smith and Austin Barnes leave part of camp to play in the WBC this year, Roberts has already voiced how Cartaya will receive even more playing time. This will only benefit the prospect even further as he gets more reps in and builds upon his talent alongside major-league players.