O'Hoppe holding onto lessons, not regrets, from 1st full season at catcher

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Angels catcher Logan O'Hoppe knows he’s his own harshest critic and can be too tough on himself sometimes.

So this offseason, O’Hoppe made it his goal to reflect on his first full season as a big league catcher and learn to take some pressure off himself. He also made his offseason routine more efficient to get ready for his second full year behind the plate.

“Just taking some weight off of the game, but that doesn't mean I care any less than I do,” O’Hoppe said. “I made it a lot harder on myself than I needed to last year, as far as going home and beating myself up for a lot of things I couldn't control. So really, [it’s about] identifying the things I can control and trying to address those things. So it's pretty liberating being able to come here and really enjoy it.”

O’Hoppe, 25, caught the third-most games in the Majors last year, getting behind the plate 127 times. He hit .244/.303/.409 with 20 homers, 17 doubles and 56 RBIs in 136 games but dealt with a slump from early August to mid-September before finishing strong. He batted .103 (12-for-117) over a 34-game stretch before hitting .478 over his final six games, including a pair of four-hit performances.

Despite his late-season slide, O’Hoppe adamantly believes that fatigue was never a factor in his offensive struggles last year.

“Not at all,” O’Hoppe said. “I wanted to play that many games. And I mean, I was pretty vocal about it, so I don't regret a thing from last year.”

Manager Ron Washington loves O’Hoppe’s attitude and willingness to grind but said that he believes the catcher took on a bit too much last year. It’s a reason why the Angels signed veteran backstop Travis d’Arnaud to a two-year, $12 million deal this offseason. d’Arnaud can not only serve as a mentor but also give O’Hoppe some much-needed days off.

“He's Superman if he wasn't tired,” Washington said. “But what I loved about him being tired is he didn't believe he was tired, and he showed up every day at the ballpark and went at it like he wasn't tired. That's the mental side.”

Washington said he also thought O’Hoppe sometimes consciously tried to hit home runs instead of simply reacting to mistake pitches. It’s another assertion that O’Hoppe kindly disagrees with but something Washington said all young players do, especially with power so incentivized financially.

“He’s got to understand, through experience -- which he got a full year [of] last year -- that there's times when you’ve just got to take what's given to you,” Washington said. “If you play your amount of games that you’re supposed to play, whatever amount of home runs you're going to hit, they're going to be there. You don't need to try to do it.”

O’Hoppe, for his part, said that he never tried to hit homers but does believe he’s in a better place mentally right now after taking time to look back at his season and his six-week offensive skid.

“I was not trying to hit home runs,” O’Hoppe said. “What I was trying to do was everything at the plate. If I needed to punch a ball the other way, I was trying to do that. And if I was needed to put a ball in the gap, I was trying to do that. I never took an at-bat last year where I got in the box that I'm trying to hit a home run. But I know the kind of hitter I am now.”

O’Hoppe believes he’ll be better because of those struggles and that the team will be as well. He’s never been shy about his disdain for losing and is optimistic about the club’s future with a young core learning from a mix of veterans. He stayed away from making any grand predictions about the upcoming season but said he’s excited about what the team can accomplish and believes he’s ready to build on last year.

“I took a deep dive into everything that went on and where my headspace was at, and I really learned a lot,” O’Hoppe said. “I’m grateful to go through that year, as bad as it was last year, because I learned a lot from it. I don't want to go through it again, obviously, but I am grateful for the things I learned.”