FORT MYERS, Fla. – John Farrell summed it up succinctly.

“They’re different people,” said the Red Sox pitching coach, “and different personalities.”

Not better or worse, just different.

That is the reality of the Red Sox’ catching duo, which, if all goes as planned, will include two uniquely qualified receivers with approaches that aren’t always parallel in Jason Varitek and Victor Martinez.

“They have two different approaches to the game,” Farrell said. “Not to say Victor doesn’t pay attention to the scouting report, because that’s not true. But he wants to get the feel and the reaction from the hitter on a given pitch to get the information to make the next selection. There’s a foundation there with the report, but how that’s executed and played out in a game is a little bit different.”

As Farrell articulates, while Varitek and Martinez share more than a few similarities — especially when it comes to taking pride in their craft — the separation between the two can be found in how they get through a game.

And it is because of the different methods each catcher presents their pitcher in regard to executing a game-plan that a topic continues to surface: Why some hurlers prefer throwing to one catcher over another.

The most polarizing case when it comes to the subject is that of Josh Beckett, who broached the issue following his three-inning stint Monday in which Martinez served as the righty’s battery-mate. The pitcher, who had already thrown double the amount of bullpen sessions to Martinez in spring training as he did in the catcher’s entire two-month stint with the Sox in ’09, insinuated that progress continued to be made but there was still work to be done in regard to syncing up with the backstop.

“I would say we’re like a seven right now,” said Beckett when asked to rate where he was with Martinez on a scale of 1-10. “It’s very difficult for you to expect a guy to come over three-quarters of the way through a season and pick up on the same page of everybody. It’s very difficult. I rely heavily on those guys, I’m not ashamed to say that. We’re doing good, it’s just not like every pitch.”

But a few days before, Beckett explained why he possessed the comfort level with Varitek that he hoped to eventually close in with in regards to his work with Martinez.

Beckett explained that he isn’t one to obsess over scouting reports, whereas Varitek consumes the information with a thoroughness perhaps unlike any other catcher in the big leagues. It is because of that the pitcher is able to concentrate more on the feel of his pitches, rather than the particulars that might be assigned to each hitter.

“I do like throwing to Jason Varitek, and I’m not ashamed to say that. He has helped me so much throughout the years just throwing to him,” Beckett said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t like throwing to Victor. I think Victor does great. Somebody asked me after a bad start that Vic caught me and I said, ‘Damn, if you’re blaming him for me pitching like (crap) I’ll tell you right now he’s got a pretty good answer for you and that’s, ‘I’ve caught two Cy Youngs in two years.’ Maybe it’s the Indian [and] not the arrow.

Read More

Blogs

• Larry Lucchino on Red Sox payroll, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield and more
• Report: Rich Harden to miss 2012 due to shoulder surgery

Audio on Demand

• Dustin Pedroia's Laser Show on the Big Show
• Doc Rivers and Sean Grande preview Celtics-Bobcats

Columns

• How new Red Sox Cody Ross is putting an uneasy offseason in the rear-view mirror
• The war chest: Why 2012 might be a good year for Red Sox to have financial flexibility

Tickets

“I don’t know if it’s blown out of proportion because the number is there and I’ll say it in front of Vic: I like throwing to Jason Varitek. It doesn’t mean I don’t like throwing to Vic. There’s got to be some transition there. I do pitch off of feel. Not that I don’t like scouting reports, but I’m going to know what’s going good for me that day.”

As Beckett explained, just because there is a security that comes with Varitek doesn’t mean Martinez won’t pick up where he left off when catching the ace’s last three starts of ’09. Both backstops will have their cracks at catching Beckett, and as the season evolves the pitcher might actually start seeing less of a difference between the two.

“Victor coming in here not knowing anybody last year had to rely on feel and all the information given. Jason is a book and student guy, which Victor is getting into,” explained Red Sox’ catching instructor Gary Tuck.

“Where Victor played before it was required that he do that. That’s another part of this learning phase. It’s all new to him. As the season progressed last year he came to understand what this meant and what that meant, but it was all new to him. He had Jason, John [Farrell] and myself and we simplified it for him. The whole thing got simplified because it was a bunch of papers and a bunch of books and finally it started making sense to him.”

But while Martinez might be soaking in the aspects of the game that Varitek has thrived on, there has already been examples of how effective the former Cleveland catcher’s approach can be.

The fact is that while many will be discussing how many times Martinez will catch Beckett, the greater discrepancy (besides knuckleballer Tim Wakefield), will most likely be if Clay Buchholz makes the rotation.

Some observers felt that when the Red Sox traded for Martinez at the trade deadline last season, they not only got an All-Star caliber catcher/first baseman, but also surfaced the potential of Buchholz, as well. For whatever reason, the young starter seemed to clearly enjoy the approach Martinez took when it came to calling a game.

Now the challenge is to find common ground in regards to the two catchers’ ability to get the most out of each of the starters they might have to handle.

“Something that we want to make sure of is that Victor gets plenty of repetition with each one of our starters,” Farrell said. “Last year when he came over obviously he handled Wake well and teamed him up with Buch regularly. But there will be more attention paid to make sure they get the innings to build that rapport even much more than last year.”