Diamondbacks catcher Tuffy Gosewisch, who is considered the favorite to win the starting catcher job this spring, is not worried about the skeptics who don't believe he can handle being Arizona's top catcher.
"That's more motivation for me," he told The Arizona Republic. "All that matters to me is that the team believes in me. It seems like they do and I believe in myself. The more people that come out and say that, that's fine. That's just more motivation for me to go out and prove that I belong and I can do it."
Gosewisch is not known for his offense, but the Diamondbacks are comfortable with going with a defense-first catcher because they believe the rest of the lineup will help pick up the slack offensively.
"I know that in my position, my number one job is the pitchers," he said. "So 80 percent, 90 percent of my game has to be focused on them. Knowing what they do best and knowing what the other team does best and trying to come up with a game plan -- there's not a whole lot of stats that can be put on that part of the game.
"If I can just contribute to the team offensively, I think that's what they're looking for. I'm not saying I'm going to be an All-Star, but I'm confident in my ability to hit. I know there's a lot of people out there who doubt that, but I know I can do it and I know people here think I can do it."