It's not exactly heartening for an ex-catcher turned manager of the Milwaukee Brewers to discuss the catching situation in his organization and throughout the other 29 organizations in the major leagues, but reality is reality.

"I don't know what the problem is," manager Ned Yost said recently, one of 15 former professional catchers now managing in the major leagues. "They need to do a national study on it. Catching is so thin in high school, colleges and the professional level.

"You can count on one hand the number of good young catchers in the game. They all want to go in the (batting) cage. They come offensively before they come defensively.

"I tell kids that if you can play a little bit, catch."

The Brewers may be the perfect example of the dearth of quality at the position. Since the 1999 season, or the first season after the free agent departure of Mike Matheny, the Brewers have seen 23 players don the gear and crouch behind the plate. Fifteen of those catchers saw significant playing time, almost all to mixed results. In the nine previous seasons, from 1990 to 1998, the Brewers used 15 catchers, with only six, including such stalwarts as Matheny and B.J. Surhoff, carrying the load.

Even more startling is that for a farm system that has produced the core of the current major-league team and predicts a new wave of youngsters arriving at the big-league level over the next few years, the Brewers have little, if any, major-league catching prospects in the system.

That should not be considered a black mark on the record of scouting director Jack Zduriencik, whose sterling reputation for drafting has brought the Brewers players such as first baseman Prince Fielder, shortstop J.J. Hardy and right fielder Corey Hart. If anything, it 's a reflection of the lack of depth in the draft pool for catchers.

But Zduriencik knows good catching when he sees it. He saw one in 1992 when he was drafting for the Pittsburgh Pirates under the direction of a general manager who was a pretty good major-league catcher in his own right, Ted Simmons, now the Brewers' bench coach. That high school kid with major-league bloodlines out of Torrance, Calif., was worthy of a first-round pick back then.

Now, that former No. 1 pick of the Pirates is catcher No. 24 for the Brewers on the post-Matheny roster. His name is Jason Kendall.

"I was the last one," Kendall said with a smile of Zduriencik's luck in finding catchers.

Learning the pitchers

This is Kendall's 13th year and fourth team in that span, so it's hardly likely anything new is going to hit him this season. That's why he takes the spring to learn his new staff.

"No. 1 is to get the pitchers to trust me," Kendall said recently as he prepared for a morning workout at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix. "No. 2 is to find out, 'What does their stuff do? What do they want to throw in certain situations? What can they throw? What 's their go-to pitch? What's their Plan B?' Little stuff like that.

"It may sound stupid and boring, but it's a matter of getting to know them."

It's neither stupid nor boring. It's just an indication of how Kendall approaches his job behind the plate. Kendall keeps a mental book on each of his pitchers and will call on that knowledge in certain situations.

That's different than how last year's catcher, Johnny Estrada, approached the job. Estrada had a philosophy about pitching and calling a game, and he generally stuck with it no matter who might be on the mound. Kendall, though, will try to rely on a pitcher's strengths.

"There's a huge difference between calling a game to each pitcher's strengths and weaknesses as opposed to a philosophy -- a big difference," Yost said. "To Estrada's credit, he called to a philosophy, one he thought a lot about and worked on. But not everybody steps into that one way, and it gets frustrating when they can 't do it."

Kendall's approach is one reason he has spent so much time behind the plate this spring. He has caught all the starters and relievers -- and he's even stayed in games longer than a veteran of his status usually does just to catch pitchers with whom he felt he needed to work.

His former Pirates teammate, Salomon Torres, the reliever now with the Brewers, volunteered the answer when Kendall was asked when he knows his pitching staff trusts him.

"When they stop shaking him off," Torres said with a laugh as he leaned into the conversation from the locker next to Kendall's.

Kendall didn't disagree.

"It 's almost like they're in their windup before they find out what pitch to throw," Kendall said of the Brewers' starters. "They're in a rhythm. It takes three or four times with the starters to get that working.

"The bullpen is easier. We have our guys who are going to come in and throw their 97 (mph fastball). I'll just put down one finger."

Always in on action

Like so many good young baseball players, Kendall grew up playing shortstop and pitcher. Those are the positions where the best players land.

Unlike so many good young baseball players, Kendall's DNA led him behind the plate. His father, Fred, was a long-time catcher in the major leagues, mostly with the San Diego Padres. It wasn't until his sophomore year in high school, however, that Kendall found a permanent home at catcher, and then only because the regular catcher was injured.

"You're in on every pitch," he said. "The game can't keep going until you throw the ball back. You're the quarterback. You're in on all the action. Every play. I enjoy it."

Nine of the Brewers' post-Matheny catchers have come in Yost's five years as manager. Several, such as Estrada, Gary Bennett, Keith Osik and Eddie Perez, were one year and done. Others, such as Damian Miller and Chad Moeller, stayed a few years. Now he has added Kendall to the list with newcomer Eric Munson the expected backup.

"I think it's because I haven't found exactly what I've been looking for," Yost said of the catchers who have marched in and out of the organization. "I know what I want, somebody who's defensive-minded and defensive-oriented.

"He's what I'm looking for, I think. He's a guy who really works with each individual pitcher and tries to learn each individual pitcher. What are the strengths? What are the weaknesses? What kind of command? What can he command? What does he think he can command?

"It's all understanding the total person when he steps on the mound to get him through a game the best way he can."