On July 27, 2025, the Westfield Starfires were playing at the home of the Norwich Sea Unicorns. Trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, Starfires catcher Riggs Catlin got aboard with a base hit, stole second, then made it to third on the throwing error by the Norwich catcher.

Catlin was not done causing havoc on the bases either, as during the next at-bat, he began to break for home, trying to catch the Sea Unicorns sleeping. Norwich made a throw down, and while Catlin was initially called out, the umpires got together and ruled catcher’s obstruction on the play, which gave Catlin his second stolen base and scored what was then the game-tying run.

Contrary to the typical baseball catcher, Catlin is well known for his ability to steal, going 13 for 13 on the base paths in his freshman season at Worcester State. And who would have known that the Starfires’ catcher that day would have been a Cape Cod Baseball League bullpen catcher not one month prior.

Catlin, from Dedham, Massachusetts, attended high school at Noble and Greenough, but got the majority of his high school baseball experience in his summer high school travel ball with GBG 16U, MWS Devils 17U, and Boston Blue Jays 18U.

Catlin was originally committed to play baseball at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. However, with Vassar’s extremely high tuition costs, attending Vassar was out of the picture for Catlin, but he was able to find an alternative.

Phil Price, the head coach at Worcester State, had seen Catlin play several times as a member of the Boston Blue Jays and offered him a spot on the Lancers baseball team for the upcoming 2024-25 school year.

“I knew Coach Price a bit and I knew he could give me a place to play,” he said about his decision to attend Worcester State.

Price and the Lancers picked up a good one, too, as Catlin became the everyday catcher in his freshman season for Worcester State. The reason for him playing in nearly every single game is apparent when looking at his freshman season stats.

The 5’10”, 180-pound Dedham native hit .342 in 33 games for the Lancers, along with six home runs, 34 RBIs, with 19 of his 41 hits going for extra bases. He was second on the team with nine doubles, six home runs, and his .633 slugging percentage was also second on the Lancers squad and top-10 in the MASCAC. As mentioned before, Catlin has uncanny speed for a catcher, leading the team in four triples, which was also third in the conference, and he also logged 13 stolen bases without being caught once.

Catlin won MASCAC Rookie of the Week on March 17 after he went 3-for-8 across three games with five runs batted in. In that week, he hit his first collegiate home run in an 8-5 win at Wentworth on March 11 and also logged three RBIs that game.

Perhaps his best game of the year came on April 19 in a 20-1 stomping over Bridgewater State. Catlin was 4-for-4 in that game with two doubles, a homer, four RBIs, and three runs scored.

“Playing college baseball was a really fun challenge to tackle,” he said. “There are just a lot more games than in high school, and it’s just about managing myself and staying at the highest level I can be.”

He was arguably the second-best hitter on the team behind Chris Mondesir, the MASCAC Rookie of the Year, who led the team in nearly every offensive category. Mondesir, who is currently also playing in the FCBL for the Worcester Bravehearts, will be transferring to the University of Maine for the upcoming school year. Both he and Catlin got along while playing for the Lancers for their one season together.

“Mondesir and I have learned a lot from each other,” Catlin said of his former teammate. “It was great watching him succeed both at Worcester State and now with the Bravehearts.”

Catlin played a vital role in helping the Lancers improve from 11-28 in 2024 to 23-14 in 2025, where they finished fourth in the MASCAC. Phil Price won Coach of the Year, and Catlin himself was named Worcester State’s Male Rookie of the Year.

After his season at Worcester State, Catlin emailed Starfires manager Paul Bonfiglio to attempt to get on the team, but at that point, the roster was full, and so Catlin landed as a bullpen catcher in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Cotuit Kettleers.

“Even though I wasn’t playing, I was improving myself quite a bit,” he mentioned as a member of the Kettleers. “I would lift every single day, take batting practice, and I was catching for the best arms in the league.”

While Catlin was steadily improving his strength and getting some batting practice in, he eventually missed the joy of playing baseball, leaving him to send another email to Bonfiglio on July 4.

This time, with the roster turnover, Catlin got his wish, and with a spot available for him, he made his way over to Westfield, making his Starfires debut the following day on July 5.

In his debut, he registered a hit and a walk in a game against the Norwich Sea Unicorns.

“I was nervous at first with just being able to fit in immediately, but the guys made it so easy,” he said about the mid-season transition. “It’s all in the mind and believing I was going to succeed at the plate.”

Catlin also recorded hits in his next two games to start his summer with a three-game hitting streak.

“Cooper Tarantino and James McDermott have been big influences on me,” he said when discussing the team. “I talk to those guys about how each of us works improves and what we see from each other’s perspective to get better. Josh Frometa is another guy who just brings energy and enthusiasm every single day.”

“All the coaches have been helpful both physically with mentally. With tweaks in my swing and tweaks in my catching, they all have such great minds for baseball, and it’s great to hear their advice.”

Catlin is currently a Spanish major with a psychology minor. The former bullpen catcher hopes to try and play professional baseball, but if not, he wants to become a collegiate-level baseball coach.

“I want to become bilingual so that if I decide on becoming a coach, I can recruit a higher diversity of players to my team,” he mentions. “I want baseball to be a part of my life as long as possible, and coaching will allow me to impact the lives of those trying to make a career out of baseball.”

Catlin’s work ethic, ability to hit, run, and his competitiveness and desire to win make him a player that every team wants to have on their roster. Whether it is baseball or coaching that he gets into later on, he is bound to see success on the diamond and in the classroom moving forward.