Josh Thole will head to Dallas within the next two weeks to begin workouts with Mets catching coordinator Bob Natal. "It's going to be about receiving the baseball," said Thole. "As I think it was well known, I had a bit of an issue early in the season with catching the baseball. I don't want that, and I need to get back where I was previously." Thole led the National League with 16 passed balls this past season, although many of them came with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey on the mound. The 25-year-old backstop has a .276/.350/.356 batting line over his first 204 games in the majors and could be asked to carry a heavier load in 2012 after Ronny Paulino was non-tendered earlier this month.