Baseball player and feline singer (7)
I believe the answer is:
catcher
'baseball player' is the definition.
(I know that catcher is a type of baseball player)
'feline singer' is the wordplay.
'feline' becomes 'cat' (cat is a kind of feline).
'singer' becomes 'cher' (Cher is a US musician).
'cat'+'cher'='CATCHER'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for catcher that I've seen before include "booked in the rye" , "J D Salinger wrote 'The . . . . . . . in the Rye'" , "J D Salinger write ''The . . . . . . . in the Rye''" , "Baseball fielder" , "Famous Salinger novel ''The . . . . . . . In the Rye''" .)