The Catcher’s Particular Set of Skills
It’s no coincidence playoff teams succeeded by having defensive-minded catchers behind the plate.
How do you feel about your favorite team’s catching situation? If you are hoping to contend, having a defensive-minded catcher is a big step in the right direction. Whether it’s an elite starter who can also hit, or a backup who can fill in and provide above-average defense, it is one of the most pivotal positions in the game. As more data on the value of defense emerges, smart front offices are putting a premium on backstops that can provide small advantages which add up over a long season.
Even backup catchers have played a prominent role in recent postseason memory. While an old-school manager would kill to have Willson Contreras’ big bat in the lineup everyday, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon knew David Ross was the right man for the job in all of Jon Lester’s appearances. Despite Lester’s refusal to throw to first to hold on the runner, Ross was able to neutralize the Cleveland Indians’ running game in crucial World Series moments.
This was not the story in 2014, when Oakland Athletics catcher John Jaso was injured in the American League Wild Card game, and platoon catcher Derek Norris was thrust into action. The Kansas City Royals ran wild on Norris, to the tune of six stolen bases (as well as one off Jaso before he left the game), two of which came while the aforementioned Lester was on the mound.
There is more to catching than just controlling the base paths, however, and this will be a cursory look at a few of the other pillars of the game. While digging through the numbers, it’s apparent that along with elite starters, there are also some valuable second-stringers who may get more of a look moving forward.
Pitch Framing
Are we tired of hearing about pitch framing yet? With “Robot Umps!” becoming a unifying phrase during the postseason — and throughout the whole year — it’s not certain how much longer the receiving and presentation of the pitch will be a part of the game. But we are living in the present, so let’s start digging.
StatCorner.com developed oStr, which you should definitely read about briefly here, but is essentially the number of balls caught outside the strike zone still called strikes. Coupled with StatCorner’s zBall (the number of balls caught in the strike zone that were called balls), they are able to assess how many total strikes were added by each catcher.
Bear in mind the small sample size of just one year and your own opinion of how much of a factor the catcher is in whether or not a strike is called (other factors include the quality of the umpire, reputation of the pitcher and batter, etc.)
Perennial All-Star and first time Gold Glove award-winner Buster Posey stands out, showing he has the bat and the framing skills to be considered among the elite at his position. The Cubs have two catchers on this list, which is all the more impressive when they have a much smaller sample to pull from (+Calls is a cumulative total, not an average). Neither Tony Wolters nor Roberto Pérez were considered “regulars” in 2016, and may see their stock rising.
As far as looking at backup catchers, Austin Barnes of the Los Angeles Dodgers leads all catchers with 11.1% oStr (in a small 419 pitch sample size). José Lobatón of the Washington Nationals was the ninth in the league in +Calls Per Game (in a 2,386 pitch sample size). The Nats knew it would be difficult to replace Wilson Ramos’ bat when he hit the disabled list late in the season, but the veteran Lobatón’s glove certainly added value to the team.
Game Calling
Does it seems a little “off” to consider Ross and former-Dodger A.J. Ellis as “backup” catchers? If anything, they fit the definition of “personal catcher”, basically playing every fifth game (and a little more) and the only one to catch the ace of the staff (Lester and Clayton Kershaw, respectively). In 2014, Ellis slashed .191/.323/.254. While the OBP is nice, those aren’t normally the kind of numbers that help a player keep their job. However, if the best pitcher in the game says he wants to pitch to that guy, he sticks around.
Whether it’s comfortability, how he frames pitches, or the way the catcher calls the game, there are some pitchers who appear to be more comfortable throwing to some catchers than others. This quote, taken from Fangraphs, shows the results of researching the effectiveness of the guys calling the pitches.
“Finally, game management (or game calling) remains the black box of catcher defense. No one has cracked this code. Catchers play a huge role in determining which pitches to throw and how a pitcher navigates a given lineup. Honestly, there is no public research that provides much insight into game calling. By all accounts, it should matter, we just don’t have any idea how to measure it.
There are certainly analysts working on this aspect of catcher defense, but right now we’re dealing with it theoretically rather than empirically.”
Stolen Base Prevention
Let’s get this out of the way first: stealing a base most likely has more to do with the speed of the pitcher’s delivery and the type/location of the pitch than it does with the catcher’s “pop time”. While transitioning the ball from the glove to the throwing hand, positioning feet properly, and releasing a quick, accurate throw to the base requires great skill, there are lots of factors that go into an “out” call (remember Javy Báez’ swipe tags in the postseason?).
But the catchers do have some control of the outcome, and throwing out a runner is probably the sexiest play a catcher can make (this coming from a person who has audibly giggled with joy while watching Austin Hedges of the San Diego Padres put on a pitch framing clinic).
Statcast says the average pop time (from when the pitch reaches the catchers’ glove to when it’s caught by the infielder in the tag attempt) is two seconds. It highlighted a David Ross caught stealing of San Francisco’s Gorkys Hernandez in the NLDS this past October, which clocked in at 1.86 seconds, as well as a first base pickoff of Conor Gillaspe which was just 1.5 seconds (first base is 90 feet away from home plate, while second base is just over 127 feet).
I have found Statcast report examples of most of these catchers with sub-two second pop times, but other sites/blogs seem to have hotter stopwatches, with some in the 1.75 second area. This is something I look forward to being a more defined stat, but Fangraphs has kind of dumped some water on the importance of catcher pop times. Still, it’s something tied to catcher performance and evaluation, at least in a minor way.
From this leaderboard, we see Gold Glove award voters were probably impressed with Salvador Pérez’ penchant for gunning down runners at a 48.1 percent clip. The acquisition of Brian McCann by the Houston Astros means Evan Gattis won’t be threatening runners as often moving forward. New York Yankees rookie Gary Sánchez shows he’s a threat anytime he’s near the plate, and it will be interesting to see if runners are more weary of him heading into his sophomore season. Cleveland’s Roberto Pérez, who is best known for hitting a pair of home runs in Game 1 of the World Series, shows even though the Indians didn’t get Jonathan Lucroy, they have some good defensive options behind the dish.
Batted Ball Defense
Aside from these finer points of catching, there are plenty of times when catchers need to make plays on bunts and other hits, and this can be measured by Fangraphs DRS. By this metric, there are only 11 players with positive numbers, and include most of the guys you’d expect (Molina, Sal Pérez, and Lucroy) along with players like Chicago’s Alex Avila, Cleveland’s Yan Gomes, and Chicago/Toronto’s Dioner Navarro.
Fangraphs also has a stat called rGFP, which is “Good Fielding Plays”, which is probably my favorite named stat. Sal Pérez sits atop that particular leaderboard with 10, five more than Avila and Gomes, the next runners up. While this is a smaller part of their game, it is worth noting.
If you’ve got Posey, Sal Pérez, or anybody named Molina as your catcher, you should be set. It is little coincidence the Giants, Royals, and Cardinals, respectively, are teams that have had recent postseason success. With Ross and Carlos Ruiz winding down their careers, and even Yadier (33 years old) showing some signs of slowing down, it’s encouraging to see young talent moving up the chain in the form of Yasmani Grandal, Austin Hedges, James McCann, and hopefully Roberto Pérez and Gary Sánchez.
Baseball is still a team sport, and it is difficult for a single position player to elevate an entire club, especially over an extended period of time. Perhaps what we can gather from looking at this data is what teams are putting stock into the different catching metrics. More importantly, it tells us which front offices have accurately identified the players that will provide the particular set of skills that will put their clubs is better positions to win games.
