Productive Catchers
Mon, May 22, 2006
by Geoff Young
Which teams have the best hitting catchers in the big leagues this year? The answer might surprise you:
| Team | AB | BA | OBP | SLG | ISO | RC/27 | AB/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Padres | 167 | .299 | .381 | .515 | .216 | 6.79 | 20.9 |
| Braves | 150 | .313 | .378 | .507 | .193 | 6.81 | 25.0 |
| Twins | 173 | .341 | .394 | .462 | .121 | 6.91 | 57.7 |
| Stats courtesy of ESPN. | |||||||
The Braves (Brian McCann) and Twins (Joe Mauer) have up-and-coming young catchers who figure to be stars in this league for years to come. The Padres are taking a different approach, using a guy who is supposed to be washed up (Mike Piazza) and two journeymen (Josh Bard, Rob Bowen).
And how are the Padres’ current cadre of catchers comparing with last year’s posse?
| Player | AB | BA | OBP | SLG | ISO | RC/27 | AB/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Piazza | 96 | .260 | .351 | .448 | .188 | 4.81 | 24.0 |
| Josh Bard | 49 | .347 | .389 | .612 | .265 | 9.28 | 16.3 |
| Rob Bowen | 22 | .455 | .552 | .727 | .273 | 17.29 | 22.0 |
| Stats courtesy of ESPN and include numbers compiled as a catcher only. Bard’s totals include numbers with Boston. | |||||||
Not too shabby. Here are what the guys they replaced are doing this season:
| Player | AB | BA | OBP | SLG | ISO | RC/27 | AB/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramon Hernandez | 143 | .301 | .361 | .476 | .175 | 6.39 | 23.8 |
| Miguel Olivo | 103 | .243 | .284 | .447 | .204 | 4.53 | 25.8 |
| David Ross | 40 | .250 | .326 | .525 | .275 | 6.14 | 13.3 |
| Stats courtesy of ESPN and include numbers compiled as a catcher only. | |||||||
No disrespect to Ramon Hernandez, who is enjoying a fine season in Baltimore, but I think I’d rather have Piazza, Bard, and Bowen for $2M than be on the hook for $8M to Hernandez in 2009. Neither Bard nor Bowen displayed much offensive ability in the minors, so who knows how long they’ll keep hitting.
I’m okay with not offering Olivo and his .284 OBP guaranteed money. He did a great job in Hernandez’ absence last season, but he has been erratic on offense and defense throughout his career. A useful guy to have around, but not really a #1 catcher.
As for Ross, I’m not qualified to say. He had 17 at-bats in a Padres uni. I’m glad to see him do well in Cincy, and I hope the Padres get as much use out of Bobby Basham as the Pirates get out of J.J. Furmaniak.
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May 22, 2006 at 8:49 am
Ack….must …stop…myself….must …forgive….must not be bitter…..
Ack!…too late…
And don’t forget the all important job of a Major League catcher making millions, livin large: blocking the damned plate. But that might muss up the Hernandez do, not that there is anything wrong with that.
May 22, 2006 at 9:12 am
I like your analysis, but two minor quibbles - 1. I don’t think Olivo or Ross were on the Padres for most of the first 50 games of 2005. I am pretty sure the backup was primarily Miguel Ojeda, with possibly a periodic Robert Fick or Phil Nevin start thrown in here or there. Recalculate the numbers with Ojeda, who had an awful start to 2005, and the numbers look even better for the 2006 crew offensively. 2. You might also have to include 2006 Mirabelli for fairness sake.
Either way, offensively, catching has not been the Padres’ problem, but has been a surprising strength. 1st and 3rd are the biggest O holes, and Peavy’s relative struggles have been the biggest disappointments so far.
May 22, 2006 at 9:26 am
TF: Good point. I decided to go with the guys who finished the season as the Padres catchers and the ones who are there now, but you’re right, I could have included Ojeda, Fick, Nevin, and Mirabelli as well.
May 22, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Here’s an interesting look at yesterday’s game vs Mariners from their perspective … http://lookoutlanding.com/stor.....33945/9824 … there’s A LOT of concern about King Felix up here in the Pacific Northwest …
I finally got up to Seattle to see this inter-league rivalry … turns out to only be a 4-hour drive from my place to Safeco (I thought it’d be closer to 5) …
I got there on Saturday afternoon about 5pm … walked up to the box office and aske for “best single available” … got a seat *DIRECTLY* behind home plate, only 1 seat between me and the ump … wow … what a treat … never been in a seat like that before … cost me $55 … but turned out to be VERY worth it … because I ended up sitting next to Gary Reonicke! He was doing advance scouting for the Orioles (who start a series vs M’s today) … and he was a delight to take in a ballgame with … he was very willing to share his observations with me … we were sitting right behind 2 mounted radar guns, and it was fascinating to correlate his comments with the gun results! For example, Hensley threw an 88 mph fastball right down the middle of the plate that Sexson swung thru and Reonicke really groaned (”if you can’t hit that fastball, you’re in *BIG* trouble”) …
I’ve got a ton of thoughts from the 2 games … just no time to get them down … 2 major thoughts …
- we lost Satuday’s game via defense @ second base … Lopez was very good, Barfield wasn’t
- Bochy was slow to go to the pen both games … why? As much as I want to hang yesterday’s loss on Chan Ho (he was charged with 10 ERs), Bochy had good opportunities to go to the pen in both the 5th and the 6th … and then, in yesterday’s game, Bochy brings in Adkins in a crucial situation (bases loaded, 1 out, bottom of 6th, only down by 2 (was just 1 until Park walked Sexson, see comment above :-())??? I’m with the analysts who say you gotta bring in “a closer” in that situation … the game was on the line!
May 22, 2006 at 1:48 pm
LM, Wow, 8 hours of drive time to see the pads play. You are a fan.
Love to hear your impressions of Safco and the train.
You were one of those guys waving at the center field camera with thier cell phone, were you?
May 22, 2006 at 3:29 pm
IF - I don’t do cell phone … my seat wasn’t actually “on the field”, it was row 10 … but rows 1-8 don’t exist directly behind home plate at Safeco … instead, they are the stair well from below for the folks that pay $125 to sit in the Diamond seats (rows 1-8) …
Really liked Safeco … and the trains going by *always* toot’d … and I think that’s a nice piece of Americana
The toot really echo’s as train goes under the retracted roof!
Here’s an interesting look at Bonds … http://sports.espn.go.com/espn.....d=tab4pos1 … not just the usually blah/blah/blah …
Off to play some golf … hope it doesn’t rain … to hard!
May 22, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Can I say “told ya so” regarding the catching situation? I have several friends who said we should have done the $3/30 deal w/ Ramon Hernandez. I, obviously, am glad we did not…