Sabermetric Reference - CATCHER'S FIELDING (November 27, 2003)
James and Sylvain are at it again, this time for catchers.
--posted by TangoTiger at 09:02 PM EDT
Posted 7:24 a.m.,
November 28, 2003
(#1) -
Chuck Oliveros
I guess that, given his offense, Gary Carter would then be the best overall catcher in that 20 year time period. I live in Atlanta and have followed the Braves for a long time. I was surprised to see Bruce Benedict rated so high. I remember him as a good catcher, but had no sense of him as one of the best defensive catchers of the 1972-92 era.
Posted 7:56 p.m.,
November 29, 2003
(#2) -
MGL
My Superlwts (S-lwts) ratings for all players includes catcher "defensive" ratings, which are used for catchers in lieu of UZR, whichis used for all other position players. The catcher defensive ratings are based on the net value of their SB/CS(PO) (around .18 runs for a SB and -.46 runs for a CS or PO), and their PB's and errors per inning as compared to an average catcher. PB's are probably somewhat a function of the pitcher, although I give all the "creidt" to the catcher. As well, a catcher probably deserves some percentage of the credit for the WP's. Same thing for the SB/CS. Pitchers deserve some credit for that as well. In order to properly adjust or inlcude PB's, WP's, and SB/CS totals, you would have to do a failry complex analysis to "separate out" the effects of the pitchers. Alas, I don't do that. Maybe some time in the future.
Anyway, here is the best and worst catcher "defense" from 2000 to 2002, minimum of 1000 TPA "faced".
Name runs saved/cost per 500 PA "faced"
Matheny 11.8
Ausmus 8.0
B. Molina 6.1
I-Rod 5.4
Lieberthal 4.6
Piazza -8.3
Hatteberg -8.7
Barrett -4.4
Hernandez -3.9
Kendall -2.8
Posada -2.0
As you can see, most of the best defenders can't hit, and the worst defenders can. Barrett was an exception and is why (I assume) he is no longer playing, or at least shouldn't be. Hernandez is marginal, as he is only a decent hitter (for a catcher), and poor defender, and may be one reason why Oak traded him. And you can see why Pudge is so valuable, as he possesses that rare combination of great defensive and offensive skills. As well, you can see why Piazza's overall value was never as good as it seemed, depsite scary offensive numbers, not to mention the fact that his offensive perpherals were always terrible (baserunning, moving runners over from second, and GDP). Now that his offense is not that great due to age (and I assume that his defense is worse as well), it is indeed imperative that he move to another position...