The Best and Worst Catchers in Baseball

One of the hardest parts of the game to quantify is catcher defense.  It is believed by many baseball insiders that handling of pitchers is the most important defensive skill of any catcher.  By pitcher handling, I mean studying opposing batters, game calling, understanding pitcher abilities and tendencies, helping pitchers maintain focus and other duties unique to the catching position.  These things are difficult to measure because we do not know how much of good pitching is due to the pitcher versus the catcher.  Much of pitcher management is still a mystery to statistical analysts, but there are some things than can quantified.

The algorithm I have used to evaluate catchers is complex and will not be described in detail here, but the methodology can be found in an earlier article.  I do want to give credit to others such as Sean Smith, Justin Inaz, Matt Klaasen and Mike Rogers who inspired me with similar work in the past.  The system evaluates catchers based on what we can most easily measure - controlling the running game, pitch blocking and avoiding errors.  Thanks to analysts such as Mike Fast, Max Marchi and Mathew Carruth, I can now add a new component to my formula - pitch framing or receiving.

Since this is a Tigers blog, I'll use Detroit backstop Alex Avila as an illustration.  Based on innings caught, stolen bases attempted, runners caught stealing and league caught stealing rate, it is estimated that Avila cost the Tigers six runs compared to an average catcher.

Similarly, passed ball and wild pitch rates suggest that Avila cost the Tigers an estimated two runs with pitch blocking.  Using the same logic, Avila cost Detroit no runs on throwing errors and one run on fielding errors.

Finally, I take Carruth's pitch receiving data from Stat Corner. Carruth establishes the strike zone based on pitch f/x and umpire calls and tracks the rate of called balls within the zone and called strikes outside the zone for each catcher.  According to theses data, Avila got 42 more calls in the Tigers favor than would be expected from the average catcher which translates to 6 runs saved on the season.

The five elements listed above (stopping the running game, pitch blocking, avoiding throwing errors, avoiding fielding errors and pitch receiving) are combined to arrive at total runs saved.  Avila's numbers sum to -3 indicating that he cost the Tigers an estimated 3 runs overall with his catching.

Like other defensive algorithms, this system should be taken with a grain of salt.  First, it does not address important pitcher management skills.  Moreover, pitch receiving measurement is a work in progress.  There is evidence that these numbers are relatively consistent from year to year though indicating that they probably describe real skills to some extent.

Table 1 below shows that Cardinals star receiver Yadier Molina was the major league leader with 33 runs saved in 2013.  He was especially good at pitch blocking (8 runs) and receiving (20 runs).  Jonathan Lucroy of the Brewers was next with 28 total runs saved thanks mostly to his pitch receiving (31 runs).

Table 1: Catcher Runs Saved Leaders, 2013

Player	Team	Running Game	Pitch Blocking	Throwing Errors	Fielding Errors	Pitch Receiving	Total Runs
Yadier Molina	STL	5	8	1	-1	20	33
Jon Lucroy	MIL	-4	2	0	-1	31	28
Russell Martin	PIT	7	-2	1	1	18	25
Chris Stewart	NYY	2	-1	1	1	23	25
Yan Gomes	CLE	4	1	0	1	15	21
Jose Molina	TBR	1	-2	0	0	19	19
Buster Posey	SFG	2	4	0	0	11	17
Ryan Hanigan	CIN	4	1	1	0	8	14
Brian McCann	ATL	-1	5	0	1	10	14
Hank Conger	LAA	-1	-3	-1	0	18	13

 Data Sources: Baseball-Reference, StatCorner 

Table 2 below tells us that Rockies backstop Wilin Rosario finished last costing his team an estimated 24 runs.  His major liabilities were pitch blocking (-4 runs) and pitch receiving (-19).  The second worst catcher was Chris Iannetta who cost the Angels 21 runs due mostly to his failure to stop the running game (-5) and pitch receiving (-15).  Finally, Table 3 lists the best and worse on each catcher skill based on total runs saved/cost.

Table 2: Catcher Runs Saved Trailers, 2013 

Player	Team	Running Game	Pitch Blocking	Throwing Errors	Fielding Errors	Pitch Receiving	Total Runs
Wilin Rosario	COL	0	-4	-1	0	-19	-24
Chris Iannetta	LAA	-5	-1	1	-1	-15	-21
W. Castillo	CHC	1	1	-1	-1	-17	-16
Carlos Santana	CLE	-4	-4	0	-1	-8	-16
Kurt Suzuki	MLB	-7	5	0	0	-9	-12

Data Sources: Baseball-Reference, StatCorner 


Table 3: Best and Worst Catching Skills, 2013

Skill	Best	Worst
Stopping the running game	Russell Martin, PIT	John Buck, NYM/ PIT
Blocking pitches	Yadier Molina, STL	Carlos Santana, CLE
Avoiding throwing errors	A.J. Pierzynski, TEX	Hank Conger, LAA
Avoiding fielding errors	Russell Martin,PIT	Jonathan Lucroy, MIL
Receiving pitches	Jonathan Lucroy, MIL	Wilin Rosario, COL

Data Sources: Baseball-Reference, StatCorner 

That's enough numbers for now.  In a future post, I'll provide the data for all catchers with a reasonable number of innings caught.  I will also probably try to plug them into a Wins Above Replacement formula to see how catchers rank overall.