Salvador Perez of the Kansas Metropolis Royals; CC by License 2.0

As we all know, baseball is a sport of statistics. Statistics and metrics are used for a lot of totally different sorts of participant analysis, however all stats lead again to worth. The query is, what are scouts and evaluators searching for to find out a participant’s worth to a staff and group? Essentially the most primary type of scouting is anticipating the 5 instruments: hit for common, hit for energy, run, throw, and discipline. Some (myself included) consider that there’s a secret sixth instrument, mentality, however that’s not broadly accepted, so let’s follow the unique 5. Relying on a prospect’s place, sure instruments could also be extra necessary than others. For instance, one would possibly favor hitting for energy over the opposite instruments when a possible first baseman, whereas prioritizing velocity and fielding in a middle fielder. Previous-school, eye-test scouts will preach that the 5 instruments are the top all be all relating to participant analysis and that every one 5 instruments are weighted as equally necessary, however in at the moment’s sport, particularly on the skilled degree, that’s not the case.

The catcher place is ostensibly crucial place defensively, however followers are wildly inconsistent relating to selecting the very best catchers within the sport. If somebody got here as much as you and mentioned, “Would you somewhat have Salvador Perez or Austin Hedges as your favourite staff’s catcher,” it’s not far-fetched to imagine you’ll say Salvador Perez. You additionally wouldn’t be flawed, as Salvy is broadly believed to be among the best backstops in MLB. However that is the place the issue lies. Perez is among the greatest hitters on the place, setting the report for many house runs in a season by a catcher in 2021 and constantly rating extremely amongst offensive leaderboards since 2020. Regardless of his 5 Gold Glove Awards, nevertheless, Perez has been one of many worst framers in baseball all through his profession. The accolades can largely be attributed to his elite pop-time in his youthful years, however since turning 30, that has disappeared as effectively.

When in comparison with Perez, Austin Hedges’s floor stats make him appear to be one of many worst gamers in baseball. Hedges, now with the Pirates group, has had a tough time maintaining a significant league roster spot and has not performed sufficient to qualify for many percentile rankings on Baseball Savant. Nevertheless, the final time he did qualify, that being 2019, he held rankings within the 96th percentile for pop time and sat within the a hundredth percentile for framing. So why is he not an apparent celebrity, a lot much less a fringe main league participant? The reply is that Hedges is among the absolute worst hitters within the sport. He had his greatest season in 2017, hitting a decent 18 house runs in 120 video games, however his .214 batting common, .262 on-base proportion, and .660 OPS made him a legal responsibility on the plate for the San Diego Padres, who traded him to Cleveland in 2020. Since then, he has trended downward in every of the previous couple of seasons.

Among the best metrics to position worth on catchers is catcher framing runs. Catcher framing runs primarily boil right down to what number of runs a catcher saved by turning a ball right into a strike, or what number of they gave up by turning strikes into balls. As of June 21, 2023, the MLB chief in catcher framing runs is the aforementioned Austin Hedges with 8. Behind him are Texas’s Jonah Heim with seven and Atlanta’s Sean Murphy with 5. Rounding out the highest 5 are the Mets’ rookie phenom Francisco Alvarez and the American League’s 2022 Platinum Glove winner, Jose Trevino of the Yankees with 4 every. One would possibly anticipate this group, primarily based on their framing experience, to obtain the vast majority of the votes for the All-Star Sport in July, however this isn’t fairly correct. Murphy leads the NL on the place and Alvarez ranks fourth, however Hedges is, in fact, nowhere to be discovered. As a substitute, second place is held by the Dodgers’ Will Smith, who holds precisely zero catcher framing runs, and third place is the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto, who has really been worse, together with his -3 placing him as one of many worst framers in baseball amongst certified catchers. Why are Smith and Realmuto up to now forward of the very best framer within the sport? As a result of they will hit. The American League All-Star voting tells an analogous story. Sitting in second place, behind Orioles backstop Adley Rutschman and his one catcher framing run, is our pal Salvador Perez with -3 framing runs to go along with a horrid 2.00 second pop time. You must look all the way in which down the record to quantity 9 to seek out Jose Trevino, the person who was voted as the very best defender no matter place within the AL in 2022.

There may be an offensive metric that’s primarily based on runs as effectively, known as Weighted Runs Created Plus (WRC+). This metric takes into consideration the runs {that a} hitter has created and locations it on a spectrum the place 100 is the league common. For instance, 150 is 50% p.c higher than the league common.. Utilizing this stat offers you a solution to the query, what makes an All-Star catcher? Of the 21 catchers with a minimum of 170 plate appearances up to now in 2023, 12 have a WRC+ above 100. These 12 embrace the highest 5 vote-getters within the NL, quantity 10 within the NL, the highest three within the AL, and quantity eight within the AL. Altogether, 10 of the highest 12 catchers in WRC+ are additionally 10 of the highest 20 All-Star vote-getters, together with the highest 5 whole.

With the growth of the bases from 15 sq. inches to 18 sq. inches, stealing bases has seen a dramatic leap in recognition, with the league chief, Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz, swiping 31 luggage in simply 67 video games on the time of this writing. This uptick in aggressive base working has made it exponentially harder for catchers to throw out would-be base stealers. Many groups, together with Perez’s Kansas Metropolis Royals, have primarily given up on catcher pop occasions and shifted their focus to maximizing the offensive manufacturing from their backstops. This shift in emphasis has made defense-first catchers like Hedges, in addition to Houston Astros’ Martin Maldonado, Los Angeles Dodgers backup Austin Barnes, and lately DFA’d New York Met Tomas Nido, kind of out of date.

Baseball is an exquisite ever-changing sport, and that has been evident in 2023. The catcher place has been a really fascinating case research, because the place is extra proficient than ever. Nevertheless, simply three catchers within the league are high 50 in OPS: Salvador Perez, Atlanta’s Sean Murphy, and Colorado’s Elias Diaz. This lack of offensive manufacturing is hardly stunning, as a catcher usually produces the least, however the lack of protection to make up for it has turned discovering an elite catcher right into a wild goose chase. A superb catcher is significant to a profitable staff, so maintain a watch out for the highest groups in baseball to depend on their backstops on their highway to a World Collection championship.