AJ Second Best Catcher at Improving Pitchers

[TheChicagoFan]

This great article with a LOT of statistics and sabermetric type things kind of tells the story of why AJ is so good for his pitchers.

Baseball Prospectus | The Stats Go Marching In: The Art of Handling the Pitching Staff

It's long and hard to keep up with, in my opinion, but overall it's a nice article.

 

[DewsSox79]

nice find.

 

[Rice Cube]

I'm not surprised to see a Molina brother heading the list. I am surprised it's THAT Molina brother :lol:

 

[TheChicagoFan]

It was a pretty cool read. I've always felt that AJ had a huge effect on his pitchers, but this just solidified that.

 

[Uman85]

A.J. is a huge asset to this team in more ways than one. I could see him being a great coach/manager someday.

 

[SaberSox]

Interesting. I think there are three tangibles that a catcher is responsible for:

1) Calling/Controlling the game.
2) Defense. This would include preventing WPs, stopping balls; basically how a catcher performs from the time the ball leaves the pitcher's hands to the time the ball gets to the plate.
3) Throwing would-be base-stealers out at 2nd or 3rd.

Without looking at any numbers, AJ passes the sniff test on 2 of these 3 categories with flying colors.

I would imagine he ranks poorly in the 3rd category: throwing out base-runners.

A lot of people hate on AJ. I'll admit, after the 10th consecutive base stealer safely steals his base on him, I have a momentary disdain for our backstop. But then I remember how valuable he is in the other aspects of catching and I become less mad.

 

[Rice Cube]

Sometimes the CS% is dictated by the pitcher's mechanics and speed to the plate so it's not all the catcher's fault.

 

[Uman85]

Interesting. I think there are three tangibles that a catcher is responsible for:

1) Calling/Controlling the game.
2) Defense. This would include preventing WPs, stopping balls; basically how a catcher performs from the time the ball leaves the pitcher's hands to the time the ball gets to the plate.
3) Throwing would-be base-stealers out at 2nd or 3rd.

Without looking at any numbers, AJ passes the sniff test on 2 of these 3 categories with flying colors.

I would imagine he ranks poorly in the 3rd category: throwing out base-runners.

A lot of people hate on AJ. I'll admit, after the 10th consecutive base stealer safely steals his base on him, I have a momentary disdain for our backstop. But then I remember how valuable he is in the other aspects of catching and I become less mad.

Yeah, that's definitely his defensive weakness. He can't be perfect, but I really wish he could throw out more baserunners. But if that's his only flaw, I'd say the Sox are pretty lucky to have him behind the plate.

 

[Capt. Serious]

AJ gets alot of grief for his defense behind the plate.

Sometimes it's the pitchers on the mound that share the blame.

I mean look back at 05 where Contreras & Freddy took about two yrs to throw a damn pitch.

People could walk to 2nd/3rd base on them two.

 

[SaberSox]

Sometimes the CS% is dictated by the pitcher's mechanics and speed to the plate so it's not all the catcher's fault.

True. But the pitcher is not at fault for the catcher's inability to transfer the ball from his glove to his hand so that he may attempt to throw someone out.

 

[Rice Cube]

True. But the pitcher is not at fault for the catcher's inability to transfer the ball from his glove to his hand so that he may attempt to throw someone out.

The flip side, though, is whether there's enough time for the catcher to even try anyway. Have they ever measured how many total runners actually attempt to steal against AJ relative to other catchers? He may not catch as many baserunners, but the total number of attempts could be telling as well.

I ask because I normally don't pay attention to this kind of thing but you have to take into account whether a guy's 20% CS-rate is because he only caught two out of ten, or 40 out of 200.

 

[SaberSox]

The flip side, though, is whether there's enough time for the catcher to even try anyway. Have they ever measured how many total runners actually attempt to steal against AJ relative to other catchers? He may not catch as many baserunners, but the total number of attempts could be telling as well.

I ask because I normally don't pay attention to this kind of thing but you have to take into account whether a guy's 20% CS-rate is because he only caught two out of ten, or 40 out of 200.

Good question. For 2011 here are the top 5 SBs against catchers of the 15 "qualified" catchers according to ESPN.

1. Brian McCann - 104 SB, 218 CS%
2. Kurt Suzuki - 98 SB, 279 CS%
3. Russell Martin - 95 SB, 296 CS%
4. AJ Pierzynski - 94 SB, 203 CS%
5. JP Arencibia - 87 SB, 243 CS%
.
.
14. Miguel Montero - 48 SB, 400% CS%
15. Yadier Molina - 46 SB, 292 CS%

 

[SaberSox]

Here's the whole list:

2011 Regular Season MLB Baseball C Fielding Statistics - Major League Baseball - ESPN

 

[TheChicagoFan]

I'd say that the problem of throwing out baserunners is a bit of both's fault. But when you look at the number of guys thrown out when Flowers is in or when Castro was in, I think it might have been less SBs.

I wish he could do better at it, but that might just remain as his weakness. The other stuff he does makes up for it.

 

[AE23]

Not a sabermetrics guy, but I can't get mad at A.J for not throwing out runners....last year was the 1st time he was hurt, pretty much ever.

If he's on your team, you love 'em, if he's not, you hate 'em.

 

[SaberSox]

If he's on your team, you love 'em, if he's not, you hate 'em.

Truth

 

[jwmann2]

Most of the time, the catcher is considered the captain/leader of a team on the field of play. He is involved in every single play, he helps decide what pitch is thrown. At times, a short stop is the captain; like a Jeter or a Jimmy Rollins but not in South Chicago.

 

[Uman85]

Most of the time, the catcher is considered the captain/leader of a team on the field of play. He is involved in every single play, he helps decide what pitch is thrown. At times, a short stop is the captain; like a Jeter or a Jimmy Rollins but not in South Chicago.

I'd say Paulie is the unquestioned leader of the Sox, but A.J. has been a very important player for the team for the past 6-7 years.