NL Central Catchers CS/ASB%

[Balsa]

So I was bored and did a little adding off of the MLB.com website.

 

This are the NL Central Catchers for 2006 and their caught stealing to attempted stolen base percentage. Basically telling us how often they catch runners. Let me know if any of the stats or the premise is wrong.

 

Brewers

*Damien Miller - 59/157 - .375

*Chad Moeller - 27/113 - .239

 

Reds

*Jason LaRue - 41/130 - .315

*Javier Valentin - 22/74 - .297

 

Cardinals

*Yadier Molina - 33/56 - .589 (The 2004 year was only half a year for him) [1.5 YRS total]

*Gary Bennett - 20/78 - .256

 

Pirates

*Humberto Cota - 14/52 - .269 - (Both of these catchers have caught only one year)

*Ryan Doumit - 14/35 - .4 - (Both of these catchers have caught only one year)

 

Astros

*Brad Ausmus - 46/163 - .282

*Raul Chavez - 22/52 - .423

 

Cubs

*Michael Barrett - 45/187 - .240

*Henry Blanco - 49/100 - .49

 

So clearly we'd want to limit running against Molina, Rual Chavez, and Ryan Doumit. I was surpised at how bad Barrett was at throwing out runners, but I was even more suprised to see that Chad Moeller was worse. I'd say it would be pretty easy, based on this, to run against the Reds or Brewers then, and only against the Astros or Cardinals on certain days.

 

I reserve judgement on the Pirates simply because the catchers are new and there's not much telling.

Edited January 30, 2006 by Balsa

[CuseCubFan69]

I wonder how many runs Blanco prevented by doing so well? Let's say half and that adds up to be 40 runs he prevented.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'd be more interested to see the numbers by pitcher. Teams seem to run like crazy with Maddux on the mound. Understandably, since I think I could steal a bag off him.

[Balsa]

I'd be more interested to see the numbers by pitcher. Teams seem to run like crazy with Maddux on the mound. Understandably, since I think I could steal a bag off him.

 

It should be noted that I think Barrett exclusively caught Maddux last year, perhaps even 2004, although I'm not sure about that.

 

Also, this wasn't really to get down on Barrett, he did win the Silver Slugger award...

[UK1679666180]

I wouldn't change my style depending on the which team you play. If you're an aggressive running team vs. Cincy, you should be aggressive vs. STL.

 

Just an example, if I'm coaching against a team that is very good at bunting and I spend all week with my team defending the bunt, they're already on their way to beating us. They've got us doing things we would not normally be doing and taken us out of our rhythm.

[Shilzzz]

I'd be more interested to see the numbers by pitcher. Teams seem to run like crazy with Maddux on the mound. Understandably, since I think I could steal a bag off him.

 

It should be noted that I think Barrett exclusively caught Maddux last year, perhaps even 2004, although I'm not sure about that.

 

Also, this wasn't really to get down on Barrett, he did win the Silver Slugger award...

 

iirc, barrett only started catching maddux in 05.

 

is there anyway to find out how he(barrett) fairs otherwise?

[Jon]

Barrett's rate was pretty good until he injured his right shoulder (sometime around mid-May, I believe). He said he wasn't able to lift any weights with it for quite a while.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

They did like Maddux:

Maddux 32 SB / 8 CS - 225 IP

Zambrano 1 SB / 9 CS - 223.1 IP

 

I believe Barrett caught both of them most times, but I can't find the numbers.

 

 

Rest of the top 5 in IP:

3. Prior 5 SB / 6 CS - 166.2 IP

4. Rusch 3 SB / 2 CS - 145.1 IP

5. Williams 7 SB / 2 CS - 106 IP

[CuseCubFan69]

I wouldn't change my style depending on the which team you play. If you're an aggressive running team vs. Cincy, you should be aggressive vs. STL.

 

Just an example, if I'm coaching against a team that is very good at bunting and I spend all week with my team defending the bunt, they're already on their way to beating us. They've got us doing things we would not normally be doing and taken us out of our rhythm.

 

That's what Ken Schreiber always says. "The coach that attempts to expose the possible weaknesses of the opposition by making his players adjust to the opponents style of play could be falling into a trap."

[Shilzzz]

They did like Maddux:

Maddux 32 SB / 8 CS - 225 IP

Zambrano 1 SB / 9 CS - 223.1 IP

 

I believe Barrett caught both of them most times, but I can't find the numbers.

 

 

Rest of the top 5 in IP:

3. Prior 5 SB / 6 CS - 166.2 IP

4. Rusch 3 SB / 2 CS - 145.1 IP

5. Williams 7 SB / 2 CS - 106 IP

 

yeah, imo it's not fair to judge barrett while catching maddux. i don't care who is behind the plate, people are going to run successfully.

 

blanco caught prior most of the time, correct?

[CubinNY]

I wrote at the beginning of the off-season after the "I like guys who can catch the ball" press release that if that is true the Cubs should have gotten rid of Barrett. I don't want to get rid of barrett but hendry should have. He is a HUGE liability behind the plate. I am surprized that Prior wasn't whining about him too. Edited January 30, 2006 by CubinNY

[CubinNY]

 

blanco caught prior most of the time, correct?

 

No that is not correct.

 

Barrett is a terrible reciever of the ball. He hops around too much before the pitch, he sets up way too late a lot of the time, and has terrible footwork. He lunges for ball to his left and often releases the ball way too high when thowing down to second.

[MPrior]

 

blanco caught prior most of the time, correct?

 

No that is not correct.

 

I actually believe that is correct. This year, anyway, Blanco was set up to catch on Prior's starts. I don't know if they kept with it, but that was the plan, and I seem to remember that being more or less accurate (someone who actually knows where to find this out for sure, could you look this up?). Plus, Barrett's numbers are significantly skewed because of catching Maddux all season long. If we got rid of Barrett, do you realize how truly terrible this lineup would be? I really think that's a bad idea.

[CubinNY]

 

blanco caught prior most of the time, correct?

 

No that is not correct.

 

I actually believe that is correct. This year, anyway, Blanco was set up to catch on Prior's starts. I don't know if they kept with it, but that was the plan, and I seem to remember that being more or less accurate (someone who actually knows where to find this out for sure, could you look this up?). Plus, Barrett's numbers are significantly skewed because of catching Maddux all season long. If we got rid of Barrett, do you realize how truly terrible this lineup would be? I really think that's a bad idea.

 

I am not advocating that at all. I think the Cubs should keep Barrett, at least for now.

 

I think Hendry's, "I like guys who can the ball" stuff is bs. Or at least schizophrenic as catcher is arguably where you would want to be the strongest in defense.

 

Look at Barrett's passed ball and the # of wild pitches when he is behind the plate. They are patheticly bad.

 

I guess my main point is in Hendry's lust for defense this off-season he forgot to upgrade the position on the filed where defense means the most, arguably.

 

Again, I am for keeping Barrett but given Hendr's statements, he shouldn't be.

[goonys evil twin]

 

blanco caught prior most of the time, correct?

 

No that is not correct.

 

I actually believe that is correct. This year, anyway, Blanco was set up to catch on Prior's starts. I don't know if they kept with it, but that was the plan, and I seem to remember that being more or less accurate (someone who actually knows where to find this out for sure, could you look this up?). Plus, Barrett's numbers are significantly skewed because of catching Maddux all season long. If we got rid of Barrett, do you realize how truly terrible this lineup would be? I really think that's a bad idea.

 

I stopped counting after getting to Blanco 19 Barrett 4 in Prior starts. It started pretty even, but after the injury went clearly in Blanco's favor.

[CubinNY]

 

blanco caught prior most of the time, correct?

 

No that is not correct.

 

I actually believe that is correct. This year, anyway, Blanco was set up to catch on Prior's starts. I don't know if they kept with it, but that was the plan, and I seem to remember that being more or less accurate (someone who actually knows where to find this out for sure, could you look this up?). Plus, Barrett's numbers are significantly skewed because of catching Maddux all season long. If we got rid of Barrett, do you realize how truly terrible this lineup would be? I really think that's a bad idea.

 

I stopped counting after getting to Blanco 19 Barrett 4 in Prior starts. It started pretty even, but after the injury went clearly in Blanco's favor.

 

Maybe Prior did whine about Barrett then. Maybe my memory is off but I thought Barrett caught the majority of all the pitchers in 05. If my memory is off, I appologize for being wrong. But my point still stands.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

FYI, ESPN has CS%

 

Link

[Balsa]

There was a thread about 'Bashing Barrett' in the Cub Reporter, and here are some of the statements from the comments section:

 

Barrett's shoulder was so inflamed by the middle of MAY, 2005 that he had an MRI and was totally out of action the better part of a week. When he came back, Dusty Baker acknowledged that other teams were going to try to run on them because of the injury.

 

In addition to the right shoulder, Barrett had a sore left hip and got beaned (good for another MRI) in September.

 

When evaluating a Cub's catcher's ability to throw out runners- it's important to take a look at the CS%w/oM (AKA caught stealing percentage without Maddux).

 

2005 Barrett 29%

 

Of Blanco's 48 starts 35 starts were catching Prior or Zambrano. If you add up all his Williams, Koronka, Hill, and Mitre starts it comes up to a grand total of 0.

 

Bear in mind this is from the comments section, so I'm not sure how accurate these numbers actually are. If Fred were here, maybe he could help...

[Ding Dong Johnson]

FYI, ESPN has CS%

 

Link

 

You can't run on Paul Bako.

[Balsa]

FYI, ESPN has CS%

 

Link

 

Wow. That woulda made my job easier. #-o

[Balsa]

Wow. Yadier Molina also lead the National League with 8 Passed Balls.

[Balsa]

Good lord! Piazza is awful!

 

Mike Piazza - 13-95 - .137

 

Similar high-profile names that are horrible at CS%...

 

Jason Kendall - 22-123 - .179

 

Jason Philips - 19-97 - .196