CS% - Catcher Defense

[CaliforniaRaisin]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=586

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/Navinda/averages.jpg

 

BA looked at catchers in the top prospect handbook (i.e. no Carlos Perez, Josh Donaldson, Wellington Castillo or Jake Muyco):

 

Mark Reed - 36.8%

Chris Robinson - 34.9%

Geovanny Soto - 31.1%

 

Geovany Soto: One can’t ignore Soto’s .353/.424/.652 line at Triple-A Iowa. And while those numbers are completely out of line with the rest of his career so far, he has always had excellent arm strength, and the numbers indicate he controls the running game well. Many catchers develop their offensive skills later in their careers than other positional players because of the high defensive demands placed on them, indicating Soto may be one to watch.

 

Jake Muyco was 2nd in all of the minors in CS (prospects, non-prospects, etc. were all considered here) at 52%.

[Mephistopheles]

I figured they be relatively consistent. In the low minors you have bad runners stealing and bad defensive catchers throwing, so they cancel each other out. By the high minors you only have decent defensive catchers and decent runners stealing canceling it out again. Of course in the majors you have only the elite arms behind the plate for all teams outside of Wrigley.

[karenmac]

good stuff Raisin - thanks much for the heads-up.

 

Muyco is an amazing defensive catcher - he makes things look so effortless. He calls a good game, and has such an accurate arm. I know his bat needs some work, but I hope that comes around. Glad to see him do so well. As much as I really like Mark Reed, Jake looked heads-and-above better when we were there in Daytona. Last year, Mark was good defensively and with the bat - this year, not so much.

 

What the heck happened to Thigpen in the TOR organization? I remember him being in the MWL in 2005 - and was spectacular. Has he had injury problems or has his arm just not kept up with the advancement of his career? That was a surprise to me, for sure.