It's Willson's turn

[Derwood]

Does he really need to take his helmet off after every pitch while batting?

 

Did Nomar have to adjust his batting gloves? Does Big Papi have to spit and clap? It's all just ritual/OCD baseball stuff

[sneakypower]

spitting should help with your grip

[TruffleShuffle]

[expletive], the original thick onion gravy post still might be my favorite thing on NSBB ever:

 

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/archive/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=52926&p=2090310&hilit=onion+gravy#p2090310

 

i love the spelling of the word "resipy"

[imb]

spitting should help with your grip

 

thats what she said

[imb]

http://31.media.tumblr.com/b7afadfc92c28d0f66fc42c0f7016e26/tumblr_ndlp7szgZN1qz9nvbo1_400.gif

[Derwood]

[expletive], the original thick onion gravy post still might be my favorite thing on NSBB ever:

 

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/archive/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=52926&p=2090310&hilit=onion+gravy#p2090310

 

i love the spelling of the word "resipy"

 

It's weird how basically no one responded to it but it later became a thing

[TruffleShuffle]

Man that oppo home run was a thing of beauty. Actually came on a pretty good pitch. Really impressive to be able to go with that low outside strike and drive it out to right field.

[Tim]

I have a new article up about Willson. That oppo home run is not alone. His spray chart is almost entirely up the middle and oppo so far.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I have a new article up about Willson. That oppo home run is not alone. His spray chart is almost entirely up the middle and oppo so far.

 

Good stuff, Tim. He's shown some nuance to go with all of his moxie. Going the other way on pitches away from him, after just coming up... that's the good stuff. It's great seeing a young kid come up ready to hit. He's said numerous times that once he's up, he's not going back down. And he's following through on that.

[Omar]

Willson's ball shot was #1 on SportsCenter's Not Top 10

[Clem Fandango]

Willson's ball shot was #1 on SportsCenter's Not Top 10

 

Stud

[Gilby]

http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php

 

^Update on Willson's framing. That'll do, especially when combined with a 1.064 OPS.

[sneakypower]

.333/.416/.525 combined split since start of '15 (211 professional G)

 

remember how most of the NL all-star team this year is going to be Cubs, and it's not really even a sham? we just added another bona fide all-star at maybe the hardest position to fill

[JennieGarthAlgar]

Addison making it is kind of a sham.

[Tracer Bullet]

Addison making it starting is kind of a sham.

 

it's not like he's a bum, but being the starter is a little bit shammy

[David]

looks like willson blocked him for this tweet LOL

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[David]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[UMFan83]

Thanks for the boner FanGraphs

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/willson-contreras-has-developed-into-an-everyday-catcher/

 

Whole article is good but this is the key part:

 

The following numbers will come from BaseballProspectus’ ultra-sophisticated catcher defense model, looking at the 67 catchers with at least 1,000 framing chances this season, with everyone’s numbers prorated to the same scale to adjust for differences in playing time:

 

Framing: +16.2 runs per 1,000 innings, ranked ninth of 67

Blocking: +0.5 runs, sixth of 67

Throwing: +0.9 runs, 19th of 67

Total defense: +17.6 runs, eighth of 67

On a per-inning scale, Contreras has been plus across the board defensively, with his two perceived areas of weakness (his framing and blocking) actually grading as his two biggest strengths. He’s caught like a top-10 catcher in baseball, and has actually graded as more valuable behind the dish than his veteran, defensive-minded counterparts.

 

And, I know what you’re thinking: Contreras has only caught in 34 games, and only started 23, the sample is too small! However, BP has found that their framing metric stabilizes astoundingly quickly; even in a sample that represents 20% of a full season, like Contreras’ current sample, the correlation to end-of-season numbers is a robust 0.80 or higher. We can confidently say already that Contreras has displayed a believable skill in his framing.

[David]

i heard rozner talking out of his ass yesterday about how willson was completely lost and a mess behind the plate when he first came up. yep, i'm sure he went from "completely lost" to this in a few weeks.

 

(mind you, i'm not saying he hasn't improved with major league instruction - i'm saying he wasn't anything resembling a disaster)

[UMFan83]

i heard rozner talking out of his ass yesterday about how willson was completely lost and a mess behind the plate when he first came up. yep, i'm sure he went from "completely lost" to this in a few weeks.

 

(mind you, i'm not saying he hasn't improved with major league instruction - i'm saying he wasn't anything resembling a disaster)

 

I heard that and groaned. Then I turned to Kap's show and heard him suggesting we trade Theo to the Sox for Chris Sale. Then I turned off the radio and banged my head on the steering wheel. (note: These 2 radio discussions could have happened at different times, I can't remember but they were definitely both yesterday)

 

Also, Willson has followed the traditional ups and downs of a prospect call up, blazing hot start, about a 3-4 week period of poor results as pitchers adjusted, and now over the last 50 PAs or so he's back to hitting in the mid to upper .800's OPS.

 

It's almost like the baseball gods were like 'what is the one thing that the Cubs could really use to be complete? Ahh yes, a good defensive catcher that brings personality and energy while being a good all around hitter......hmm lets make this Contreras fellow that player' ZAP.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Thanks for the boner FanGraphs

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/willson-contreras-has-developed-into-an-everyday-catcher/

 

Whole article is good but this is the key part:

 

The following numbers will come from BaseballProspectus’ ultra-sophisticated catcher defense model, looking at the 67 catchers with at least 1,000 framing chances this season, with everyone’s numbers prorated to the same scale to adjust for differences in playing time:

 

Framing: +16.2 runs per 1,000 innings, ranked ninth of 67

Blocking: +0.5 runs, sixth of 67

Throwing: +0.9 runs, 19th of 67

Total defense: +17.6 runs, eighth of 67

On a per-inning scale, Contreras has been plus across the board defensively, with his two perceived areas of weakness (his framing and blocking) actually grading as his two biggest strengths. He’s caught like a top-10 catcher in baseball, and has actually graded as more valuable behind the dish than his veteran, defensive-minded counterparts.

 

And, I know what you’re thinking: Contreras has only caught in 34 games, and only started 23, the sample is too small! However, BP has found that their framing metric stabilizes astoundingly quickly; even in a sample that represents 20% of a full season, like Contreras’ current sample, the correlation to end-of-season numbers is a robust 0.80 or higher. We can confidently say already that Contreras has displayed a believable skill in his framing.

 

Well, that was pretty much everything I wanted to say in the Contreras piece I was planning.

[squally1313]

Thanks for the boner FanGraphs

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/willson-contreras-has-developed-into-an-everyday-catcher/

 

Whole article is good but this is the key part:

 

The following numbers will come from BaseballProspectus’ ultra-sophisticated catcher defense model, looking at the 67 catchers with at least 1,000 framing chances this season, with everyone’s numbers prorated to the same scale to adjust for differences in playing time:

 

Framing: +16.2 runs per 1,000 innings, ranked ninth of 67

Blocking: +0.5 runs, sixth of 67

Throwing: +0.9 runs, 19th of 67

Total defense: +17.6 runs, eighth of 67

On a per-inning scale, Contreras has been plus across the board defensively, with his two perceived areas of weakness (his framing and blocking) actually grading as his two biggest strengths. He’s caught like a top-10 catcher in baseball, and has actually graded as more valuable behind the dish than his veteran, defensive-minded counterparts.

 

And, I know what you’re thinking: Contreras has only caught in 34 games, and only started 23, the sample is too small! However, BP has found that their framing metric stabilizes astoundingly quickly; even in a sample that represents 20% of a full season, like Contreras’ current sample, the correlation to end-of-season numbers is a robust 0.80 or higher. We can confidently say already that Contreras has displayed a believable skill in his framing.

 

Well, that was pretty much everything I wanted to say in the Contreras piece I was planning.

 

What's the disconnect on those numbers from his -0.1 defensive rating that's going into his WAR calculation? For catchers with at least 190 PAs (to get his 196), only Flowers, Gattis, and Montero are worse (32 total).

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Thanks for the boner FanGraphs

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/willson-contreras-has-developed-into-an-everyday-catcher/

 

Whole article is good but this is the key part:

 

 

Well, that was pretty much everything I wanted to say in the Contreras piece I was planning.

 

What's the disconnect on those numbers from his -0.1 defensive rating that's going into his WAR calculation? For catchers with at least 190 PAs (to get his 196), only Flowers, Gattis, and Montero are worse (32 total).

 

His time in the outfield. Which was going to be the basis of my article, demanding that Miggy be sent to rot away as Willson catches everyday. He's losing a ton of value by playing in the outfield. He's good at catching. And he can add a ton of defensive value by just staying back there.

[David]

Thanks for the boner FanGraphs

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/willson-contreras-has-developed-into-an-everyday-catcher/

 

Whole article is good but this is the key part:

 

 

Well, that was pretty much everything I wanted to say in the Contreras piece I was planning.

 

What's the disconnect on those numbers from his -0.1 defensive rating that's going into his WAR calculation? For catchers with at least 190 PAs (to get his 196), only Flowers, Gattis, and Montero are worse (32 total).

 

That is largely a result of his 164 innings that have graded out poorly at a non-premium position (LF, where he has a -19.6 UZR/150). Bad grade at bad position = poor defensive WAR number.

 

Further, I don't believe FG is incorporating any sort of pitch framing gain into WAR as of yet.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

 

Well, that was pretty much everything I wanted to say in the Contreras piece I was planning.

 

What's the disconnect on those numbers from his -0.1 defensive rating that's going into his WAR calculation? For catchers with at least 190 PAs (to get his 196), only Flowers, Gattis, and Montero are worse (32 total).

 

That is largely a result of his 164 innings that have graded out poorly at a non-premium position (LF, where he has a -19.6 UZR/150). Bad grade at bad position = poor defensive WAR number.

 

Further, I don't believe FG is incorporating any sort of pitch framing gain into WAR as of yet.

 

No, they don't incorporate pitch framing. And that's where you can see the biggest gains from being good defensively behind the plate.

 

And, I should clarify, I am fine with Contreras playing left when he did. For one, he was fresh up from the minors and it was a good way to ease him in. Secondly, with Fowler and Soler out, we needed someone to play in the outfield. So he was a great addition, in that regard. His versatility was key when there were injuries. It's nice to have that option with him.

 

But, the bad numbers at a non-premium position really hold him back in terms of value. He was still valuable overall, but not as much as he should be. If we don't need him out in the outfield, then he should play the position he is really good at, especially considering that it is a premium position.