Fun With Catchers and Plate Appearances
Did you know that only seven catchers qualified for the major league batting title last year? 16 second basemen did, too, and they were the second-least represented group. The most amount of plate appearances accrued by a catcher was 584 by Joe Mauer. Centerfielders had the second-worst leader by PAs, and that was Denard Span with 705 plate appearances. No matter where you draft your catcher, you’ll be getting fewer opportunities to accrue counting stats from your catcher.
There are some nice catchers near the top of the rankings, and there is certainly some advantage to be gained by picking a stud at the position. The argument might go that you can rack up comparatively more plate appearances by getting one of the top six or seven guys, even if their absolute plate appearances don’t stack up against other positions. Well, we can test, this right?
When compared to the top 12 catchers by plate appearances alone, here are the comparative plate appearances that the top three catchers can provide, with 100 equaling the average for the top 12.
Joe Mauer = 115
Brian McCann = 111
Kurt Suzuki = 107
Let’s compare that to second basemen, who seem to have similar problems accruing plate appearances. The top three secondbase dudes by plate appearances:
Rickie Weeks = 114
Chone Figgins = 106
Robinson Cano = 105
Well, look at that – and I don’t mean the delicious irony that Rickie Weeks led second basemen in plate appearances. Good thing we went into this without preconceptions, because it looks like you can gain an advantage against your leaguemates by snatching up one of the catchers that comes to the plate regularly. It’s kind of crazy to think, but Jorge Posada, with his 451 plate appearances, came to the plate more often compared to his peers than Aaron Hill with his 580 plate appearances.
Of course, none of this factors in the actual projections for the catchers near the bottom of your rankings, a topic we’ll tackle later in the week.
With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.
Jason Kendall? Oh Wait………
posada will probably get more PA next season if he DHs a lot because he will probably stay healthier and need fewer off days at the least taxing position (as opposed to catcher, the most taxing).
So where’s the complete list? How many plate appearances are required to qualify?
Just sorted the leaderboard for the top 12 catchers by PAs, took the average, and then compared the top three to the average.
I don’t quite get the analysis here. What are you saying? All I see is somewhat similar numbers in the top 3 catchers and 2B.
What I’m saying is that – even if catchers get fewer plate appearances compared to other positions, you can still get a comparative advantage over other catchers by picking the top catchers.
Yes, but would this “advantage” not be mitigated by the fact that the draft pick required to gain a top catcher could be spent on a different position possible of gaining similar stats (in terms of position) over more PA’s? You’ll still have to find a catcher eventually, but, without much time analyzing – read: unsubstantiated assumption), this scarce data seems to more suggest catchers provide relatively little value, no matter where you pick ’em.
http://ducksonthepondkid.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/so-whats-the-deal-with-the-vernon-wells-mike-napoli-deal/
how does the vwells deal affect napoli and arencibia’s PA?