Rankings Update: Catcher
Here are your catcher rankings. Being a day late and a dollar short is a good thing, right? Numbers are still preseason FANS projections, unless otherwise noted.
Big Three
Joe Mauer (.409 wOBA)
Brian McCann (.378)
Victor Martinez (.373)
I didn’t think I would ever consider it, but V-Mart needs to get his act together or he’s in danger of moving down the list. Consider yourself on notice, Victor.
Happy to Have
Matt Wieters (.364)
Russell Martin (.346)
Jorge Posada (.361)
Geovany Soto (.354)
No changes in this order. I wouldn’t expect much change for the rest of the year, either. Soto is still heating up, and I’m really glad I have him right now.
Name That Molina
Kurt Suzuki (.332)
Bengie Molina (.305)
Yadier Molina (.330)
I was considering moving Suzuki down in actual rank this week, but hitting three homers keeps him afloat. He’s only hit three line drives all year, so that’s not a good sign going forward.
I Am Jack’s Catcher
Carlos Ruiz (.331)
Ryan Doumit (.330)
John Baker (.333)
Ivan Rodriguez (.286)
You all should be ashamed of yourselves for making fun of the great Edward Norton. Just for that, you will have the privilege of reading my posts with references from his movies all year long. You did it to yourself, America.
Wait and See
A.J. Pierzynski (.313)
Jeff Clement (.350, ZiPS and CHONE)
A.J. and Clement are both better than they are playing thus far, so just hang back and let lady luck get back on their side.
Problem Children
Chris Snyder (.331)
Chris Iannetta (.366)
Mike Napoli (.363)
Miguel Olivo (.312)
Miguel Montero (.352)
Olivo makes his debut on the list. I like the power he’s shown, but a 41.7% HR/FB rate is ridiculous. You really don’t expect him to slug .707 this year, do you? Once he starts cooling off, Iannetta will get more at bats and will shine.
The Rest of ‘Em
Carlos Santana (.348, CHONE)
Rod Barajas (.296)
Jeff Mathis (.276)
Kelly Shoppach (.341)
Can anyone call The Tribe and beg them to call up Santana? Please? Also, Jason Kendall falls all the way off of the list because he sucks.
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
Norton knocks in a lot of RBIs and other flashy stats, but his peripherals are no good. You should reconsider.
But he’s so good with the pitchers, you can’t quantify that!
Stop looking at spreadsheets and watch a movie.
I’ve watched hundreds of movies from the insanely hilarious and bad like Troll 2 to the sublime like Edvard Munch. I know much much more about movies than I do baseball.
Although as places to watch Edward Norton’s ouvre go, your parents’ basement is actually not bad.
Hey now, I haven’t lived in my parent’s basement for almost a year now.
New record!
Any thought of moving Napoli up? Mathis got hurt, Scioscia tried to put another catcher in his way, and that guy got hurt. The baseball gods clearly want him to play every day.
I think he fits nicely with the group he’s in. I made the mistake of putting Snyder in the above group where he wasn’t supposed to be, so hopefully the new grouping makes even more sense.
Kendall can certainly be useful in some formats. He has a good OBP, won’t strike out much, and (right now) a solid average. And, he will play 150 games this year.
How is he worse than Mathis (hurt), Shoppach, or Barajas? That seems like pretty unnecessary hate, probably just because he’s a Royal.
Yea, I’m no Kendall fan, but he’s probably more useful than the other “rest of em” guys.
WAR
Kendall
2008 2.3
2009 1.0
2010 0.3
Mathis
2008 -0.2
2009 0.1
2001 0.4
Barajas
2008 1.4
2009 0.8
2010 -0.2
Shoppach
2008 3.4
2009 1.5
2010 0.0
As with all things Royals, Kendall being one doesn’t engender hate, just indifference.
Saying someone sucks shows some sort of emotion.
Might as well pull off Ianetta from the list for a while, just got sent to AAA last night
There be strange happenings afoot…
Can somebody write an article that figures out why the Rockies hate Ianetta? They like other guys who hit like him and even like guys who strike out a ton with zero power (see Fowler, Dexter). Their treatment of Ianetta is more baffling than Scoscia’s sudden reluctance to use Napoli.
On another front, the Tyler Flowers rumors are getting louder. Between AJ’s slow start and the lack of production from the DH/OF (depending on where Andruw was that day), they can find plenty of ab’s for him. If they’re serious about being in the pennant race, I imagine his call up won’t be long after Santana’s.
There’s an explanation here:
http://www.purplerow.com/2010/4/27/1446698/tuesday-rockpile-injuries-force?ref=fangraphs
Heres the punchline for this year: “While he has a ridiculously low .118 BABIP, his strikeout rate has gone up 40% and his flyball rate has increased from 53% to 58%. That’s not going to work.”
Olivo, already a prodigious strikeout artist, is also currently whiffing at the highest rate of his career. While the thin air of Coors is undoubtedly giving him an assist, Rockies fans should be very afraid.
Why? He his 20 HRs for Kansas City last year. Not exactly a hitters park. Now he’s in Coors, and we’re talking about fantasy here.
Um…the career high whiff rate?
Already marginal catcher whiffing at more pitches = bad catcher.
Now of course, the counter argument is that if you go and look at the plate discipline numbers, they appear to actually be the same within normal statistical error. So maybe all we should expect is a .250 ISO, slightly higher BABIP than his normal .305 (all that open ground at Coors) and otherwise normalish stats from Olivo.
His BB:K of 2:16 is troubling, but he’s got 5hrs so far. His K rate is at 35%, up from his usual 30% (he was 32% last year). It’s not so distant from his average K rate.
His bapip and iso will come down, and I could see him getting to the rates you mention. After all, he was .241 iso and .306 bapip last year anyways.
The rockies knew what they were going to get when they signed him up, and it looks like he isn’t far off from what he usually is expected to do.
I would much rather have Olivo at this point…
“Olivo makes his debut on the list. I like the power he’s shown, but a 41.7% HR/FB rate is ridiculous. You really don’t expect him to slug .707 this year, do you? Once he starts cooling off, Iannetta will get more at bats and will shine.”
Unless of course they send Iannetta down to AAA, which is the rumor today…
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100427&content_id=9604324&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Sad news for Iannetta, but Olivo’s bat and rocket arm should be in the starting lineup 5 days a week until he cools off. Making Iannetta stew on the bench until that happens wouldn’t do him much good.
That being said, Jack Z, please contact the Rockies about Iannetta.
jake fox needs just one start to become Catcher eligible