Archive for Yadier Molina

With the calendar flipping to May, it’s time to re-visit the 2011 Catcher Rankings and see who has climbed closer to the top and who’s been dropping like a stone.  As you may recall, the RotoGraph writers got together before the season began and constructed a composite catcher rankings.  However, after gaining some feedback from all of you, I have decided to make my adjustments to the rankings based on the following criteria:

The arrows are used to highlight a player moving up or down in tier, but you’ll also notice some minor tweaks within the tiers as well.  Some that will obviously have more impact than others.  So without further ado, you may now cue the theme song to The Jeffersons… Read the rest of this entry »

While the tiers we established in our aggregate pre-season rankings gave you a sound foundation for your draft, you knew there was going to be some movement amongst the backstops.  I’m aware that we’re dealing with a small sample size of at bats, but if you’ve got a guy who’s hot, why not use him while you can? Or, if he’s cold, bench him for now and get yourself a temporary replacement.  Let’s look at a few names of backstops that are both rising and falling in current value. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2011 baseball season is almost upon us, so we here at RotoGraphs put our collective heads together to come up with some aggregate positional rankings.  I’ll be taking the lead all year with the catchers, but as a group, here’s what we came up with for now:

Despite last year’s power decline, we know the potential is there so Mauer gets the nod for the top spot.  Welcome to the big time, Buster!

Happy to have any one of these guys on my roster.  Santana is on the rise, but this could be the last chance for Wieters in the fantasy trust department.

Stable group of guys who can just tow the line for your backstop position.  Martin could be a nice sleeper in hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium.

No major investment needs to be made here.  Some will rise, some will fall.  Arencibia’s power potential puts him at the top of the sleeper list.

Maybe a pair of diamonds in the rough in Lucroy and Snyder, but I wouldn’t want to invest more than a buck on the rest of the lot.

You’ve got to be pretty desperate to be living with these guys on your roster.

We’ll all be chiming in throughout the week with more detailed thoughts on some of the backstops and the overall rankings will be updated on a monthly basis, so stay tuned for more!

A holiday edition of “Catchers,” coming to you in three…two…one.

Ryan Hanigan | Reds | 2% Owned
Hanigan is a favorite of mine, and like Chris Iannetta, he just needs to receive added playing time to be a viable option. Hanigan walks more than strikes out, hits line drives and can hit the ball out of the park enough to make him a fantastic catcher. If I can go off script for a moment and discuss real life baseball (gasp!), there is no way Hanigan should be riding the bench. The Reds are splitting starts behind the dish right down the middle (pun intended), so Hanigan is a nice guy to have if you have room for a second catcher, or are willing to take reduced production and lowered risk.

Yadier Molina | Cardinals | 60% Owned
The BABIP Gods shined favorably on Molina during August, allowing him to produce a monster .329 average at the dish. While there’s no reason to believe he can do it again, Molina was going to get some good luck eventually. However, outside of July, his line drive rates haven’t been anything special, leading to a sub-par season at the dish. He’s capable of hitting .275 in September, which is just high enough for a roster spot. During the last month of my season, I’d rather have a catcher with more upside than Molina. I usually hype players up, but Yadier should not be owned in 50% of leagues, let alone 60%.

A.J. Pierzynski | White Sox | 29% Owned
Guess who hit less than 13% line drives with a .346 BABIP in August? Pierzynski, that’s who! Besides cutting down on the strikeouts and the occasional dinger, Pierzynski hasn’t been productive at the plate this year. He’s not going to be sought after during free agency, but someone will take a chance on him this offseason. There’s no use owning him at this point, so don’t pay him any mind.

On the Molina Continuum of Offensive Skill, Cardinals backstop Yadier Molina falls in between punchless Jose and powerful Bengie. The youngest Molina’s production at the plate was decidedly Jose-like during his first three seasons in the big leagues. After posting a lackluster .294 wOBA during a cup of coffee with the Cards in 2004, Yadier actually went south in a full-time role the next two seasons, with wOBA’s of .282 in 2005 and .261 in 2006. Grimly, Jose bested Yadier in each of those years.

Yadier showed some signs of life at the plate in 2007. We’re speaking in relative terms here, but his high-contact antics finally produced a passable batting average. Though he whiffed less than 10 percent of the time in ’05 and ’06, Yadier batted just .252 and .216, respectively, as a result of very low BABIP figures (.256 in ’05 and .227 in ’06). With a more commensurate .299 BABIP in ’07, the junior Molina posted a .275/.340/.368 line, with a wOBA of .311. Yadier then performed at a similar clip in 2008, albeit with a batting average spike. He hit .304/.349/.392, with a .323 wOBA.

Perhaps Yadier had a little talk with Bengie during the off-season, because the 26 year-old is showing some pop for the first time in his career. Yadier’s highest Isolated Power figure prior to 2009 was just .106, a mark he reached in both 2005 and 2006. He had a .093 ISO in ’07 and a .088 mark in ’08. This year, though? Yadier is up to .161, with a .484 slugging percentage that’s 122 points above his career average. With a .382 wOBA, Yadier ranks fourth among all catchers (ironically, Bengie is fifth at .378).

While some of Bengie’s thump might have rubbed off on Yadier, St. Louis’ backstop hasn’t shared his brother’s penchant for swinging at anything within a ten mile radius of home plate. Yadier is drawing walks at a career-high 10.6% rate, above his 7.1% career average. The improved discipline is exhibited by a pared-down Outside-Swing Percentage. After chasing 31.4% of pitches thrown off the dish in 2008, Yadier has offered at just 20.1% of those pitches this season (24.4% MLB average).

Yadier’s offensive game will likely never include Bengie’s brute-force strength, but he surely won’t be confused with Jose ever again. The youngest Molina has turned himself into a quality hitter. He makes a ton of contact (87.5% career contact rate that’s 8% above the league average, as well as a 9.5 K%), he’s no longer a banjo-hitter, and he’ll work some free passes. If you’re in need of a catcher, you could do a lot worse than Yadier.