Yadi, Buster and Catcher’s ERA

Hey there folks. Hope everyone is off to a good start this morning. I am so far, as my second cup of coffee has me turbo-charged this morning.

Figured it was time to write an article I’ve been putting off for a few days, along with mowing the lawn (looks outside) man that grass is high! 😉 Anyways…

In a recent article for ESPN, Scott Spratt outlined why Buster Posey was a legitimate MVP candidate. The article is an ESPN Insider article, so I can’t provide a link. Basically though, he cites Posey’s overall game, and when it comes to defense, he picks and chooses various defensive stats that favor Posey, including the trendy pitch framing.

One he doesn’t use is Catcher’s ERA.

Now, before I get into Catcher’s ERA, here’s a caveat: The pitchers themselves obviously play a big factor in having a low ERA. There’s no disputing that (and yes I know, many people consider ERA a crude stat, but let’s save that argument for another day please.)

Yadier Molina‘s Catcher’s ERA is 2.55 this year. Last year it was 3.19, and the year before it was 3.16

Buster Posey’s Catcher’s ERA is 3.67 this year. Last year it was 3.39, and the year before it was 3.84

Keep in mind that Posey plays in one of the most punishing pitcher’s parks in all of baseball, if not the most punishing. That offsets, at least a little, poor pitchers performance by the Giants pitchers.

And yes I know, the Cards staff has been dynamite this year, but after Adam Wainwright went down, who do you think helped keep the staff together? Who do you think help keeps the hyper-intense Carlos Martinez focused, or handles the parade of spot starters that have been coming and going from AAA. Plus the staff wasn’t as dynamite the previous two years (yes it was good, just not as good.)

Yadier’s backup, Tony Cruz, has a Catcher’s ERA of 3.50 this year. Yes I know it’s in limited duty, but it’s still quite a difference.

I remember watching the Cards game on ESPN last night, with Tony Cruz starting, how one of the commentators said maybe it was better for Tyler Lyons that Tony was starting, as he could dictate the game better with Tony, whereas with Yadi, it was almost a sin to shake off the veteran catcher. We lost. it wasn’t just Tyler Lyons fault of course, and it was a low scoring game, but you have to wonder if the outcome would have been different with Yadi out there, calling the game.

Going by Catcher’s ERA, it’s clear who the better defensive catcher is. Yadi really is a second pitching coach out there, who calls a great game.

 

As always, thanks for reading.

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