My system for rating catcher defense is complex and I'm not going to rehash the whole thing here. If you want to see the details, you can read my earlier article. I do want to give credit to others who inspired me with similar work in the past: Sean Smith, Justin Inaz, Matt Klaasen and Mike Rogers.
Smith's Total Zone catching metric (Rtot) now appears on Baseball-Reference. Despite some methodological differences, the final results of Rtot are almost identical to mine. What I'm going to do here though is break total catcher runs saved/cost into a few different statistics which represent different facets of catcher defense.
Keep in mind that these numbers do not capture everything that a catcher does. For example, they say nothing about game calling or understanding of pitcher abilities and tendencies. I am are only going to evaluate catchers based on what we can most easily measure - controlling the running game, pitch blocking and avoiding errors.
Table 1 contains data for all catchers with at least 500 innings in 2011. That captures almost all of the starting catchers in the majors. The CSRuns column gives us an estimation of how many runs each catcher saved/cost his team compared to the average catcher by controlling the running game. It is based on stolen bases against and caught stealing.
Diamond Backs catcher Miguel Montero was the MLB leader with an estimated 6.2 runs saved over an average catcher. A negative sign before a number indicates that a catcher cost his team runs. The worst receiver in this category was Matt Treanor, who cost the Rangers and Royals an estimated -9.8 runs. Avila was eighth in the majors with 3.3 runs saved.
The next column (WPPBRuns) tells us how many runs catchers saved/cost their teams with pitch blocking or preventing passed balls and wild pitches. Number one was Phillies backstop Carlos Ruiz with 6.8 runs saved. On the other hand, Jarrod Saltalamacchia cost the Red Sox about eight runs (-8.4). Avila finished in the bottom five of MLB costing the Tigers an estimated four runs (-3.7) with pitch blocking.
The TERuns column tells us about throwing errors. There is not a lot of variation between catchers here, but Matt Wieters of the Orioles and Chris Iannetta of the Rockies led with 1.2 runs saved. saved. Avila was third at 1.0. Conversely, Russell Martin cost the Diamond Backs -1.2 runs on throwing errors.
The FERuns column indicates how many runs catchers saved/cost their teams with fielding errors. Again, there is not a of variation. The Cardinals Yadier Molina and Athletics Kurt Suzuki tied for the lead with 0.8 runs saved. The worst was Eli Whiteside of the Giants (-1.1). Avila was right around average on this measure (-0.2)
The final column (CatchRuns) is the sum of the previous four columns. It tells us how many runs catchers saved/cost their teams on the above items combined. The leader was Wieters who saved the Orioles over a dozen runs (12.5). The worst is Treanor who cost his teams -11.7 runs. Avila finished right in the middle of the pack at 0.4.
In summary, Avila was very good at controlling the running game and avoiding throwing errors, but below average in pitch blocking. According to these numbers, he was an average catcher in terms of overall defense. This combined with his spectacular hitting made him a legitimate all star and probably the best overall catcher in baseball in 2011.
Table 1: Catcher Runs Saved/Cost in 2011
Team | Inn | CSRuns | WPBPRuns | TERuns | FERuns | CatchRuns | |
Matt Wieters | BAL | 1,150 | 5.3 | 6.6 | 1.2 | -0.7 | 12.5 |
Miguel Montero | ARI | 1,169 | 6.2 | 3.5 | -1.0 | 0.3 | 9.0 |
Lou Marson | CLE | 667 | 5.3 | 2.2 | -0.4 | 0.5 | 7.5 |
Kelly Shoppach | TBR | 625 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 0.4 | -0.1 | 6.8 |
Nick Hundley | SDP | 654 | 4.6 | 1.7 | -0.7 | 0.5 | 6.1 |
Ryan Hanigan | CIN | 687 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 0.2 | -0.0 | 5.2 |
Carlos Ruiz | PHI | 1,051 | -3.0 | 6.8 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 4.8 |
Ramon Hernandez | CIN | 658 | 3.6 | -0.2 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 4.7 |
Brayan Pena | KCR | 537 | 3.9 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 4.6 |
Wilson Ramos | WSN | 951 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 4.5 |
Mike Napoli | TEX | 506 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 4.3 |
Yadier Molina | STL | 1,150 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 4.2 |
Geovany Soto | CHC | 1,041 | 1.5 | 1.9 | -1.5 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
Yorvit Torrealba | TEX | 823 | 2.5 | 1.0 | -0.4 | -0.9 | 2.1 |
Chris Iannetta | COL | 943 | 1.4 | -0.7 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 2.1 |
Drew Butera | MIN | 670 | 1.6 | 0.3 | -0.4 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
Rod Barajas | LAD | 733 | -1.4 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 1.9 |
Kurt Suzuki | OAK | 1,132 | 0.1 | 0.8 | -0.2 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
Humberto Quintero | HOU | 642 | -2.0 | 3.3 | 0.2 | -0.5 | 0.9 |
Jeff Mathis | LAA | 698 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
Alex Avila | DET | 1,157 | 3.3 | -3.7 | 1.0 | -0.2 | 0.4 |
Carlos Santana | CLE | 786 | -1.6 | 1.1 | -0.7 | 0.6 | -0.7 |
Eli Whiteside | SFG | 583 | -1.1 | 0.0 | 0.4 | -1.1 | -1.8 |
Russell Martin | NYY | 1,044 | 1.6 | -3.1 | -1.2 | 0.7 | -1.9 |
John Buck | FLA | 1,144 | -6.8 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | -2.4 |
Ronny Paulino | NYM | 511 | -2.8 | -0.3 | -0.9 | 0.4 | -3.6 |
Josh Thole | NYM | 793 | -3.6 | -1.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | -4.0 |
Jonathan Lucroy | MIL | 1,043 | 0.2 | -5.0 | -0.0 | 0.2 | -4.7 |
John Jaso | TBR | 603 | -4.2 | -1.1 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -5.3 |
Brian McCann | ATL | 1,083 | -5.0 | -1.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | -5.4 |
Jarrod Saltalamacchia | BOS | 856 | 2.3 | -8.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | -5.5 |
A.J. Pierzynski | CHW | 1,008 | -5.5 | -1.6 | 0.5 | 0.7 | -5.9 |
Jason Varitek | BOS | 574 | -7.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | -0.1 | -6.9 |
Miguel Olivo | SEA | 1,064 | 0.3 | -6.5 | -0.6 | -0.8 | -7.5 |
J.P. Arencibia | TOR | 1,059 | -2.5 | -5.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | -7.7 |
Matt Treanor | KCR/TEX | 565 | -9.8 | -1.9 | 0.0 | -0.1 | -11.7 |
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