With so many games in progress right now, this is as good a time as any to talk catchers. No, I’m not going to lament the loss of Buster Posey to the 7-day concussion DL. I’m talking about catchers in a different light. I’m talking about utilizing your knowledge of specific catchers to help you gain an edge in other areas. More specifically, we’re going to look at caught-stealing percentage (CS%) and pitch framing.
Inspired by watching Billy Hamilton and the Reds run wild on Francisco Cervelli (something I touched on in yesterday’s edition), I decided to take a look at the CS% of every catcher from 2016 as well as this season in hopes of targeting base-stealers playing opposite them. This could prove to be an extremely valuable tool in your DFS decisions as support guys can certainly rack up points that way, but it can also help you when looking at players you’re targeting in trades. Imagine trading for a leadoff hitter who plays in the same division as a backstop who is allergic to throwing out baserunners.
In looking at the numbers for this year, Cervelli is at the bottom of CS% as he’s allowed nine stolen bases without having thrown out a single runner. A quick glance at last year’s totals only confirms that as he posted just a 19.3 CS% which ranked him 20th among qualified catchers. It makes you think a little harder about getting Dexter Fowler in a deal if you don’t want to pay the price for Hamilton or Jonathan Villar.
As you look at the bottom of the last year’s leaderboard, you’ll find Tyler Flowers, Russell Martin, Derek Norris, Yadier Molina and even Brian McCann. With the exception of Molina, who has actually thrown out 2-of-5 attempted stealers, none of them are showing anything different this year. Given his age and the mileage on Molina, it seems unlikely that his throwing arm is going to be able to even remotely keep up that pace.
If stolen bases are giving you trouble early on and you don’t own a burner, you can look to either the waiver wire or the trade market and start searching for targets who play in their divisions. Obviously it depends on the depth of your league, but there are probably some interesting options who might not cost you an arm or a leg. With Norris and Martin in the AL East, you can likely find someone like Brett Gardner or Steve Souza who spend enough time in the leadoff spot to give you a boost. Deeper league owners might be able to even squeeze a few steals out of Craig Genrty who is likely to bat atop the order against lefties while Joey Rickard is on the DL.
Having McCann and even Evan Gattis behind the plate in Houston means the Mariners are going to be a nice pond to fish in and their early-season aggressiveness on the bases should have Leonys Martin and Jarrod Dyson on your radar. Not to mention players like Carlos Gomez and Delino DeShields from Texas, Rajai Davis in Oakland and the Angels’ Yunel Escobar and Ben Revere, once Cameron Maybin gets hurt. Again, not world beaters but with the imbalanced schedule, having these guys on your roster is better than tanking the category.
As far as pitch-framing goes, understanding which catchers are better than others will help you in your scouting of starting pitching. The better the framer, the better your chances of picking up in strikeouts and escaping potential jams. Obviously you need to look at a lot more than just who a guy’s catcher is, but if you’re looking for a tiebreaker between two hurlers with similar skill sets, I’ll take the guy with the better framer.
There’s a web site I like to use called StatCorner and their defensive metrics for catching and pitch-framing are outstanding. I could go on and on about the different numbers they use and what they all mean, but you can check them out for yourself. The bottom line is, when you’re looking at drafting pitchers or scouting them mid-season, there are a few backstops who can help tilt the scales on your decision-making. Maybe that’s why so many people are gushing over a guy like Mike Foltynewicz of the Braves as Flowers is considered one of the best. When Folty’s peripherals improved last season, some of the credit probably belonged to Flowers and his effort. He can’t help Folty’s penchant to give up the home run, but he can certainly help get the count in the pitcher’s favor.
Pitch-framing is one of the main reasons the Diamondbacks brought in Chris Iannnetta and there are many out there with lofty expectations of Taijuan Walker and Robbie Ray, both potential trade targets if everything else falls into place for them. You’ve got Yasmani Grandal and Buster Posey also near the top of the list which gives some of their hurlers a little boost while guys like Geovany Soto and yes, J.T Realmuto, fail to offer than little bonus for their respective pitching staffs.
When you’re sitting in a dog-fight and competing for a fantasy title, these are some of the little things you should be exploring to help give you that little edge needed to win. No one goes wire to wire without changing up their roster somehow, so if you can improve the way you scout players for trades, you’ll have a much easier time “winning” those trades than your more casual opponents. In a game where a hundredth of a point can be the difference between first place and first loser, those little things could mean everything.