(Photo courtesy of Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
By Dakota Antelman
Going into last season, finding catchers with defensive ability was key for the Red Sox.
Wary of the struggles of guys like Jarod Saltalamaccia, they added slightly stronger defensive catcher AJ Pierzynski. Catching opponents stealing was a key struggle for the Red Sox in 2013 and they wanted to remedy it with Pierzynski's arm.
Though complications brought on by Pierzynski's behavior with the team led to his premature removal from the clubhouse and the roster, the need for a catcher with both pitcher cohesion abilities as well as raw defensive abilities has not gone anywhere.
For a team that has shown the willingness to add catchers in this off season in particular, the Red Sox are in a mindset and a personnel place where they could get a defensive rock.
But have they already gone out and done that?
Below is a statistical comparison of the four catchers currently on the Red Sox roster' (Christian Vazquez, Blake Swihart, Dan Butler and Ryan Hanigan) individual defense...
Ryan Hanigan | Blake Swinhart | Dan Butler | Christian Vazquez | |
Team last season | Tampa Bay (MLB) | Pawtuket (AAA) Portland (AA) | Pawtucket (AAA) Red Sox (MLB) | Pawtucket (AAA) Red Sox (MLB) |
CS%* | .211 | .456 | .267 | .442 |
Errors | 1 | 8 | 3 | 7 |
Fielding Percentage | .998 | .990 | .986 | .992 |
Games | 79 | 91 | 61 | 106 |
*Caught stealing percentage
When we think about defensive catchers, the first statistic that comes to mind is caught stealing percentage. It is the flashiest thing a catcher does just as it is one of the hardest. Being good at gunning down runners attempting to steal takes a combination of awareness in communication with a pitcher, manipulation of mind games that try to get a runner to commit early and of course brutal accuracy in throwing the ball to the base.
Some of the MLB's players who are best at combining those qualities can throw nearly 50% of runners out but the majority of catchers rarely put together seasons where they throw out more than 20% of attempted base stealers.
Compared to the current Red Sox depth chart, these numbers seem to make the Sox look pretty good.
Two of their four catchers threw out more than 40% of runners last season. Blake Swinhart, who split time between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Portland Sea Dogs, led the entire Red Sox organization in the category last summer when he threw out 45.6% of runners. Needless to say, the majority of the outs that boosted that average were recorded with Portland against players with much less base stealing experience than any of the other Red Sox catchers featured. Taking experience into account, Christian Vazquez put up some of the best numbers. He threw out 44.2% of runners.
Furthermore when one takes into account the runners he threw out solely in his 54 MLB games, Vazquez's numbers are even more staggering representing a CS% of 51.7%.
Beyond CS% is fielding percentage. Fielding percentage is a statistic that seems to provide some additional insight into how a catcher plays when the ball is not in his glove. It measures an ability to field the occasional foul-ball-pop-fly and get an occasional out as well as cover bunts or short choppy hits that trickle painfully along the baselines.
Ironically some catchers Red Sox fans know to be horrible at catching runners stealing have been inexplicably talented in ranging plays. Such could partially be the case next season if Ryan Hanigan gets any playing time. Hanigan, despite throwing out just about 21% of attempted base stealers, had a remarkable .998 fielding percentage. He led the four catchers featured in this story, in that category.
On the flip side though, Christian Vasquez's statistics back up the statement that he is a genuinely smart player. He is second among featured Red Sox catchers with a fielding percentage of .992.
In terms of fielding percentage, Hanigan holds a slight advantage over Vazquez. Needless to say, the completeness of Vazquez as a catcher holds true and demands recognition.
(Photo courtesy of David Goldman/AP)
In other statistical categories, Dan Butler, and Blake Swinhart hold their own. Butler committed just three errors last season, the fewest of any featured players who were in the Red Sox system last year (ie. not Ryan Hanigan). Swinhart impresses with his .990 fielding percentage but is bitten by the eight errors counting against him.
Alas however, there remains one final discrepancy in these four catchers' statistics that is far beyond their control; games played.
A difference in games played undermines the integrity and representative quality of some of these individual statistics. For example, Vasquez, who played 103 games, put up a 42.2 CS% that is arguable much more meaningful than the 45.6 that Swinhart put up.
The same goes for nearly every category where Vazquez has a statistical edge. Any small advantage or even slight disadvantage he has is compensated for and turned into a large advantage by his ability to work more games and distribute his workload over those games.
Going into the preseason, having that kind of reputation as being a good worker will bode well for Vazquez.
Across the board however, who gets starting reps during the season will be determined by their ability to play good defensive baseball during the slate of spring training games.
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