Quote:
Originally Posted by RchW
In my experience with several fictional MLB clone leagues set in the modern era there are more good to dominant offensive catchers than IRL. The bigger problem IMO is the survival of poor hit/poor field catchers through the minor leagues and sometimes into MLB. this defies logic (see my avatar) as all poor hit/poor field players (Q4) should be culled ruthlessly early on.
When I say "poor field" I mean below acceptable levels of defense to where they would have to be an above average hitter to justify their use.
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I guess the things about catching are:
a. A lot of players just won't do it. I mean, according to the unwritten rules you can't catch if you're left-handed, period (which probably has more to do with the fact that a third of all pitchers are left-handed, but still), but beyond that, it seems to take a specific type to don the "tools of ignorance" and even at that, guys who have range and who teams want to see not break down early get moved out to the infield or outfield early on (examples: Craig Biggio, Manny Trillo).
b. A lot of "fielding ability" that keeps guys in the position doesn't seem to be related to the ability to throw runners out or prevent passed balls or whatever. Pitch framing was kind of a big thing when it was discovered by stat guys early-ish on but since that discovery teams closed that loophole fairly quickly and nowadays there's not a lot of difference between a good signal caller and a bad one.
All that is to say, you absolutely *can* have catchers in the major leagues who both can't hit and who suck at traditional fielding skills. The guy who immediately comes to mind is Rob Johnson, who played for the Mariners about a decade ago, hit .200ish with no power or patience, threw out 27% of attempted steals in his career and once led the league in passed balls in a season where he started *50* games. He played in the league for like 7 years in spite of literally being bad at everything you can measure in baseball.
I don't know, other people are saying that catchers are overpowered in their fictional leagues so maybe I just need to mentally recalibrate or something...