Quote:
Originally Posted by Dyzalot
The fact that they are already as important as a 2nd baseman or left fielder when looking at only the framing aspect makes me worried that overall catcher defense has too much influence.
|
Perhaps, but please remember the power of narrative.
Let us say that you have two catchers.
One is a league average hitter, and an average fielder (5 catcher ability out of 10), making him probably 3 WAR.
One is just below league average, but has a 10 catcher ability (out of ten). This player will have a WAR around 2-2.5.
Let us stipulate to the numbers that my study suggested above, that the one point of CA (in the 1-10 scale) is worth 3.5 runs per year, so the second catcher's fielding is worth 17.5 runs, making him clearly better.
And yet.
You will never once be able to watch a game and think "aha, watch my awesome catcher frame pitches super-well! That definitely wouldn't have been a strikeout without him!" And it never shows up in his stat column; instead all of his pitchers will look unusually good (because their Ks and BBs contribute far more to their stat line than his).
Year in, year out, you'll be playing this 2-2.5 WAR catcher, perhaps intellectually appreciating the theoretical value of his pitch framing, yet knowing that you have a 3+ WAR catcher on your bench, a player you don't need to use your imagination to see working.
In other words, I think that catcher ability may be the single most powerful fielding attribute in the game. But it's also the one that you'll have the hardest time seeing. In a game with scouting it'd be a crapshoot; maybe your guy is a great pitch framer, maybe he's average, how the heck would you know?
It's kind of like the player development budget. It's psychotically powerful, yet works in a way that you can never point to something and say "see, that's my player development budget at work!" You set it up and trust the numbers, but know that confirmation that you're making a good investment will never happen.
I appreciate the investments without narrative payoff being a little overpowered. Because they're by far the easiest to underestimate in gameplay.