[RchW]

Originally Posted by Lockdog

There are pitch framing metrics that try to gauge how well a catcher can turn borderline pitches into strikes as well as prevent would-be strikes from being called balls.

Catcher framing revisited - Beyond the Box Score

Framing seems to be a paradox like managing. Your link from 2015 has Russell Martin way down then, yet now in 2016 he's catching one of the best rotations in baseball. Who is driving it? The pitchers or the catcher? His replacement in Pittsburgh inherited a superior pitching staff and a coach who has some significant reclamation successes. Which one applies?

Jonathan Lucroy long regarded as one of the best pitch framers in the game had zero influence in making Milwaukee a winner. Now he has been traded to Texas his legend will be enhanced. However Texas was a superior team before Lucroy arrived. Will he put them over the top? Maybe; but I can guarantee he won't be blamed if they don't succeed. I'm very much into advanced stats but just like managing, player performance makes the difference. Pitch framing may be, in my opinion, another post facto stat that fits the narrative being told. Nobody cares, or more correctly, no one writes about about Buster Posey's pitch framing and game calling in the odd years when SF didn't make the playoffs.

I understand the concept of pitch framing. I'm sceptical that it creates more wins in the absence of superior player performance.