[Loompa17]

Ranking the top 75 catchers for the NPBL from 2000 - 2075

1) Jocko García 2061 - 2075
I was kind of surprised to see current Hounds catcher Jocko Garcia at the top of the list of catchers when I completed the formulaic sort. But looking at it closer, I think it’s the right call. But it’s very close between Garcia and Glenn Steger. Steger was a more up-and-down and although his “up” years were better than Garcia, Garcia’s consistency trumps Steger.
The stat that I primarily utilize in the rankings I have named tvSTAT. It has an element of growing/declining reputation involved. For instance, consider Player A whose career arc goes:
Yr1 – 1
Yr2 – 3
Yr3 – 5
Yr4 – 5
Yr5 – 5
Yr6 – 3
Yr7 – 1
compared to Player B:
Yr1 – 4
Yr2 – 6
Yr3 – 1
Yr4 – 3
Yr5 – 5
Yr6 – 1
Yr7 – 3
Both players have the same total for their career, and both players accomplished a 5 in Yr5. Player A’s Yr5 tvSTAT is likely to be pretty close to 5.0, while Player B will show somewhere around 3.75 for Yr5.

2) Glenn Steger * 2024 - 2046
Which catcher put up the best individual season? The candidates are shown in the table below.
The overall player rankings rely heavily on the tvSTAT, which has adjustments for reputation and injuries. However, when answering the question about the greatest season, the tvSTAT is probably not the best metric to use. To answer that question, I would go back to looking at WAR (which tvSTAT uses at it’s base) or OPS. Glenn Steger’s 2037 campaign was probably the best by a catcher in the history of the NPBL.

													
Player - Year  
													
Avg     
													
HR      
													
RBI          
													
R      
													
BB      
													
K      
													
SB      
													
OBP         
													
SLG      
													
OPS      
													
WAR      
													
tvSTAT      
													
													
													
Glenn Steger 2037
	
.383
	
30
	
123
	
121
	
112
	
82
	
2
	
.492
	
.563
	
1.055
	
11
	
9.48
	
Rogelio Pessoa 2038
	
.329
	
35
	
113
	
113
	
103
	
44
	
0
	
.449
	
.515
	
0.964
	
10
	
9.49
	
Grubby Thompson 2039
	
.340
	
39
	
128
	
129
	
92
	
59
	
23
	
.432
	
.560
	
0.992
	
10
	
8.98
	
Jocko García 2066
	
.348
	
42
	
107
	
113
	
87
	
52
	
0
	
.444
	
.572
	
1.016
	
10.6
	
10.32
	
Jocko García 2067
	
.335
	
35
	
102
	
107
	
79
	
58
	
0
	
.432
	
.523
	
0.955
	
9.9
	
10.52
	

3) Christopher Ferrante * 2003 - 2018
Best catcher by year for the years that Ferrante played:
2003 – Antonio Hernandez
2004 – Antonio Hernandez
2005 – Christopher Ferrante
2006 - Christopher Ferrante
2007 - Christopher Ferrante
2008 - Christopher Ferrante
2009 - Christopher Ferrante
2010 - Christopher Ferrante
2011 – Vernon Castanon
2012 – Vernon Castanon
2013 - Christopher Ferrante
2014 - Christopher Ferrante
2015 - Christopher Ferrante
2016 – Tony Romo
2017 – Tony Romo
2018 – Bill Worm

4) Bill Worm * 2014 - 2029
First overall pick by Florida in 2014. If I get the time, I’d like to see how the players from the various draft slots compare. I’m sure that the #1 overall pick will come out on top, but by how much?

5) Grubby Thompson * 2023 - 2042

Best catcher by age:
18 – Glenn Steger
19 – Christopher Delaney
20 – Christopher Delaney
21 – Sandro Gonzalez
22 – Christopher Ferrante
23 – Rogelio Pessoa
24 – Christopher Ferrante
25 – Christpher Ferrante
26 – Jocko Garcia
27 – Jocko Garcia
28 – Jocko Garcia
29 – Jocko Garcia
30 – Jocko Garcia
31 – Glenn Steger
32 – Glenn Steger
33 – Grubby Thompson
34 – Richard Ruffner
35 – Tracy Jordan
36 – Grubby Thompson
37 – Grubby Thompson
38 – Grubby Thompson
39 – Grubby Thompson
40 – Grubby Thompson
41 – Grubby Thompson

Oldest player to win a Tyson Bacon Award:
38 – Grubby Thompson (2039)
36 – Mark Sims (2050)
35 – Anthony Beckford (2009)
35 – Bob Griffith (2070)
35 – Jocko Garcia (2074)

6) Tony Romo * 2013 - 2026
“The name rings a bell” team:
C – Tony Romo
1B – Howard Lovecraft
2B – Carlos Pena
3B – Harley Race
SS – Jose Canseco
LF – Judge Judy
CF – Dallas Clark
RF – Harry Andrews
SP – James Watson
RP – Kelly Martin

7) Rogelio Pessoa * 2030 - 2043
In 2027, the NPBL expanded by 4 teams, adding Ohio (now Nova Scotia), Kentucky (now Georgia) to the FFL and Michigan and Hawaii to the GEL. Comparing and contrasting the GEL expansion teams is sort of an interesting exercise.
An expansion draft was held to fill the rosters of the expansion teams. Not surprisingly, all the expansion teams were bad. The four expansion teams drafted in the top 6 in 2028. Hawaii was the worst of the bunch, but instead of drafting Buzzy Stevens, they traded the pick to Minnesota. Hawaii would continue to lose 90+ games through 2035.
Michigan had the best record among the expansion teams in 2027 – and although they also lost 90+ games in the beginning, they drafted very well:
2028 - Brian Atencio
2029 – Francisco Gonzales, Keith Knapp
2030 – Rogelio Pessoa, Leon Colome
2031 – Ed Hansen
2032 – Mark Sims
In 2032, the club’s sixth year in existence, they became the first expansion team to post a winning season, roaring to a 96-66 record. The Militia averaged 92 wins over the next 5 years – making the playoffs each year. However, success in the playoffs eluded them, as they lost in first round each year.
The year of 2037 proved to be the coming-of-age year for the expansion teams. All 4 expansion teams made the playoffs. For Ohio and Hawaii, it was their first postseason appearance. Kentucky had made the postseason in 2035 only to have an early exit, and Michigan was making its sixth straight appearance, but had yet to make out of the first round. In addition, 2037 was another first for an expansion team: the first position player on an expansion team to win the Tyson Bacon Award: Rogelio Pessoa. Michigan (101-61) was the #2 seed and managed to finally make it out of the first round in a seven game thriller against Wisconsin. Hawaii (80-82), who managed to just squeak into the playoffs as the #8 seed, somehow found a way to dispatch of the #1 seed Washington, 4 games to 1. In the FFL, both Ohio and Kentucky found themselves going home after the first round.
Michigan defeated California in a sweep to reach the GEL championship series, where their opponent was… Hawaii, who pulled off another upset this time defeating Idaho 4-1.
In the GEL championships, the series went down to the wire. Hawaii continued its magical post season run and sent the Militia home 4 games to 3. Following that, Hawaii was able to down Rhode Island 4-1 to become the first expansion franchise to from home a championship.

8) Andrew Jones 2036 - 2056
Andrew Jones was a left-handed hitting catcher who could hit for average and power. Jones’ career was split nearly in half. The first half he played for the Virginia Grays and the second half for the Minnesota Wolves. It’s interesting that in his time with Grays, Jones hit .313, while with the Wolves his batting average was only .280. The league average from 2037-2044 in the FFL was .259, and in the years Jones played in the GEL (2045-2056) it was .252. So the slip in batting average is probably not attributable to Jones switching leagues.

9) Bill Collins * 2031 - 2047
Bill Collins vs Pedro Torrez. My first reaction is that Collins is out ahead of Torrez by a length or so, but on closer inspection, it’s really pretty close. Torrez rates as having a better peak, but Collins holds the edge for having played at a high level for longer. Torrez is still playing, though he has slowed down considerably. Perhaps if he has a revival, he may be able to pass Collins in these rankings.
In Collins’ best seasons (2036-2038), he was actually only the third best catcher in the league – because he had Steger and Pessoa ahead of him. Later in his career, when Steger and Pessoa had slowed down or retired, Collins had have a couple of seasons where he ranks as the top catcher in the NPBL.

10) Pedro Torrez 2063 - 2075
While Bill Collins was consistently overshadowed by Steger and Pessoa, Torrez was habitually topped by (1) Jocko Garcia, and (2) the various catchers having their career year. A look at the yearly top 5 catchers of the last 10 years:
2066
1 – Jocko Garcia
2 – Jorge Garcia
3 – Pedro Torrez
4 – Maximo Cruz
5 – Gerardo Vildosola
2067
1 – Jocko Garcia
2 – Pedro Torrez
3 – Maximo Cruz
4 – Gerardo Vildosola
5 – Jorge Garcia
2068
1 – Jocko Garcia
2 – Maximo Cruz
3 – Bruce Graham
4 – Jose Ramirez
5 – Pedro Torrez
2069
1 – Jocko Garcia
2 – Joe Roberts
3 – Pedro Torrez
4 – Sandro Gonzalez
5 – Maximo Cruz
2070
1 – Jocko Garcia
2 – Pedro Torrez
3 – Jose Ramirez
4 – Sandro Gonzalez
5 – Joe Roberts
2071
1 – Pedro Torrez
2 – Sandro Gonzalez
3 – Jocko Garcia
4 – Jeff Smith
5 – Chris Stelfox
2072
1 – Pedro Torrez
2 – Jocko Garcia
3 – Sandro Gonzalez
4 – Matt Failes
5 – Gil Pruitt
2073
1 – Gil Pruitt
2 – Pedro Torrez
3 – Jocko Garcia
4 – Matt Failes
5 – Sandro Gonzalez
2074
1 – Jocko Garcia
2 – Jimmy Cardenas
3 – Matt Failes
4 – Pedro Torrez
5 – Sandro Gonzalez
2075
1 – Jimmy Cardenas
2 – Jocko Garcia
3 – Jorge Garcia
4 – Matt Failes
5 – Chris Stelfox