Last year, this wouldn’t even be a question. Carlos Ruiz was one of the best catchers in the league last year, if not the best. During the 2012 season, Ruiz hit to the tune of a .325 batting average, 16 home runs and 68 runs batted in. If you have watched Ruiz play this year, you would have never guessed. This year, in 147 plate appearances, Ruiz has a .265 batting average with zero home runs. His career is obviously on the decline.
Erik Kratz may not hit for a very high average, but he has the ability to drive in runs. Kratz has eight more home runs than Ruiz this year, and only has eight more plate appearances. For those thinking that Ruiz is so much better at defense than Kratz, this year, it’s just not the case. Kratz has 0.9 runs saved on the season. Ruiz has -0.2 runs saved on the season, which means that his defense is affecting the Phillies negatively this year. Carlos Ruiz has a WAR of 0.3, while Erik Kratz has a WAR of 0.9. WAR stands for “Wins Above Replacement”, it calculates the overall effect a player has on a team, and Kratz is helping the team win more games than Ruiz is.
So now I bring up the question, should Kratz start over Ruiz? Yes. Some people say that since Ruiz is making more money, he should start. I disagree with that. It doesn’t matter how much money he is making; what matters are wins. Whoever is going to help the team win more ball games should be the starter. Kratz needs to become the Phillies starting catcher soon, because Ruiz is declining, and declining fast.
While I think that Kratz should be the starting catcher most days, I also think that a platoon situation could be in order here. Ruiz is hitting .350 off of left handed pitchers, but on the other hand, Kratz is hitting .136 off of left handed pitchers. Kratz’s batting average against right handed pitchers is .246, and that is .018 higher than Ruiz’s batting average against righties. Seven of Kratz’s eight home runs are against right handed pitchers, so a platoon would be good for the team. Both catchers would get a significant amount of playing time, so it would work out for the best.
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