Over at Baseball Prospectus today, Mike Fast has an amazing look at how catchers affect called strikes by umpires. It’s a pretty dense read and it’s got some caveats that he acknowledges within the article, but it’s hands down the most comprehensive look that anyone’s ever taken at something that’s obviously a huge part of the game.
It’s not all that surprising that Ryan Doumit scores as the worst catcher, by quite a bit, over the last five years, costing the Pirates 66 runs, which I think translates to around 500 strikes, by Fast’s analysis. It’s worth noting, though, that a huge majority of that damage came in 2008, when Doumit was just brutal behind the plate. In 2010 and 2011, he hasn’t been good, but he has been much, much better over the last two seasons.
In any case, I’d strongly recommend you read all of Fast’s article. It’s important and it’s going to be talked about for quite a long time, I’d bet.
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