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Twins and Catcher Framing


jorgenswest

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Twins Video

Glen Perkins talked about Josmil Pinto and his ability to frame pitches. He didn't mention Kurt Suzuki. I guess he wasn't asked. Nor was he asked about Ryan Doumit in previous years.

 

Since 2011 it has been debated about the Twins decision making on catcher and defense. At best, they are waiting to see if the data that has been available for many season has validity. At worst, they are ignorant and that ignorance shows in their roster decisions as well as their development of catchers in the minors. Other teams make it a priority on selecting catchers. In fact, several of the catchers that formerly appeared at the bottom of the lists are no longer catching regularly. Kurt Suzuki still has a regular job.

 

Ben Lindbergh wrote weekly last year. He has done monthly reports this year. Below are a link to his recent report and quotes relevant to the Twins.

 

 

May's catcher report from Baseball Prospectus

 

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=23780

 

 

Suzuki's receiving rates nearly 80 runs below average since 2008, and he's the driving force behind Minnesota's last-place showing thus far this season. His inelegant glovework didn't hurt as much when he was hitting, but he's batting .212 without an extra-base hit over his last 10 games, so that unexpected offense may be behind him.

 

 

Thoughts from April's catcher report

 

Other names of note: Travis d'Arnaud has sustained his early success, and Hank Conger and Yan Gomes have backed up their positive rating from 2013. John Jaso brings up the rear, costing the A’s 4.9 runs, and perennial offenders Kurt Suzuki, Carlos Santana, Chris Iannetta, and Wilin Rosario have offended again. (Santana ranks fifth-worst with only 334 framing opportunities.) Josmil Pinto, who had the second-worst estimated framing rating in the upper minors last season and a negative RPM in his brief 2013 major-league time, has cost the Twins a couple of runs already this year.

 

 

I am certain there will be discussion of not trusting metrics. Clearly the Twins don't trust this data. Glen Perkins might. The data has now several years behind it and catchers are very consistent in their rankings even after changing teams.

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Turkenkopf who did the some of the first writing on pitch framing found a .30 correlation between pitch framing and runs scored. That would be why some teams don't make it as big of deal.

Turkenkopf also wrote one time that there was variability between what inning and score of the game had an effect on if pitch framing was effective or not.

That data that is certain is how many pitches were miss called. The actual effect on the outcome of the game was not. Even at .30 correlation pitch framing has some effect. How much over the course of a season has not been shown.

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Turkenkopf who did the some of the first writing on pitch framing found a .30 correlation between pitch framing and runs scored. That would be why some teams don't make it as big of deal.

Turkenkopf also wrote one time that there was variability between what inning and score of the game had an effect on if pitch framing was effective or not.

That data that is certain is how many pitches were miss called. The actual effect on the outcome of the game was not. Even at .30 correlation pitch framing has some effect. How much over the course of a season has not been shown.

 

It probably should be added that Dan Turkenkopf has worked in the office of a major league team for the last two seasons. He and Mike Fast were significant contributors to the study. The Tampa Bay Rays hired him. I don't think there is any disagreement on which side of the argument the Rays have taken in this debate.

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It was interesting watching the NESN broadcast during the Boston series - they pin a foxtrax on the screen similar to ESPN during the playoffs. It was clear the Twins were losing strikes. Suzuki just seems to give up on some pitches, almost like he cant be bothered to even try and frame them. I believe this is why he doesn't get some of the borderline calls - he doesn't seem to want them.

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