Atlanta Braves Catching Conundrum
By Fred Owens
Aug 18, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher
A.J. Pierzynski(15) wipes his forehead during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
After the Friday night fiasco and the Saturday night tragedy, the Atlanta Braves sent Julio Teheran to the mound on Sunday afternoon. The result however was the same but this isn’t a game recap, you can find a lot of those elsewhere.
Catch as catch can’t
After Christian Bethancourt caught the excellent Matt Wisler performance on Saturday night I expected a different catcher today. It was after all a day game after a night game. What caught me by surprise was the choice of catcher; A.J. Pierzynski.
More from Tomahawk Take
- Atlanta Braves 2012 Prospect Review: Joey Terdoslavich
- Braves News: Braves sign Fuentes, Andruw’s HOF candidacy, more
- The Weakest Braves Homers Since 2015
- Atlanta Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes to Minor League Deal
- Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves
I am well aware that AJ is having a superb year at the plate. Behind the plate however, he’s been his usual below average defender and when Julio pitches it’s worse.
A word about catcher’s ERA
A post over at Beyond the Boxscore urged everyone to stop using catcher’s ERA as a tool for comparative analysis. The rationale was that catcher’s ERA is flawed because it doesn’t take into account variables like ballpark, pitcher, and defense. That makes absolute sense when comparing catchers from different teams, pitching staffs and leagues.
Within a closed subset – one team and one pitching staff over a similar amount of innings – it does however provide some useful information.
Here’s a breakdown of the three catchers the Braves have used this season when Teheran pitched.
| Christian Bethancourt | Ryan Lavarnway | A.J. Pierzynski | |
| G | 11 | 6 | 10 |
| Braves W/L | 8-3 | 4-7 | 3-3 |
| IP | 67.67 | 40 | 54 |
| ER | 31 | 11 | 41 |
| HR | 9 | 3 | 13 |
| ERA | 4.12 | 2.48 | 6.83 |
| BB | 23 | 10 | 24 |
| SO | 53 | 34 | 52 |
| SO/W | 2.3 | 3.4 | 2.17 |
| BA | .246 | .229 | .302 |
| OBP | .316 | .288 | .380 |
| SLG | .391 | .354 | .558 |
| OPS | .707 | .643 | .938 |
| BAbip | .278 | .280 | .342 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/30/2015.
I updated the above numbers to include today’s game.
The opposing team makes a difference in judging these things, here’s a list so you can decide.
| Bethancourt | Pierzynski | Lavarnway | |
| MIA | 2 | 1 | |
| WSN | 1 | 1 | |
| LAD | 1 | 1 | |
| PIT | 1 | 1 | |
| NYM | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MIL | 1 | 1 | |
| SDP | 1 | 1 | |
| SFG | 1 | ||
| CIN | 1 | ||
| COL | 1 | ||
| CHC | 1 | ||
| BAL | 1 | ||
| ARI | 1 | ||
| TOR | 1 | ||
| BOS | 1 | ||
| PHI | 2 | ||
| NYY | 1 |
It appears the strength of the opposing teams was close to the same no matter who caught.