Every Time I Think I'm Out...

Someone pulls me back in!

I’m moving in two days (now one I guess), and after finishing that long project I wanted to take some time off and recharge.  I decided to enjoy what little MLB Network I’ll get in those days, and who is the first person to talk to me on there?  Harold Friggin Reynolds.  And, here’s a big shock, says something stupid.

He was talking about AJ Pierzynski’s year, and saying how great it was.  And he’s right about that, he is having a legitimately great year.  But then he screws it up by saying that he’s having the best season as a catcher in baseball.

Ugh.  No.  Not even close.

Let's compare, shall we?

AJ has 23 HR, and a slash line of 300/348/553.  He has a wRC+ of 137 and a wOBA of 379.  Great numbers, especially for a catcher.  Let's not forget that he plays in a great hitters park in US Cellmisky Park.  Away from there, his slash line drops to 278/306/443.  Not really impressive.

Now, there’s this other catcher that came to mind immediately, who is hitting 312/364/499 with 16 HR, a 138 wRC+ and a wOBA of 373, all while playing in a fairly pitcher friendly park, which is factored in to his wRC+.  This catcher also happens to have a fielding score of 8.5 to AJ’s -3.2, and is already worth 4.7 WAR (and on pace to be worth 6.6 WAR!), while AJ is currently worth 3.5 and is on pace to be worth 4.4.

Yadier Molina is blowing him out of the water, especially defensively.  And HFR was praising AJ for his defense, saying some stupid stuff about controlling a young pitching staff or something.  What about, if you want to look at catching that way, the job Molina has done in the absence of Dave Duncan for the Cardinals?  Lohse and Westbrook are having great seasons, Wainwright is settling down, Joe Kelly filled in well for Jaime Garcia, Lance Lynn has been remarkable, why doesn’t Yaddy get credit for these guys and AJ gets credit for working with a staff headed by Jake Friggin Peavy who has won a CYA in his career?

Now, HFR, anything else you want to add?

“He’s in the lineup EVERYDAY!”

Oh, you’re really an idiot aren’t you?
Number of times AJ has been in 140+: 1
Number of other times 130+: 6

It’s not really that extreme for a catcher.  Yaddy has similar numbers.  And, interestingly enough, has been almost as valuable in his 9 year career than (23.6) than AJ in his 15 years (23.8).
That felt pretty good, actually.  I miss picking on dumb or stupid comments by idiots paid to get say stupid things.  I should do this more often.

Just wanted to add, Yaddy's not even having the best season for a catcher. Look at what Posey has done in San Fran. He's got a wOBA of 403 and a WAR of 5! And Pierzynski, who has the 5th highest WAR of any catcher in baseball is the best catcher in baseball? Bull dinkey!