Yadier Molina
We drove down to St. Louis over Memorial Day to see my beloved Cardinals at Busch. They're tearing the old girl down at the end of the year to make way for a new stadium. Why? Money -- luxury boxes, concessions, shoppes, restaurants, all the trapping of new, improved stadia bring in new revenue streams. OK. It's a business. But Busch was where I went to baseball when I was a kid, and it's a beautiful park, with the white arches of its upper reaches echoing the Arch that rises above the city's riverfront.
Anyway, this year's Cardinals are a great team and will run away with the NL Central if they stay healthy. They've got it all -- great starting pitching from all five starters, great relief pitching, power (Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen when he gets healthy), and defense. But my favorite player this year, the one who I look for in the box scores, is their new 22 year-old catcher, Yadier Molina. Molina started off the season terribly, going 1 for 31 over the first two weeks, but he's picked it up since then, and hit .321 over the full month of May. But, even so, he's only hitting .248 with 2 HRs and 17 RBIs. What's so special about him?
Consider: so far this year in 51 games, Molina has given up only 7 stolen bases while throwing out 15 runners. That's right -- seven! To put that in perspective, a truly bad fielding catcher like Mike Piazza has already given up 41 stolen bases while throwing out only 5, and a mediocre fielding catcher like Jorge Posada has given up 34 stolen bases while throwing out only 12. The difference between Molina and Piazza is the equivalent of 44 extra bases, between Molina and Posada 30 bases. Both Piazza and Posada, of course, are considered All-Stars because of their hitting. And, it's true, they're good hitters. This year, Piazza has 12 doubles and six HRs while hitting .242, with 70 total bases hitting. Posada, meanwhile, has 7 doubles and 7 HRs while hitting .285, with 73 total bases. Molina has 5 doubles and 2 HRs while hitting .248, and thus only has 48 total bases hitting. But if you add in the "extra bases" he gives you by throwing out runners (and by dissuading runners from even trying -- note how only 22 runners have even tried to steal on him, while 46 have tried to steal on Posada), and you could make the argument that Molina is the superior catcher already, even if he doesn't hit any more than he's doing now.
Ah, baseball, the combination of beer, sunshine and numbers! What could be better?
Anyway, this year's Cardinals are a great team and will run away with the NL Central if they stay healthy. They've got it all -- great starting pitching from all five starters, great relief pitching, power (Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen when he gets healthy), and defense. But my favorite player this year, the one who I look for in the box scores, is their new 22 year-old catcher, Yadier Molina. Molina started off the season terribly, going 1 for 31 over the first two weeks, but he's picked it up since then, and hit .321 over the full month of May. But, even so, he's only hitting .248 with 2 HRs and 17 RBIs. What's so special about him?
Consider: so far this year in 51 games, Molina has given up only 7 stolen bases while throwing out 15 runners. That's right -- seven! To put that in perspective, a truly bad fielding catcher like Mike Piazza has already given up 41 stolen bases while throwing out only 5, and a mediocre fielding catcher like Jorge Posada has given up 34 stolen bases while throwing out only 12. The difference between Molina and Piazza is the equivalent of 44 extra bases, between Molina and Posada 30 bases. Both Piazza and Posada, of course, are considered All-Stars because of their hitting. And, it's true, they're good hitters. This year, Piazza has 12 doubles and six HRs while hitting .242, with 70 total bases hitting. Posada, meanwhile, has 7 doubles and 7 HRs while hitting .285, with 73 total bases. Molina has 5 doubles and 2 HRs while hitting .248, and thus only has 48 total bases hitting. But if you add in the "extra bases" he gives you by throwing out runners (and by dissuading runners from even trying -- note how only 22 runners have even tried to steal on him, while 46 have tried to steal on Posada), and you could make the argument that Molina is the superior catcher already, even if he doesn't hit any more than he's doing now.
Ah, baseball, the combination of beer, sunshine and numbers! What could be better?
posted by PDB at 12:33 PM
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