For decades, the position of shortstop was treated by a lot of teams as a spot for which the clear preference was for defense. The lords of those times, the managers, willingly sacrificed production at the plate for consistent glove work from a player who often handled the baseball in pursuit of outs.
Earl Weaver was regarded as the most progressive manager of his era, someone who scoffed at the idea of sacrificing outs with bunts, and his shortstop through most of his time with the Orioles was Mark Belanger, who hit 20 homers in his career, with a career .300 on-base percentage. Weaver wanted the defense, and Belanger won eight Gold Gloves, playing in the World Series four times.
Could it be that the new lords of baseball, the front-office executives who navigate through decisions based on the readings of analytics, now view the position of catcher in the way that shortstop used to be treated? Defense first?
The number of high-end two-way catchers -- those who thrive on both offense and defense -- seems to be in decline, as teams learn more and more about evaluating and teaching skills like pitch-framing, blocking and pitch-calling.
As anybody who has seen “The Sandlot” knows, the stereotypical catcher was once the burly guy who didn’t move very well, but now there seem to be more catchers built like the Dodgers’ Austin Barnes -- 5-foot-10, 190 pounds. The Reds’ Tucker Barnhart might be the best defender at his position, and he’s listed at 5-foot-11, 192 pounds. Last season, Barnhart and Barnes combined for 705 plate appearances and generated 17 homers.
Is this cyclical? Is it a trend? “Most young players who have great offensive ability don’t want to catch,” one evaluator said. “They want longevity and shift to other positions.”
Carlos Santana was one of baseball’s best catching prospects early in his career, but then as his defensive skills were scrutinized, the Indians moved him from behind the plate to first base. “I wonder with the way teams value catcher defense now if someone like Mike Piazza would have been approached about a position change earlier in his career,” the evaluator mused.
Defensive shifts can help to cover the deficiencies of a shortstop, or any infielder or outfielder. But there is no hiding a subpar catcher who does not move well behind the plate, or does not receive well, or perhaps is too tall to consistently set an optimal target low in the strike zone, or is unwilling to do the pregame preparation that is much more extensive than a decade ago. Teams also concentrate on properly resting catchers and try to build a strong two-man tandem the same way a lot of NFL teams prefer to use two running backs.
The position of catcher is changing as much as or more than all others, including that of starting pitcher. With that in mind, here are the top 10 catchers:
1. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
After Posey was helped off the field in May 2011 with a shattered ankle, manager Bruce Bochy wondered if Posey would be the same, or if a great career had just been altered in an unnecessary collision. But Posey would come back, and he’s in the midst of an extended reign as the game’s best catcher. Posey has played in 140 or more games in every season since his injury, and last year he batted .320 with an .861 OPS.
Some evaluators believe that last season Posey coped with nagging injuries that may have affected his power. But once again, he was the Giants’ most consistent offensive threat, with a .400 on-base percentage, and he ranked in the upper third of catchers in at least one pitch-framing metric, despite not having the advantage of working with Madison Bumgarner for half a season because of the lefty’s dirt-bike accident. Posey continues to be highly regarded by opposing scouts for his ability to call a game.
Next season will be Posey’s 10th in the majors, qualifying him for Hall of Fame consideration, and his résumé to this point is gaudy: a .308 lifetime batting average, a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP award, five All-Star appearances and three championship hugs at the moment the Giants won a World Series.
From Mark Simon of ESPN Stats & Information: Posey has been worth 32.3 WAR since the start of 2012. The next-best catcher is Yadier Molina at 21.3 -- a difference in WAR of 11. From Sarah Langs of ESPN Stats & Information: He has a higher batting average and OPS through this many career games (1,039) than Johnny Bench.
2. Gary Sanchez, New York Yankees
It’s as if the Yankees are repeating history with their catcher. Back in the late '90s, the front office believed strongly in the offensive capability of catcher Jorge Posada, thinking that a switch-hitter with power at that position would outweigh any concerns about his defense. Manager Joe Torre and bench coach Don Zimmer, on the other hand, really valued the leadership and glove work of light-hitting veteran Joe Girardi. In order to force Torre to play Posada, the front office let Girardi walk away as a free agent after the 1999 season and signed journeyman Chris Turner as a backup.
Almost two decades later, there are serious concerns about the defense of the Yankees’ catcher again. Sanchez dropped or missed a bunch of pitches last season and had trouble blocking balls in the dirt, and Girardi -- the Yankees' manager the past decade -- benched Sanchez for a time, seemingly to reinforce the idea that Sanchez needed to constantly devote himself to improving. Going into 2018, the Yankees’ hope is that Sanchez will get better through weight loss and the staff changes.
Either way, however, Sanchez will always have extraordinary value because he’s the best-hitting catcher. From Langs: He had a 4.1 WAR in 2017, most among catchers. From Paul Hembekides: Sanchez’s 142 wRC+ over the past two seasons is better than Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Paul Goldschmidt, among others. And for whatever it's worth, he ranked fourth among 29 qualifiers in catcher ERA (3.43) last season.
3. J.T. Realmuto, Miami Marlins
Realmuto has a reputation for being very serious about his work, so it’s not surprising that he wants out of Miami and off a team that won’t win for a long time. And other clubs will probably line up to make a run at him if and when the Marlins start to market him in earnest.
From Hembo: His pitch-framing is below average (albeit slightly), but he was seventh in blocking runs last season and has thrown out 34 percent of base stealers since 2016 (league average is 27 percent). Coupled with an underrated bat (109 OPS+ over the past two seasons) and an ability to run (28 steals over the past three seasons), the entire package is very desirable.
From Simon: His offensive successes make up for his defensive deficiencies -- and keep in mind he went from minus-13 defensive runs saved in 2016 to minus-5 in 2017, so he’s getting better. His five pickoffs were one shy of the MLB lead last season.
4. Willson Contreras, Chicago Cubs
He drives opponents -- and probably some teammates, as well -- nuts with what they perceive to be his over-the-top body language, but nobody could ever, ever question his passion for his work. “He cares about winning as much as anyone I’ve ever seen,” said one longtime scout last summer. Within a year or two, he could be the best all-around catcher in baseball if he cleans up the more subtle skills in his defense. The Cubs’ offense seemed transformed when he moved into the cleanup spot last summer, before Contreras got hurt, and in 117 games he had 42 extra-base hits and a .356 OBP.
From Langs: Contreras hit .305 with .993 OPS in the second half after .261 with .782 OPS in the first half.
5. Brian McCann, Houston Astros
His streak of consecutive seasons with at least 20 homers came to an end, but McCann was lauded by teammates for his leadership from spring training onward and guided the Astros to a World Series title in October. He earned praise from the Houston staff for his pitch-calling, especially with Lance McCullers Jr., Brad Peacock and Charlie Morton in critical spots in the postseason. McCann turns 34 in February, and he is one of baseball’s primary defensive-shift targets when he hits, but he continues to be a good offensive catcher -- he had a .759 OPS in 97 games last season and needs just 37 homers to reach 300 for his career.
6. Tucker Barnhart, Cincinnati Reds
He is a pretty average hitter, with an adjusted OPS+ last season of 96 while playing in the hitters’ haven in Cincinnati. But Barnhart was an impact defender, throwing out the highest rate of opposing baserunners attempting to steal last season (44 percent) and scoring so well in other metrics that he was awarded the NL Gold Glove Award. “He is as good as there is behind the plate,” said an NL scout. Langs offered this great note: Barnhart had a 2.8 dWAR -- defensive WAR -- in 2017, most among all NL players and second in MLB (Andrelton Simmons was first, at 4.2).
7. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
Every year, the Cardinals discuss the possibility of using him in fewer games, and every year Molina pushes back, prepares to play as much as possible and winds up starting the vast majority of the games (when he’s not on the disabled list). The 35-year-old started a staggering 133 games last year and had his second-best season of power production with 18 homers, and was named to the All-Star team for the eighth time. Rival evaluators thought that on some days he struggled to move effectively behind the plate and block balls in the dirt. While Molina does not shut down opponents in the running game the way he used to, he continues to be effective in throwing out runners.
8. Mike Zunino, Seattle Mariners
He bounced back in a big way last season after spending a lot of 2016 in the minors and finished with an adjusted OPS+ of 123 on the strength of 25 homers and a .509 slugging percentage. From Simon: Zunino hit .328/.418/.639 in his last 40 games (dating to Aug. 11). His slugging percentage was eighth best in MLB among those with at least 100 at-bats in that span, and he’s a good pitch-framer.
9. Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals
At 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, he almost seems like a dinosaur at this position, and because Perez is a legacy player for the Royals and under contract through 2021, it’s reasonable to wonder if he’ll continue to get more and more playing time at DH rather than catcher. Of his 129 games last season, 13 were at DH, a career high for the 27-year-old, and he had the best year in home run production, with 27. He fared poorly in defensive metrics like pitch-framing, again, and threw out the lowest rate of opposing base stealers (27 percent) since his rookie season.
10. Martin Maldonado, Los Angeles Angels
He is to the American League what Barnhart is to the NL, as the most dominant defender. Maldonado ranked among the leaders in pitch-framing, and he threw out 39 percent of opposing baserunners, much higher than the league average of 27 percent. He won the Gold Glove Award, and on offense he kicked in 14 homers.
Best of the rest
• Tyler Flowers, Atlanta Braves: He ranked first in at least one pitch-framing metric last season -- by far -- but because the Braves basically split the catching duties between Flowers and Kurt Suzuki, it’s difficult to put him in the top 10. He played in 85 games behind the plate last season. But Hembekides makes a good case here: “Baseball Prospectus estimates that his framing was worth 26 runs in 2017 alone, a huge part of their WARP formula. By that measure, he was the 13th-best position player in baseball last season (among Marcell Ozuna and Justin Turner).”
• Austin Barnes and Yasmani Grandal, Los Angeles Dodgers: Grandal lost his job to Barnes in the postseason last year, so it’s difficult to justify ranking him over Barnes here. Barnes has fewer than 500 plate appearances in the big leagues, but the Dodgers have big plans for him. From Hembo: His .408 OBP last season ranked ninth in the majors (minimum 250 plate appearances), and when you consider his minor league slash line (.299/.388/.439), you know those numbers aren’t a fluke.