Though he made his major league debut in 2014, it's only in the last three seasons that Nick Ahmed has established himself as a dependable everyday presence for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The rivalry series will start today at Doug . a batted-ball event with a launch angle between eight The nine-time All-Star still is going strong as the Cardinal's starting backstop and is first among active catchers with 41 percent of baserunners caught stealing and 65 pickoffs. A Dominican professional baseball catcher, Sanchez has been playing for New York Yankees since 2015. Kevin Kiermaier debuted for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2013 and settled in as a regular in 2014. Phoenix, AZ 85004 With strikeouts rising on an annual basis, defense is becoming something of a dying art form in Major League Baseball. Posey Yasmani Grandal is one of the best MLB catchers available these days, even in free agency, and this comes as no surprise. Yadier Molina, who is choosing not to attend due to a right foot injury. Since retiring in 2010, he has been doing color commentary on the St. Louis Cardinals Spanish-language radio broadcast. Whereas he only just won his first Gold Glove in 2020, he won his fourth Fielding Bible awardlast year. And g. the fastest reactions and most direct routes in the 7)Even as an amateur on the high school showcase circuit, Siani looked like a big league center fielder. Like Olson, Kolten Wong has won three straight . But as evidenced by the MLB-high 11 outs above average that he racked up at those positions in 2020, that ought to be just fine with the Dodgers. Arenado's ultimate zone rating also ranks fourth among third basemen. Bottom line: Bengie Molina is the oldest Molina brother and showed his younger siblings, Jose and Yadier, the path to being a catcher in the major leagues. In 2014, he notched a .998 fielding percentage by committing just one error in 79 games. Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant. Yasmani Grandal is one of the best MLB catchers available these days, even in free agency, and this comes as no surprise. Yadier Molina, Cardinals At age 38, Yadier Molina still qualifies as one of the better catchers in the game. Sean Murphy. Ivan Rodriguez is blasting the charts in the current times with total career putouts of 14,864 as a catcher. Here are the final SABR Defensive Index rankings for the 2021 season among positional qualifiers for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. The catch, though, is that Atlanta's offense is a top-heavy affair with a subpar hitter at third base (Austin Riley) and a defense-first rookie in center field (Cristian Pache). Yan Gomes Who's ready for some peanuts and crackerjacks? however he has led MLB in DRS among catchers five times and has won six The leader in Strike Zone Runs This season marks Prezs worst How to say it: "In 2018, Jeff Mathis converted 55 percent of non-swing pitches into called strikes in the Shadow Zone, the best rate of any catcher in baseball." Qualifier: For catchers 6 called pitches (i.e., takes, or non-swings) in the 'shadow zone' per team game. D-backs: Geraldo Perdomo, SS (No. Due to being a magnet for foul tips and having a history of concussions Avila picked up the nickname "The Titanium Catcher.". A two-time World Series Champion and two-time Silver Medalist with Puerto Rico, Yadier ranks second among catchers with a score of 150 Defensive Runs Saved or DRS. Indians: Gabriel Arias, SS (No. He became the starting catcher for the Diamondbacks in 2005 and had a stellar fielding percentage (.997), but batted just .202. His Cardinals teams won the 2012 wild card and three consecutive NL Central titles. play. 9. After retiring, he coached Little League before the St. Louis Cardinals hired him as a special adviser which led to a seven-year career as the teams manager. All-Star Teams: San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers. the Top 5 in seven of the ten years hes qualified at the position. Bottom line: During 11 years in the majors, Ryan Hanigan played for four teams as a platoon player. Not only that, but Grandal has also proven himself as an elite pitch framer ranked second-best in 2019 and 3rd best over the last three seasons. All-Star game were clearly not selected for their defensive prowess. We'll begin with some honorable mentions and then count down the top 10. 73)There might eventually be an argument between Marsh and Jordyn Adams here, with both covering a ton of ground in center field. In 1996, Rodriguez set an MLB record for scoring the most doubles by a catcher, amassing 47 over the season, and beating the previous record of 42 by Mickey Cochrane. No thanks to a hip injury that ended his season early, last year wasn't Matt Chapman's finest hour on defense. In the process, his defensive contributions have been nothing short of astounding. Blue Jays: Dasan Brown, OF (No. No defensive position is more important than catcher, but the catch (sorrynot sorry) is that only so much of what catchers do can be quantified. Realmuto scored a consistent batting average of .259/.290/.406, 10 home runs, 8 stolen bases, and 47 RBIs. If you take a quick glance at his OPS+ marks across the six seasons, you would get a clear picture-111, 112, 118, 101, 121, and 119. Correa leads all MLB shortstops in defensive WAR (2.7). catchers. Bottom line: Brad Ausmus played 18 years in the bigs, and he led the American and National Leagues four times in fielding percentage and twice in percentage of baserunners caught stealing. It is fitting that Maybe a "root, root" for the home team? Bottom line: The youngest of the Molina brothers isn't just the best catcher in the family. That in and of itself is enough justification for the newest St. Louis Cardinal's inclusion in this list. Draft; this years first overall selection, Louisville catcher Henry Davis, How hard, in miles per hour, a pitch is thrown. But the best defensive catchers in Major League Baseball are not always the best overall catchers. It is no surprise that this Top 10 list consists of many AL and NL All-Stars. Signed by the Padres for $1.9 million out of Venezuela in 2016 and sent to the Indians in the Mike Clevinger trade last August, he has fluid actions, plus range and soft hands at shortstop, not to mention uncommon power potential for the position. Some of the veteran baseball players turn out to be phenomenal catchers over the years. His lightning-quick hands, hand-eye coordination and first-step quickness are all elite and fuel his longstanding reputation as a plus defender. McCullers, 27, told me a few weeks ago he's clearly the better athlete because he's 10 years younger. He led the American League with a 41 percent caught-stealing rate in 2019, and then all of MLB at 71 percent in 2020. defensive catchers; he led catchers in DRS in 2015 and 2016 and has finished in Why is that? In 2020, the Tigers received minus-5 DRS from their catchers Austin Romine, Greiner and Haase in the 60-game season. However, he. In the entire history of MLB, Bengie Molina is the first catcher to hit a grand slam and hit for the cycle in the game of 2010 Texas Rangers against Boston. So even if right field isn't atop the defensive spectrum, we'll posit that nobody in MLB plays his position better than Betts. Dodgers: Jacob Amaya, SS/2B (No. 18)While he hasnt been able to establish himself in the big leagues just yet, this member of our All-Defense second team can undoubtedly play the outfield at the highest level. The three-time World Series winner has played his entire career with San Francisco (his jersey is the teams top seller) and is a six-time All-Star. 2024 - Derek Curiel. The slugging switch-hitter is one of three catcher in major league history to go 5-for-5 in one game with three home runs. Teams: Minnesota Twins, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves. Honorable Mention: Matt Chapman, Oakland Athletics. I came up young and caught a lot of veteran pitchers. Scroll down to see AL and NL individual and team leaders, or click a link below to see SDI leaders as ranked by position: 2021 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners are listed in bold. As for how he does it, the most underrated aspect of Arenado's defense is that he rarely ever screws up. He also made the best average pop time to second base on defense among all MLB catchers in 2016. With the game closer to being back to normal, we can safely evaluate the best defenders in the league. In the same season, he made a single-season record as a catcher having scored .998 fielding percentage. Omar Narvez are in the Top 6 in Total Runs for catchers. This one is tough because Kepler has been a disappointment offensively, but he's been money on the defensive end. Roberto Perez, Indians, 8.9. . Aside from the current trendsetters, are the legends like Yogi Berra, the two Molina brothers catchers Bengie and Jose Molina, and Brian Schneider. Olson has won three straight Fielding Bible Awards at first base. Braves: Cristian Pache, OF (No. 4)Though Taveras had played only a half-season in Double-A and hadn't made much impact offensively in the Minors, he stood out so much in center field during Summer Camp that the Rangers promoted him to the big leagues. 2022 Defensive Metrics: 13 DRS, 1 OAA in LF. Teams: Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies. Make sure to stick with, pick in the 2021 draft by the Seattle Mariners, the second catcher taken in the draft, only behind Davis. He didnt see any Major League time last season but offered a glimpse of his abilities in 2019, when he threw out 39 percent of basestealers while ranking among the best in baseball in transfer (4th, 0.66 seconds) and pop times (1.93 seconds) to second base. 1 overall pick in the 2019 Draft with plus catch-and-throw skills. Photo: Elsa 37)A three-time member of our All-Defense team, Hayes is often brought up as the best defensive prospect in the game. This season marks Zuninos second best season in his nine-year Kirk (5) was an All-Star and a Silver Slugger in 2022 and Ive heard less about him this offseason than I had in the previous three years. At the end of the 2001 season, he had successfully compiled a batting average of .317 playing 27 games and driving 6 runs, scoring 4 times. Do not any under circumstances draft the top catcher. His catching instances throughout his career had been praiseworthy where he compiled an average fielding score of .997 with only 17 errors out of 2587 chances; he managed to throw out 32% of the baserunners who were attempting to steal. Catchers are a unique lot. just busted hall county, ga 2021; lakeside leader archives; epping vic development; .