A Hall-of-Famer, a Future Hall-of-Famer, and the Seventh Best Catcher in Baseball
March 1, 2012 at 9:00 am by Ben Duronio under Atlanta Braves
As some of you may know, MLB Network has been running a “Top Ten in Baseball Right Now” series, in which they go through each position and name the top ten players at each. The system they use, “The Shredder,” has come up with interesting results, to say the least. I was watching the catcher episode on Tuesday, and came across one of the more interesting results I have witnessed, their ranking of Brian McCann.
The system ranked McCann as the seventh best catcher in baseball.
Now I am not one to make a big deal out of ranking lists, they mean even less than awards, but McCann has the second highest WAR for any catcher since he started playing full-time, behind only Joe Mauer. Even if you do not value WAR, he has hit like a machine since entering the league. Even if you do not want to look at the actual numbers, he has made the All-Star game every year besides his rookie year — when he was a part time player. Having six players ahead of McCann makes as much sense as having six breakfast meats ahead of bacon. It is just mind boggling how any system can get to such a result.
It is just unfortunate that such an error occurred regarding the best baseball player in Atlanta on national television, on a show that will be repeated several times during the next month or so. For sake of measure, below is the WAR Graph of Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, and McCann.
Source: FanGraphs — Mike Piazza, Brian McCann, Gary Carter
I can’t take credit for the title of this post, as it was tweeted at me after I posted a link to the WAR Graph. This must be the golden age for catchers, since the seventh best is on pace to make the Hall.
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Wonder if Kimbrel would even make their top 10 closers if they haven’t done that one yet. It’s doubtful after the shredders heavy Braves deduction.
Dare I ask who the top 6 on the list were?
1. Mike Napoli
2. Joe Mauer
3. Miguel Montero
4. Buster Posey
5. Alex Avila
6. Carlos Santana
7. Brian McCann
8. Yadier Molina
9. Matt Wieters
10. Carlos Ruiz
Those might be the 10 best catchers in baseball but that just seems like a random order. I get the whole “right now” thing (Mauer 2nd?) but c’mon man.
Towards the end of the discussion on Mauer they flash the other lists and McCann is number 1 or number 2 on those. So obviously the Shredder is a bit off. Most of the guys on the list ahead of McCann are the “up and coming” catchers…but most of them are extremely unproven. I’ll take McCann over any of the other guys probably for the next 4-5 years, he’s as consistent as they come and he’s just entering his prime.
kimbrel was in the top 5 in the shredders closer list chief.
Alex Avila will be a beast for years to come
There is no way I would put Miguel Montero up that high he plays in a hitter ball park, and he made 7 throwing errors last year. McCann doesn’t throw out runners well but he doesn’t have but half the errors. I also think Yadier Molina is quite a bit underrated on the list. He is head and shoulders above everyone else defensively and handles the bat pretty decently.
I don’t think that’s the order that MLB put them in, but putting McCann 7th was simply wrong. At least commentators all agreed that placing him 7th was a major flaw in their calculations. They placed Yadier Molina in top three (Joe Maur, 1st). I wouldn’t really care if they under-estimated McCann’s value, if somehow, it helped ATL ink a contract with McCann, but all the other teams know his value as well as he, so I think that his days in a Braves uniform are numbered (due to our budget limits). It makes me sick because he is one of the best pure hitters on Atlanta I have seen since a young Chipper. I now just hope if he leaves he goes to an American League team so we won’t have to face him as often.
@ 7 – thanks for the background. Nice to hear that the flaws were called out by some.
Like I’m sure many here are, I’m sensitive to Mac as I think he is perpetually underappreciated by the national media. Seeing some of the names on the list above him (especially Montero and Avila) reminds me of 08 when Geovanny Soto had his one good year and was voted in the ASG above Mac to cheers that he was the new best catcher in the league.
Then again, you bring up a good point about how this might feed into signability later.
Their calculations seemed to really give a big boost to guys who played DH a lot. I guess it just goes to show how difficult catcher defense is to take into account. Mac caught almost 3 times as much as Napoli, but it counted the games mac sat out against him, whereas the games Napoli played DH counted just as much as those he caught.
First, I’ll admit that I’m a bit of a homer and fanboy of the Braves so I tend to pay much less attention to other teams around the league. My only concern in baseball is the Braves and the NL East, and not the entire league.
But there has to be a flaw somewhere in the system when I only know which team 5 of the ‘top 10′ catchers play on. Even then, if I know which team they are on it’s only because of media hype (Posey) or through articles such as these that reference people I actually care about.
Yeah I was pretty stunning to see this list. Napoli started only 60 something games at catcher last year and Mauer only 50 something. Joe Sheehan said it was an awful list and had B-Mac #1 on his list and Dave Valley agreed and had B-Mac at #2 on his list.
Yeah, I’m not sure about that at all. Molina and BMac are rated way too low in my opinion for differing reasons, Mac’s bat and Molina’s defense. For my money, Napoli, Mac, and Molina are top 3. I also understand that Posey had a phenomenal Rookie year, but that’s just it, he only has the one season, so I’m not sure if you can rate him as high as he is.
I reckon if you don’t do it in the american league, it don’t count
Whoever thinks Matt Wieters is better than Carlos Ruiz has never played the Phillies.
It seems there is a new young catcher every year that is supposedly the “next best thing”, and considered better than Mac. Remember when Russel Martin was the next star catcher? Or that guy from the Cubs a year or so ago (can even remember the chap’s name)?
Let’s see where these guys are after 3 full seasons (including Posey) before we proclaim them to be better than Mac.
@16 /Nick S
It was Geovany Soto. He’s incredibly streaky year to year.
Slightly off topic, but this seems like good news to me. I mean, I actually would like to afford McCann at season’s end. Maybe this will temper the comparison to Molina’s deal?
But, Brian….sorry, dude….you got jacked…….
Really don’t understand the method on how this list was compiled but if I was filling a club roster and had to pick a starting catcher ‘Right now’ B-Mac would be in the top 3 for sure. B-Mac’s consistency to date is without peer and he is in his prime! Napoli as #1 catcher in MLB is just a joke?
In fairness to MLB Network at the end of the program Joe Shennan(spelling?), from SI and MLB Network, and usually a guest commentator give their top ten. And on Shennan’s list McCann is ranked number 1. The other guy had McCann number 2. McCann hits in the heart of the lineup everyday that he is in there and no one else in MLB can really say that. Also he should get points for all the games that he catches in Atlanta. Catching 9 innings in 104 degree heat is brutal.