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December 03, 2006

Reviewing the Ranger Lineup: Catchers

The Second Annual Review Of Ranger Hitters returns with positional analyses.

In case you’re new to the game: You probably know OPS and OPS+. If not, OPS is the sum of a player’s on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and OPS+ converts that number to an index based on the league average and player’s home park. 100 is always average, higher is better. I also like to display OBP+ and SLG+, which are calculated just like OPS+. OBP+ tends to vary less than SLG+.

For Texas’s catchers, the meaningful comparison is not how they performed relative to the league as a whole but rather the AL’s other catchers. The AL batted .275/.337/.439 in 2006, while #1 hitters posted a line of .270/.330/.416. Also, The Ballpark favored hitters with a factor of 1.005 for on-base percentage and 1.020 for slugging. Thus, players hitting first for Texas need an on-base percentage of .332 and a slugging percentage of .435 to be of average quality. Regarding the “AL average” row in the table below, the rate stats are park-adjusted while the counting stats are simple averages. Instead of OPS+, I use P-OPS+, the “P” standing for “position.”

Name
% of Team PA
OPS
P-OPS+
OBP
P-OBP+
SLG
P-SLG+
R
HR
RBI
BB%
SO%
R. Barajas
57%
.718
89
.302
91
.416
98
49
11
41
4.8%
14.0%
G. Laird
41%
.807
112
.332
100
.475
112
43
7
22
4.8%
21.0%
M. Ojeda
2%
.667
74
.250
75
.417
98
0
0
4
0.0%
25.0%
TEAM
-
.753
98
.313
94
.440
104
92
18
67
4.7%
17.1%
AL Average
-
.756
-
.332
-
.425
-
74
18
80
7.4%
15.9%
Team Rank in AL
-
-
8
-
11
-
8
2
6
11
12
10

AL catchers had an OPS+ of 93 relative to the entire league, better than I expected.

I’m inclined to believe that if a catcher is coming off a .298 OBP (overall) and a team offers him two years and $5+ million, maybe, just maybe, he should accept it. But I’m just an observer. Barajas hit 47 homers as a Ranger, about 45 more than I expected when Texas signed him to a minor-league deal in 2004. I called him “Todd Greene Lite” at the time and he ended up being… Todd Greene.

Gerald Laird certainly outhit Barajas, but a late-season decline left him with a very ordinary OBP (even for a catcher), leaving the team among the worst in the AL in that respect. He’d shown an adequate walk rate in the minors, so he has some room to improve. In essence, his thumb injury in May 2004 cost him over two years of regular play in the Majors. Remember who collided with him at home plate? Ken Harvey.

TEAM
OPS
P-OPS+
OBP
P-OBP+
SLG
P-SLG+
R
HR
RBI
Minnesota
.867
138
.401
124
.466
114
94
12
99
Cleveland
.810
121
.365
112
.445
109
79
18
98
NY Yankees
.812
118
.354
108
.458
110
72
25
105
Baltimore
.802
114
.342
103
.459
111
75
26
100
Toronto
.789
107
.333
101
.455
106
71
26
82
Detroit
.766
106
.324
98
.441
108
85
17
82
Seattle
.730
99
.310
95
.420
104
68
20
80
Texas
.753
98
.313
94
.440
104
92
18
67
LA Angels
.725
96
.314
95
.411
101
72
22
69
Chicago Sox
.733
93
.320
96
.413
97
75
18
79
Oakland
.698
92
.356
109
.343
83
81
3
60
Boston
.668
79
.299
90
.369
89
66
18
85
Tampa Bay
.661
77
.299
91
.362
87
53
13
52
Kansas City
.639
69
.293
87
.345
82
49
11
63

Teams are sorted by P-OPS+.

Best-hitting catchers: Minnesota , featuring AL MVP Joe Mauer. Oh, right…

Worst-hitting catchers: Kansas City ’s John Buck and Paul Bako hit badly enough that Jason Larue represented an upgrade.

Posted by Lucas at December 3, 2006 12:30 PM