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Does PECOTA love catchers?

After we released the PECOTA Top 100 prospects list last week, a few commenters remarked on PECOTA’s apparent catcher leanings. Eleven of them appeared on the list, some higher than nationally beloved prospects. How dare PECOTA! In comparison, Jason Parkstop 101 featured eight catchers, suggesting a small discrepancy in the position distribution of PECOTA’s rankings.

Three additional catchers isn’t a significant difference, really, and with due respect to Jason and his exceptional team, it’s not like PECOTA must conform to our prospect authority. PECOTA’s methodology is completely different, meant to provide a complementary view, and if we trust its process, we should trust its results. If those results diverge from popular opinion, even better: maybe the stats are telling us something.

That doesn’t mean the process is perfect. All models have chinks in the code. I wrote about “positional upside” in the introduction:

Of the position players, UPSIDE, as it has in the past, rates shortstops and center fielders quite well. It may actually be overrating them, if we contemplate the trajectory of minor leaguers. PECOTA tends to compare players to others at the same position, but a shortstop in Low-A today might not be a shortstop in the major leagues, because he might not have the range for the position. Nevertheless, teams will keep that potential shortstop at that position in the minors, in hopes that he’ll develop at the position—he has positional upside, after all. That raises the UPSIDE of some shortstops and center fielders, because PECOTA doesn’t necessarily know who will eventually be forced to second base or right field. Attrition at the position happens slowly, and those who make it—the Starlin Castros, the Austin Jacksons—become comparables for current minor leaguers.

I should have included catchers here, because they change positions too: examples include Carlos Santana and Josh Donaldson. There’s a difference though, between catchers and other positions. Statistical efforts haven’t solved defense for catchers in the way that they have for positions 3 through 9. Despite baseball’s recent advances in measuring catcher defensive value, it’s still the position we know least about quantitatively. FRAA and other fielding metrics account for arm strength and accuracy, and we can translate pitch framing into runs (as well as plate blocking), but what about pitch calling? Discouraging baserunners from stealing? Mentoring pitchers? Misdirecting hitters? Positioning fielders?

The minor leagues aren’t generous with data either, which exacerbates this issue. We publish FRAA for every minor-league level, but you can see its conservativeness: there’s a five-run difference between the best and worst Double-A catcher. That isn’t a poor assessment of catchers—scouts tout Sebastian Valle, A.J. Jimenez, and Tucker Barnhart as stellar defenders—but I think you’d nod when I say some catchers must be worth more than half a win defensively.

All the ways in which catchers subtly influence the pitcher-batter interaction matter to scouts when they evaluate whether one can stick at backstop full-time. Often, they matter more than their offense. Russell Martin hasn’t sustained his offensive success from 2007–08, but his defense matters more than it would at any other position, and merits the $24.5 million he’s earned since 2012. Because PECOTA has no comprehensive way of knowing a catcher’s receiving ability, its favored catchers will inevitably be different from those of scouts, who can adjust their rankings for all sorts of defensive factors.

Therefore, PECOTA assumes a level of catching competency with a prospect who currently plays catcher and accordingly adjusts for that positional value, as well as projecting the defensive components we can measure—arm strength, accuracy, and fielding. But because that quantified defensive talent gap is so small, offense becomes the differentiating factor. If Johnny Catcher bats and fields competently, he’ll return a greater UPSIDE, and rightly so. Not many of those players exist. This explains why PECOTA “loves” catching prospects, but I don’t feel its alleged favoritism goes overboard in any way. It’s simply positional upside.

One day, we might have complete PITCHf/x data from minor-league parks and be able to release a smarter version of PECOTA—a version that knows each prospect’s framing skill and growth potential and applies a defensive aging curve. (We could also incorporate estimated minor-league framing.) That version might identify a poor receiver and incorporate positional liability into his UPSIDE, foretelling a move to third base or right field. That’d be neat. But will stats ever fully quantify a catcher’s ability to call a game? Handle a pitching staff? Position fielders based on the next pitch? Well, that’s why scouts have jobs.

You might say PECOTA’s catching prospect rankings are more offense-driven. Take that as a warning, but don’t overreact to it. PECOTA’s predictive machine understands offense quite well, and offense tends to be what generates upside: we tend to hear “6 potential hit” much more than “6 potential arm.”

That was a lot of preamble. As explained in the introduction, UPSIDE scores will be categorized into five tiers. Let’s go.

Very Good Prospects

Rank

Name

Org

Age

UPSIDE

1

Kevin Plawecki

NYN

23

86.8

2

Christian Vazquez

BOS

23

80

3

J.R. Murphy

NYA

23

78.9

4

Max Stassi

HOU

23

76.4

5

Oscar Hernandez

TBA

20

72.8

6

Josmil Pinto

MIN

25

61.3

7

Wynston Sawyer

BAL

22

53.7

8

Ryan Casteel

COL

23

51.2

We haven’t seen many elite catching prospects lately—Jesus Montero and Travis d’Arnaud are among the few scout-adored names of the recent past—and PECOTA did not deem any catchers worthy of an “Excellent” this year, either. Plawecki comes close, but not close enough. Instead, he headlines eight “Very Good” prospects.

Plawecki’s high UPSIDE rating isn’t that surprising: his .355 TAv in Single-A was the second-highest among catchers in any minor-league season dating back to 2011 (minimum 250 PA). He makes consistent contact and reaches base 39 percent of the time. While he lacks power, he doubled in nine percent of his Single-A plate appearances, enough to be the only minor-league catcher to post a .180 ISO without double-digit homers. In short, PECOTA sees a mature hitter completely deserving of his Jason Castro and Carlos Santana comps.

On the defensive side, Plawecki rates somewhat positively by FRAA. His reports don’t glow: the arm and glove are average and he receives well. That’s probably enough to carve out a catching career, but the Mets, nonetheless, experimented with him at first base (more likely because Travis d’Arnaud is their long-term solution). Plawecki’s bat is more than playable at catcher—but much less so at first base. Because the majority of his games were played behind the plate, his UPSIDE is run as a catcher, earning him the positive position adjustment. We don’t know if his ultimate fate is at catcher or at first, but for now, he gets the upside from being a decent catcher.

We know Christian Vazquez will definitely play catcher, and FRAA knows it too—he has the fifth-highest minor-league catcher FRAA over the past four years. Vazquez also hit well in Portland, batting .289 while walking more times than he struck out. PECOTA has always fancied this kind of contact-heavy, get-on-base-multiple-ways hitter, a title Plawecki qualifies for too. Of course, that’s not particularly special on offense, but Vazquez has Double-A under his belt and lauded catching credentials—enough to prove he’ll be a major-league regular.

On a list with several prospects carrying Double-A and Triple-A graduation certificates, Oscar Hernandez has taken it slow in the Rays organization. As a 17-year-old, he obliterated the Venezuelan Summer League with a .402 average and 21 homers in 294 plate appearances. He obviously hasn’t kept those numbers up, but PECOTA loves the power potential and his arm: he threw out 59 percent of runners last year in the New York-Penn League. At age 20, without a résumé above short-season A, Hernandez is a high-risk player, but that can still yield a high UPSIDE when balanced with raw power, an accurate arm, and some base-stealing ability—PECOTA loves the presence of multiple tools. PECOTA has less faith in the rating given the short and unprecedented track record, though, as evidenced by Hernandez’s low Similarity Index. He won’t appear on any top prospect lists now, but he’s a legitimate catcher whom you’ll want to keep an eye on for a power breakout.

Josmel Pinto is the only name overlapping the “top 8 catchers” of PECOTA and the eight catchers on the Parks’ 101, and his double inclusion demonstrates the nature of both lists: Pinto’s offensive profile easily impresses PECOTA, and his defense is solid enough for him to succeed Joe Mauer in Minnesota and earn points with Parks. Already nearing his power prime, PECOTA projects a .274 average with 18 homers two years from now. With a successful coffee run in 2013, Pinto is a surefire major-league product, and in light of the hit-and-miss nature of catching prospects, PECOTA always likes those.

Wynston Sawyer and Ryan Casteel are two curious cases of players who experienced power breakouts after nondescript seasons prior to 2013. Sawyer’s slugging percentage rose from .291 to .384; Casteel’s from .414 to .523, including a jump in home runs from two to …oh, 22. With ballpark adjustments—both played in depressed run environments—they produced TAvs of .297 and .311.

Casteel is the more intriguing of the two as the more likely to be “real”—in addition to his power surge, his on-base numbers aren’t anything to scoff at. As a high school draftee, he’s progressed slowly through the system, which may explain why he’s never before been mentioned in a BP article. PECOTA, though, can’t help highlighting his 56 extra-base hits in run-limiting parks. PECOTA has a strong case: Why has Casteel received such little attention? The Rockies’ catching influx might be one reason (Wilin Rosario in the majors, Tom Murphy the chief minor-leaguer), and the fact that Casteel hasn’t played at Double-A is another. If he puts on a repeat power performance in Tulsa, the national spotlight will surely shine.

Before I move on to “Good” prospects, I’d like to reiterate the concept of a “Good” prospect: they’re much more hit-and-miss than “Very Good” prospects. Most of them will probably miss, especially when it comes to catching. To illustrate this, we can review Nate Silver’s list of 2007 “Good” catching prospects:

Name

2007 UPSIDE

G

PA

WARP

Angel Salome

46.8

3

3

-0.1

John Jaso

46.4

400

1355

7.0

George Kottaras

46.0

295

820

2.6

J.R. House

44.8

32

63

-0.3

Neil Walker (2B)

43.6

573

2360

8.3

Kurt Suzuki

41.7

858

3341

9.2

Jesus Flores

41.4

311

1014

0.2

Jake Fox

37.3

193

534

-0.1

Nick Hundley

32.5

491

1782

7.3

Jeff Mathis

31.1

575

1859

-2.0

Jeff Clement

30.3

152

420

-0.9

Chris Stewart

29.1

261

749

0.7

Shawn Riggans

27.4

64

209

-0.2

Phil Avlas

25.3

0

0

0.0

Spot the hits and misses: only five are still catching in the major leagues, with three as regulars. Kevin Goldstein’s three-star catching prospects hit and missed similarly the same year, and both lists demonstrate the fickle nature of predicting future catchers from non-standout minor leaguers. It’s difficult because these players often feature skills on offense or defense, but not both, leading to “ifs” and “enoughs” like, if he receives just adequately enough for the bat to play… or if he can manage 10-15 homers, that’ll be enough not to sap his defensive value…

Nate summed up catching prospects in 2007:

Catching prospects are sort of like pitching prospects. There are a few guys who distinguish themselves, but mostly you're left with an unwashed mass of players with some residual value by virtue of the fact that there are just 60-70 catchers on major league rosters at any given time.

Welcome to the unwashed mass.

Good Prospects

Rank

Name

Org

Age

UPSIDE

9

Camden Maron

NYN

23

45.5

10

Travis d'Arnaud

NYN

25

44.7

11

Andrew Susac

SFN

24

41.7

12

Peter O'Brien

NYA

23

40.1

13

Jeremy Lucas

CLE

23

40.1

14

Brian Holberton

HOU

22

38.5

15

Rodney Daal

SDN

20

38.1

16

Clint Coulter

MIL

20

37.4

17

Tyler Marlette

SEA

21

37.4

18

Tom Murphy

COL

23

36.7

19

Fernando Pujadas

SFN

22

36.6

20

Robert Kral

SDN

25

36.5

21

Tommy Joseph

PHI

22

34.7

22

Tony Sanchez

PIT

26

34.6

23

Isaias Tejeda

NYA

22

33.9

24

Tyler Heineman

HOU

23

33.8

25

Curtis Casali

TBA

25

32.9

26

Austin Hedges

SDN

21

31.7

27

Jose Ortiz

CIN

20

30.3

28

Matt Reistetter

WAS

22

30.3

29

Gary Sanchez

NYA

21

30.1

30

Zachary Fisher

CHA

22

30

31

Stryker Trahan

ARI

20

29.5

32

Jake Lowery

CLE

23

27.8

33

Tony Wolters

CLE

22

27.5

34

Cameron Garfield

MIL

23

25.6

35

Carlos Perez

HOU

23

25.1

I’ll start with Austin Hedges, Jason Parks’ no. 1 catching prospect, who comes in at no. 26 with PECOTA. Hedges is the perfect example of the statistical approach’s shortcomings in rating catching prospects: PECOTA just doesn’t know that Hedges pops in 1.8 seconds, or that he displays tremendous game-calling aptitude, or that he frames and blocks with the best of them. PECOTA knows only that Hedges slashed .270/.343/.425 in High-A and fields well, which makes him sound good, but not great. PECOTA may learn those scouting details one day, but for now, this is the incomplete state of quantitative catcher defense.

Travis d’Arnaud barely missed the “Very Good” cut; injuries have slowed down his progress, and they’ve also reduced his UPSIDE. PECOTA doesn’t dislike d’Arnaud at all—his 2016 projection calls for a .268 TAv with 21 homers—but he’s now 25 with little major-league success to his name. I should note that his quirky injury history has left PECOTA unsure of how to compare him, as indicated by his low Similarity Index of 78. Proceed with d’Arnaud’s UPSIDE cautiously, as you would with his thumb, knee, and foot.

PECOTA’s long-term forecast for Tom Murphy is very promising, but his comparables are lousy, leading to his low UPSIDE. His main comps are catchers who share his body configuration (6’ 1”, 220 pounds), which is not one that many major-league catchers have succeeded with (though strangely, Chris Iannetta and Wilin Rosario are two exceptions who also came through Colorado’s system, the latter Murphy’s eighth comp). That’s not to say that Murphy won’t succeed; his offensive profile is just uncommon in a player with his body at this position.

Gary Sanchez’s career is so winding that even PECOTA is confused. The long-term home run totals project to be in the mid-20s—elite raw power that would play at catcher. But since his debut at age 17, he’s shown very little improvement, and PECOTA won’t rate a prospect highly if growth isn’t present. Yet at age 21, he’s the second-youngest regular in the Eastern League, with plenty of time to grow. But thus far, the only skill he’s proven to PECOTA is power—he doesn’t walk enough, nor does he field well. “I don’t know whom to compare you with,” says PECOTA. Factor in his low Similarity Index, and I’m inclined to lean more on his favorable long-term projections than his UPSIDE (that is, until someone tells PECOTA Sanchez might not even stay at catcher).

Elsewhere, Peter O’Brien is a case of FRAA knowing precisely how poor his catching is and consequently docking him despite the strong bat. (In fact, O’Brien has played outfield in Tampa this season.) Tyler Marlette completed two solid offensive (short) seasons before turning 21 and threw out 37 percent of runners in 2013. He might rise on this list come next year with a good full season in High-A. Andrew Susac sits higher on the “Good” list thanks to his Double-A accomplishments (.310 TAv); for catchers, that performance at that level comes close to assuring some major-league future, likely as a fringe regular. I’d put Jake Lowery in the same camp.

The rest of the list comprises prospects plopped into the following buckets: young, but likely too young for serious upside (Ortiz, Trahan, Coulter, and Fisher all showed good power in rookie league); nearing the age where the label becomes “non-prospect” (Casali, Kral, and Sanchez had fine 2013s, but at age 25); and normal, middle-aged prospects with middling seasons (the rest). Someone in the latter group will emerge one day; pick your lottery ticket.

Notable Average/Marginal Prospects

(Players ranked in Jason Parks’ Top 101 with UPSIDEs under 25)

Rank

Name

Org

Age

UPSIDE

69

Jorge Alfaro

TEX

21

16.6

88

Christian Bethancourt

ATL

22

13.1

121

Reese McGuire

PIT

19

10.8

138

Blake Swihart

BOS

22

9.8

My earlier diatribe about the limitations of catcher defense should cover the logic behind PECOTA’s low ranking of this quartet. Parks bestowed high praise on Bethancourt and McGuire for their defense; PECOTA mostly sees below-average bats. Alfaro, aside from his 8 arm, has crazy power upside, but that’s counterbalanced by his crazy-aggressive approach (0.25 BB:K ratio in A-ball).

Top 25-and-under catchers by UPSIDE

Rank

Name

Org

Age

UPSIDE

1

Wilin Rosario

COL

25

287.9

2

Salvador Perez

KCA

24

220.2

3

Derek Norris

OAK

25

181

4

Jesus Montero

SEA

24

152

5

Yasmani Grandal

SDN

25

128.3

6

Mike Zunino

SEA

23

104.5

Derek Norris feels high, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he carries on a career mashing lefties—he quietly produced 2.4 WARP in 98 games last year. Otherwise, this list reflects how barren “elite catching prospects” have been for the past few years. It’s a trend that could easily continue. If the bat is too good, teams will want to prevent injury early (Bryce Harper, Wil Myers) by moving the prospect off the position. If the bat is too good and the defense can’t be passed up… well, how common are players who fit that description? Whoever drafts the next Joe Mauer, we’re waiting to see what you do with him. Given the cautiousness of teams today, the next Mauer might be moved to third if he suffers a similar knee surgery.

Thank you for reading

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doog7642
5/01
Thank you again for bringing this back, and for the analysis here. Very excited for the rest of the series.
tbwhite
5/01
So, what's the deal with JR Murphy ? He always seems to get overlooked. The consensus seems to be that Sanchez is the better prospect, but PECOTA clearly thinks otherwise. In fact, according to PECOTA he has more upside than any of the catchers who debuted last year or so far this year(excpet for Zunino), and yet not one word was written about him in this article. Is it the perceived lack of opportunity for him ? I also thinks it's interesting how much PECOTA likes him, he played well last year in AA and AAA, but it's not like he put up monster stats.
AndrewKoo
5/01
J.R. Murphy (and Stassi) get high ratings through the fact they both reached the majors last year. Prospects get credit for that, and in Murphy's case, he hasn't even turned 23 yet. Of course, it was strictly September coffee and he didn't amaze anyone, but also hit well in Double-A and Triple-A last year while being extremely young for both levels. PECOTA does project him for a bit more power than scouts perceive. It's a very stable profile overall (down to the average ~ above-average catching) without anything amazing, and yes, that can be overlooked.
ravenight
5/01
Love the series. I had a question about this statement:

"PECOTA tends to compare players to others at the same position, but a shortstop in Low-A today might not be a shortstop in the major leagues, because he might not have the range for the position. Nevertheless, teams will keep that potential shortstop at that position in the minors, in hopes that he’ll develop at the position—he has positional upside, after all."

Does PECOTA not account for players who were, say, playing SS at the same point in their career, but ended up elsewhere? In the case of catchers, specifically, would a catcher today get Neil Walker as a comp if they had a similar profile through the same age, or is he eliminated because we now know he's a 2B? If the latter, then why?

More generally, it seems like it should at least be possible to account for the general trend of positional shifting when projecting minor leaguers. If (to pull numbers out of nowhere) 30% of players who are catchers at age 22 and reach the majors do so as 1Bs, 10% become 2Bs, and 10% become RFs, couldn't the positional upside of a player be discounted based on that trend? Or would this step on the toes of the comps?
AndrewKoo
5/01
Thank you!

Comps work on a player-season basis, so a minor-league catcher may receive Walker '07 as a comp.

I think it would be unfair to some prospects if we applied that trend to everyone. MiL catchers who will definitely be ML catchers shouldn't be discounted because other catchers are weaker. PECOTA does know the various positions a player plays at, so if a minor-leaguer played catcher and some first base, both positions get playing time in their long-term projections, both positions get FRAA projections, and the overall POS_ADJ wouldn't be as high as a "pure" catcher, thus decreasing value. If you look at Ryan Casteel's long-term projections for example, you can see "C 0, 1B 0" under the FRAA column.

It's a reasonable discussion to have though, because teams do try developing their prospects at the higher-upside position knowing the fallback exists. It just becomes messy--how many prospects are at risk of defaulting from catcher, versus how many prospects will certainly stay? I think the latter happens more, which is why we go case by case.


natedogg34
5/01
PECOTA recognize Carson Kelly as a 3B, not catcher, which is why he does not appear here?
AndrewKoo
5/02
That's right.
oldbopper
5/17
I am confused, Christian Vasquez is rated a very good prospect and Blake Swihart is well down the list. However, in the BP Top 101 Swihart is in at #73 and Vasquez is nowhere to be found. Swihart is #6 and Vasquez is #9 on the Red Sox list and throughout Red Sox Nation the impression has always been that Swihart is the #1 catcher in the system. This has come from the every segment of the media and has been parroted constantly. Reading everything from BP, it seems that Swihart has been very highly regarded and has done nothing this year but continue to develop. His hit tool seems to far outshine Vasquez and, while I hear distant drums that say Vasquez is in the highest echelon defensively, Swihart seems to offer more of everything else. WattsUp? The contracts of both Ross and Pierzynski are up after 2014. Do you think that the Red Sox will have the guts, optomistic, or stupidity, pessimistic, to start 2015 with Vasquez and Swihart as their catchers?