Grandal and Barnes ruling fWAR
Phil Gurnee ♦ July 24, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment
There are many reasons why the Dodgers are the best team in the NL. One of them is the Dodger catching tandem. A few days ago I read an article on Beyond the Box Score that suggested Austin Barnes could be used as an important trade chip. In the article by Austin Yamada he went over why Barnes is so valuable. He may be right.
Right now the Dodgers have the most lethal catching duo since the days of Yeager / Ferguson or LoDuca/Ross. Back then Yeager was Mr. Defense and Fergy was Mr. Offense and many a debate went on about who should be the de facto starting catcher.
We are talking duo’s not the one man Piazza wrecking crew.
In Grandal and Barnes, the Dodgers get the best of both worlds. They are both offensive and defensive minded catchers while also being the best among their peers at framing. The one constant knock against Grandal has been his propensity for passed balls and while that is frustrating, when taken into context with everything else that he does well or above average, it is just something we have to live with.
This chart shows that even though Barnes is a backup catcher he has accumulated more fWAR than most starting catchers in the NL. Barnes has been compared to Realmuto because of his speed as a catcher. Barnes has almost twice the walk % of Realmuto and a significantly higher ISO. Of course, Barnes gets the benefit of facing left – hand pitchers almost exclusively. Or so I thought.
The surprise for me in doing this article is the number of at-bats that Barnes has accumulated against RHP this year. Barnes has 70 PA against RHP and 74 against LHP, without seeing this, I would never have believed it.
| Name | PA | WAR | wRC+ | wOBA | ISO | BB% |
| Buster Posey | 355 | 3.3 | 138 | 0.381 | 0.173 | 10.70% |
| J.T. Realmuto | 332 | 2.4 | 118 | 0.354 | 0.17 | 7.20% |
| Willson Contreras | 315 | 2.4 | 112 | 0.347 | 0.223 | 8.30% |
| Yasmani Grandal | 306 | 2.3 | 112 | 0.34 | 0.212 | 6.90% |
| Manny Pina | 228 | 1.6 | 101 | 0.335 | 0.156 | 4.80% |
| Austin Barnes | 144 | 1.6 | 151 | 0.400 | 0.246 | 14.60% |
| Tyler Flowers | 253 | 1.5 | 123 | 0.364 | 0.151 | 8.30% |
| Francisco Cervelli | 252 | 1.2 | 111 | 0.341 | 0.142 | 10.70% |
| Tucker Barnhart | 240 | 1.2 | 80 | 0.301 | 0.127 | 7.90% |
| Kurt Suzuki | 162 | 1 | 109 | 0.343 | 0.214 | 6.80% |
| Yadier Molina | 337 | 1 | 79 | 0.296 | 0.138 | 4.50% |
How about that slugg%? Highest among catchers with at least 120 plate appearances.
| Name | PA | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| Buster Posey | 355 | 11 | 10.70% | 11.00% | 0.319 | 0.403 | 0.492 |
| J.T. Realmuto | 332 | 10 | 7.20% | 15.70% | 0.305 | 0.361 | 0.475 |
| Willson Contreras | 315 | 15 | 8.30% | 24.40% | 0.269 | 0.334 | 0.491 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 306 | 13 | 6.90% | 24.50% | 0.272 | 0.321 | 0.484 |
| Manny Pina | 228 | 6 | 4.80% | 19.70% | 0.294 | 0.335 | 0.45 |
| Austin Barnes | 144 | 6 | 14.60% | 19.40% | 0.295 | 0.403 | 0.541 |
| Tyler Flowers | 253 | 8 | 8.30% | 21.30% | 0.297 | 0.387 | 0.447 |
| Francisco Cervelli | 252 | 5 | 10.70% | 18.70% | 0.271 | 0.365 | 0.413 |
| Tucker Barnhart | 240 | 3 | 7.90% | 16.70% | 0.263 | 0.323 | 0.39 |
| Kurt Suzuki | 162 | 8 | 6.80% | 13.60% | 0.257 | 0.342 | 0.471 |
| Yadier Molina | 337 | 10 | 4.50% | 14.50% | 0.266 | 0.301 | 0.404 |
- Posted in: 2017 Dodgers ♦ Uncategorized
- Tagged: Austin Barnes, David Ross, Joe Ferguson, Paul Lo Duca, Steve Yeager, Yazmani Grandal
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