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    Catch and throw guys

    By egrissom | February 5, 2010

    As I wrote earlier this week, Carlos Ruiz had a nice season with the bat in 2009 that put him on the list of the best hitting catchers in baseball. Prior to ‘09, though, Ruiz hadn’t excelled offensively with the Phils. Despite the lack of offensive production, Ruiz had a reputation as a solid defender and as a guy who helped to get the most out of the Phillies pitchers.

    Did Phillies pitchers really fare better when pitching to Ruiz than they did when pitching to other catchers on the team did? Well, some did and some didn’t. In today’s post I’ll look at the six Phillies who started the most games for the team in 2009 and compare their results when pitching to Ruiz and when pitching to somebody else.

    The best cases for Ruiz among the ‘09 starters from the Phils were for Happ and Hamels. The table below shows how Happ fared when pitching to Ruiz in ‘09 compared to how he fared when pitching to other Phillies catchers:

      AVG OBP SLG OPS
    Happ to Ruiz .226 .292 .369 .661
    Happ to Other .276 .343 .456 .799
             
    % of Happ batters caught by Ruiz   % of Happ batters caught by others
    63.5   36.5
             
    Runs allowed per PA with Ruiz catching .069  
    Runs allowed per PA with other catching .096  
    Runs allowed per PA total .079  
    RA per PA other catching/RA per PA Ruiz catching 1.39  

    So that table suggests that Ruiz was catching for 63.5% of the batters that Happ faced and other Phillies catchers was catching for the other 36.5% of hitters. With Ruiz catching, opponents hit 226/292/369 against Happ and with another Phillies catcher behind the plate they hit 276/343/456 against him.

    Opposing teams scored about .079 runs per plate appearance against Happ for the year. .069 runs per PA against him with Ruiz behind the plate and .096 runs per PA against him with someone else behind the plate. .096 is about 1.39 times as much as .069.

    Happ didn’t face the same batters with Ruiz behind the plate as with the other guys catching, so maybe it was a fluke and maybe it wasn’t. Either way, Happ clearly had better results in 2009 when pitching to Ruiz.

    So did Hamels.

      AVG OBP SLG OPS
    Hamels to Ruiz .266 .308 .416 .724
    Hamels to Other .297 .339 .520 .859
             
    % of Hamels batters caught by Ruiz   % of Hamels batters caught by others
    76.9   23.1
             
    Runs allowed per PA with Ruiz catching .099  
    Runs allowed per PA with other catching .149  
    Runs allowed per PA total .111  
    RA per PA other catching/RA per PA Ruiz
    catching    		 1.50  

    The numbers for Hamels pitching to Ruiz improved a lot as well, even more than they did for Happ. The difference between what batters did with Ruiz catching and others catching is so dramatic it makes you wonder how much of a role the catcher he was throwing to played a role in the disappointing year for Hamels. Opponents hit 330/368/570 against Hamels when he was pitching to Bako, for example. Given how high the percentage of the batters that Hamels faced with Ruiz catching, though, I would guess that even if you were to pull out the ugly numbers with Bako behind the plate for Hamels his numbers were still a lot worse than they had been in 2008.

    Anyhow, if you were trying to argue that the Phillies pitchers get better results with Ruiz behind the plate, the ‘09 outcomes for Happ and Hamels would be a great place to start.

    Things a little less sunny after that, though. Moyer and Myers had worse results throwing to Ruiz in 2009. Lee didn’t throw to him much, but his results were worse throwing to Ruiz as well compared to the other catchers for the Phils. Blanton was kind of in-between. Here’s Blanton:

      AVG OBP SLG OPS
    Blanton to Ruiz .263 .327 .438 .765
    Blanton to Other .259 .308 .438 .746
             
    % of Blanton batters caught by Ruiz   % of Blanton batters caught by others
    67.1   32.9
             
    Runs allowed per PA with Ruiz catching .101  
    Runs allowed per PA with other catching .109  
    Runs allowed per PA total .104  
    RA per PA other catching/RA per PA Ruiz
    catching    		 1.08  

    Blanton’s numbers for 2009 were very similar whether Ruiz was catching or wasn’t catching. The opponent OPS was a little better when someone other than Ruiz was behind the plate, but he allowed fewer runs per plate appearance with Ruiz behind the dish.

    Moyer, Myers and Lee had worse results with Ruiz catching.

    Moyer was much worse.

      AVG OBP SLG OPS
    Moyer to Ruiz .267 .326 .520 .846
    Moyer to Other .292 .340 .400 .740
             
    % of Moyer batters caught by Ruiz   % of Moyer batters caught by others
    52.2   47.8
             
    Runs allowed per PA with Ruiz catching .140  
    Runs allowed per PA with other catching .102  
    Runs allowed per PA total .122  
    RA per PA Ruiz catching/RA per PA other
    catching    		 1.37  

    The slugging percentage is the thing that sticks out for the Moyer table. By batters faced, Moyer pitched to Ruiz about half of the time. He faced 699 batters on the season. The 334 batters he faced with someone besides Ruiz catching combined to hit seven home runs. The 365 batters he faced with Ruiz catching hit 20 home runs.

    Myers also threw to Ruiz and other catchers about equally and had better results pitching to other guys:

      AVG OBP SLG OPS
    Myers to Ruiz .290 .327 .586 .846
    Myers to Other .252 .345 .480 .825
             
    % of Myers batters caught by Ruiz   % of Myers batters caught by others
    51.6   48.4
             
    Runs allowed per PA with Ruiz catching .121  
    Runs allowed per PA with other catching .109  
    Runs allowed per PA total .115  
    RA per PA Ruiz catching/RA per PA other
    catching    		 1.11  

    Like Moyer, opponents posted a much higher slugging percentage against Myers when Ruiz was behind the plate.

    Ruiz caught in just three of the 12 games that Cliff Lee started during the regular season. The numbers below include just his results throwing to Phillies catchers last year (not Cleveland catchers).

      AVG OBP SLG OPS
    Lee to Ruiz .320 .358 .460 .818
    Lee to Other .250 .271 .395 .666
             
    % of Lee batters caught by Ruiz   % of Lee batters caught by others
    16.5   83.5
             
    Runs allowed per PA with Ruiz catching .111  
    Runs allowed per PA with other catching .103  
    Runs allowed per PA total .104  
    RA per PA Ruiz catching/RA per PA other
    catching    		 1.08  

    Not sure what you want to make of that, if anything. Ruiz and Lee had a whole lot of success working together in the post-season.

    Finally, here’s what the table looks like for all Phillies pitchers combined (not just the six mentioned above):

      AVG OBP SLG OPS
    All PHI P to Ruiz .262 .328 .424 .752
    All PHI P to Other .269 .332 .433 .764
             
    % of All PHI P batters caught by Ruiz   % of All PHI P batters caught by others
    60.5   39.5
             
    Runs allowed per PA with Ruiz catching .109  
    Runs allowed per PA with other catching .120  
    Runs allowed per PA total .113  
    RA per PA Ruiz catching/RA per PA other
    catching    		 0.911  

    With Ruiz behind the plate, opposing batters scored .109 runs per plate appearance compared to .120 runs per PA with someone else behind the plate. That’s about 91.1% of the runs allowed per plate appearance with Ruiz behind the plate as with someone else.

    The Phillies also allowed fewer runs per plate appearance overall with Ruiz behind the plate in 2008 and in 2007. In 2008 they allowed about 95.5% of the runs per plate appearance with Ruiz behind the plate as with other catchers and in 2007 they allowed about 97.0%.

    The Phillies signed pitcher Oscar Villarreal to a minor league deal and will invite him to Spring Training. The 28-year-old righty did not pitch in 2009 after having Tommy John surgery in April. He has thrown 336 career innings, all in the NL, pitching to a 3.86 ERA with a 1.37 ratio. The linked article says he will not be ready for Opening Day.

    The Phillies also signed switch-”hitting” outfielder Freddy Guzman to a minor league deal. Guzman is 29 and has a career on-base percentage of .255 and a career slugging percentage of .274. The linked article says the deal does not include a Spring Training invite, so it’s not clear what his role will be. Just throwing things out here, but my guess would be that his role is to have someone athletic-looking to fill a uniform if everyone on the 40-man roster is killed in some kind of tragic blimp accident. In the good news department he stole 116 bases over the past two seasons in the minors so he may be able to help your Triple-A roto team. In his defense, his career line of 211/255/274 has come in just 102 plate appearances and he’s hit a more respectable 270/344/360 over more than 3,000 at-bats in the minors.

    Topics: catching |

    4 Responses to “Catch and throw guys”

    1. Greg Says:
      February 5th, 2010 at 9:32 am

      The Phillies pitchers may allow less runs when Ruiz is catching overall, but the numbers are fairly negligible in my mind due to the fact that he “only” catches about 60% of the innings. If it were more like a 70/30 split, then maybe I’d be more impressed. Honestly, I don’t know what to make of all of this.

      I like the Villareal signing. He could really help if he’s healthy.

      Let’s hope against a blimp accident.

    2. egrissom Says:
      February 5th, 2010 at 9:49 am

      I don’t know what to make of Villarreal. If it doesn’t mean we don’t get someone else I’d surely rather have him than not. He wasn’t real good in 2007 and 2008 — in those years he combined to throw to a 4.50 ERA with a 1.46 ratio. And that’s before missing a year for surgery. I don’t think it’s a great sign that nobody seems to know when he’ll be able to pitch. Honestly, though, I’m worried enough about the pen at this point that I do think that bodies who had had any success at the major league level are a help.

      I’m not sure I understand your point about the percentage of innings that Ruiz caught. I agree it’s hard to know what to make of the runs allowed per plate appearance stats with and without Ruiz catching.

    3. Catch and throw guys | Philliesflow.com Image Says:
      February 5th, 2010 at 10:31 am

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    4. Greg Says:
      February 5th, 2010 at 1:16 pm

      I don’t know if this clarifies things or not, but I’ll try: Ruiz only seems to catch about 60% of the innings in a good year for him, everybody else 40%. Even if Ruiz only allows .91 of the runs that everybody else does (or the backups allow 1.09 more runs), it doesn’t seem like Ruiz catches enough innings to really benefit from that. If he caught, say, 70% of the innings in a season I would feel it to be more of an advantage.

      Whatever the case may be, I like the signing. Even if he is league average at the position offensively, there is obvious value in his defense and the contract seems about in-line with league average production.

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