Catchers. 195 comments


The internet is filled with lists. I stumbled across an interesting one yesterday. A list of the top catchers in baseball, compiled by Ben Leibowitz of PointAfter, along with their 2015 salaries.

He used a lot of metrics, both offense and defense, to generate his list.

A few of things of interest. One, the talent level gets really thin really quickly. Two, the salaries vary, with some of the lowest among the “best” catchers and some of the highest among the worst. Three, curiously, Matt Weiters didn’t make it. Four, there wasn’t a Ranger in the top thirty.

Here is the story. And here is his list:

1. Buster Posey, San Francisco, $16,500,000.

2. Francisco Cervelli, Pittsburgh, $987,500.

3. Derek Norris, San Diego, $545,000.

4. Caleb Joseph, Baltimore, $515,000.

5. Yasmani Grandal, Los Angeles Dodgers, $693,000.

6. Russell Martin, Toronto, $7,000,000.

7. Jason Castro, Houston, $4,000,000.

8. Miguel Montero, Chicago Cubs, $12,000,000.

9. Stephen Vogt, Oakland, $512,500.

10. Yadier Molina, Saint Louis, $15,000,000.

11. Brian McCann, New York Yankees, $17,000,000.

12. Salvador Perez, Kansas City, $1,750,000.

13. Tyler Flowers, Chicago White Sox, $2,675,000.

14. Chris Iannetta, Los Angeles Angels, $5,525,000.

15. Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee, $3,000,000.

16. Wilson Ramos, Washington, $3,550,000.

17. Cameron Rupp, Philadelphia, $508,000.

18. Mike Zunino, Seattle, $523,500.

19. J.T. Realmuto, Miami, $482,540.

20. Wellington Castillo, Arizona, $2,100,000.

21. Yan Gomes, Cleveland, $1,000,000.

22. Kurt Suzuki, Minnesota, $6,000,000.

23. Nick Hundley, Colorado, $3,100,000.

24. A. J. Pierzynski, Atlanta, $2,000,000.

25. Blake Swihart, Boston, $432,622.

26. James McCann, Detroit, $507,500.

27. Brayan Peña, Cincinnati, $1,400,000.

28. Rene Rivera, Tampa Bay, $1,200,000.

29. Carlos Ruiz, Philadelphia, $8,500,000.

After looking at the names, and seeing their 2015 production, you could easily draw the conclusion that the Rangers catching corps, while not name brands, is certainly more than serviceable, and is much more desirable than many of the catchers who made the top twenty-nine.

In fact, four players logged time at catcher for the Rangers in 2015. Robinson Chirinos, Carlos Corporan, Chris Gimenez, and Bobby Wilson.

Their combined numbers were:

515 AB, 115 H, 19 HR, 73 RBIs, .223 AVG.

Only four catchers had as many home runs as Texas catchers: Brian McCann had 26, Martin had 23, Perez had 21 and Posey had 19.

Only three catchers had more RBIs: Posey with 95, Brian McCann with 94, and Martin with 77.

All the off-season talk is centering around the Rangers upgrading at catcher. But the reality is, there are not a whole lot of upgrades out there.

Mediocre is the league standard.