Super-complicated stat puts Castillo 3rd best at nabbing runners

[Frobby]

So, I have a friend in the neighborhood whose 25-year old son is both a former college baseball player and a stats geek.    He's come up with a stat that takes into account the skill of the runner, the pitcher and the catcher, and the context of the pitch (e.g., ball in the dirt vs. swinging strike, etc.).    He published it in a blog he started, sharpestats.com, and it got picked up by fangraphs in their "community research" section.   

The article closes with a list of the top and bottom 10 catchers, pitchers and runners when it comes to stealing bases (or preventing them.    Welington Castillo was third in stolen base prevention.    Among pitchers, Jake Arrieta was third worst (TTTP!) and Ubaldo Jimenez was 8th worst.

Anyway, its kind of a long and geeky article, but informative if you like that sort of thing.   Here's a link:  https://sharpestats.com/stealing-bases-and-splitting-the-rewards/

[Going Underground]

More to catching besides throwing out runners.

 

He needs to improve, bottom line he needs to improve,’’ Girardi said of Sanchez’s defense following a 7-2 loss Friday night to the Indians in front of a sold-out Progressive Field crowd of 34,466.

Sanchez was charged with his 12th passed ball of the season in the Indians’ two-run second inning and leads all MLB catchers in that ugly department. Those dozen passed balls (three since Sunday) sit next to Sanchez’s 10 errors. He also hasn’t been good at blocking pitches in the dirt, and Girardi sees a reason for that.

http://nypost.com/2017/08/04/girardis-hitting-talk-falls-on-deaf-ears-as-yanks-drop-4th-in-row/