MLB.com’s Langs: Why Adley will be baseball’s best catcher in ‘23

[Frobby]

https://www.mlb.com/news/adley-rutschman-mlb-best-catcher-2023

But we knew that!
 

 

[JimGinSP]

Always appreciate Sara Langs’ breakdowns.  She’s a stat geek who takes the time to explain the context of a given stat to those trying to keep up.  

[sportsfan8703]

MVP

[Frobby]

I think Adley will be even better in 2023 than 2022, for three reasons:

1.  No ramp-up necessary. It took Adley a few weeks to adjust last year.  .422 OPS in his first 15 games, .868 thereafter.  And, he was consistent about it.  No month under .842 in July/August//September.

2.  Better success vs. LHP.  Adley’s splits vs. R/L last year were .889/.552, but he’s better than that vs. LHP.  In the minors in 2021, he was .825/1.060.   I believe he’ll adjust and hit better vs. lefties in ‘23.

3.  Better HR/FB rate.  Adley had an 8.0% HR/FB rate last year, slightly lower than league average and definitely low for someone of his size and strength.   I think we’ll see that number rise this year.  

Adley was amazing last year but this year I think he’ll be a serious MVP candidate.   
 

[owknows]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

I think Adley will be even better in 2023 than 2022, for three reasons:

1.  No ramp-up necessary. It took Adley a few weeks to adjust last year.  .422 OPS in his first 15 games, .868 thereafter.  And, he was consistent about it.  No month under .842 in July/August//September.

2.  Better success vs. LHP.  Adley’s splits vs. R/L last year were .889/.552, but he’s better than that vs. LHP.  In the minors in 2021, he was .825/1.060.   I believe he’ll adjust and hit better vs. lefties in ‘23.

3.  Better HR/FB rate.  Adley had an 8.0% HR/FB rate last year, slightly lower than league average and definitely low for someone of his size and strength.   I think we’ll see that number rise this year.  

Adley was amazing last year but this year I think he’ll be a serious MVP candidate.   
 

And I think he brings at least equal value behind the plate. Elevating the pitching staff has meant a lot.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, owknows said:

And I think he brings at least equal value behind the plate. Elevating the pitching staff has meant a lot.

He clearly does.  I was hard pressed to specify what he could do better there there than he did last year, but more experience can only help.  

[Moose Milligan]

Imagine the WAR he’ll put up when he plays in all 162. He’s 25, his knees are fine. I understand if he’ll have to DH every so often but really he should be able to play in all 162 and not think twice about it. 

[HakunaSakata]

Great article (thanks for sharing!) and this really has me pumped. I'm envisioning the defensive version of Sean Murphy, but with a much better bat. Really looking forward to watching Adley shine this season. 

[Just Regular]

 

[byrdz]

Lock.. him... up.. now

[Sports Guy]

He didn’t “win” but chugging down a stout like that is also a good reason why.

 

[Just Regular]

Fun video....I wouldn't have minded seeing a number lower than 85 on G-Rod to start out the spring, but I guess dues must be paid.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

On 2/4/2023 at 12:30 PM, Moose Milligan said:

Imagine the WAR he’ll put up when he plays in all 162. He’s 25, his knees are fine. I understand if he’ll have to DH every so often but really he should be able to play in all 162 and not think twice about it. 

10 WAR season you can do it Adley!

[Legend_Of_Joey]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:30 AM, Moose Milligan said:

Imagine the WAR he’ll put up when he plays in all 162. He’s 25, his knees are fine. I understand if he’ll have to DH every so often but really he should be able to play in all 162 and not think twice about it. 

162? Are you insane? Why would Adley play 162 games!?

Clearly it would be 173 games to get through the playoff sweep to the World Series this season.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

162? Are you insane? Why would Adley play 162 games!?

Clearly it would be 173 games to get through the playoff sweep to the World Series this season.

He's going to have to play all the spring training games as well, to get him into game shape.