catcher if you can
now we got catchers. we continue to order by at-bats.

Player           aab   w   k hr 23  wal  con  pow  avg

lopez,javy       585  53  97 23 36 .083 .834 .121 .316

javy. he busted out in 2003, mostly due to a little thing called hittin the ball real hard. he maintained in 2004, with the deep flies going to the wall instead of over it. also set career highs in at-bats, doubles, hits, and walks, and tied career highs in games and innings caught. games caught and innings caught. sorry about the indefinite modifier. in a year in which he wanted to reduce his workload. maybe next year, javy. baby. javy baby. gotta be a difference maker.

kendall,jason    578  78  41  3 32 .119 .929 .065 .319

also a difference maker, obviously. look at those on-base skills. and he's a catcher. the high con means he can score in low-run situations, ie against good pitchers.

loduca,paul      541  45  49 13 31 .077 .909 .089 .286

skills approaching kendall's, but not quite there. still a strong contributor.

rodriguez,ivan   531  44  91 19 34 .077 .829 .120 .334

i was expecting better breakdowns. that contact has gotta be a career low. outside of the month of .500, things don't look good. still, he's pudge. that's good power for detroit, and the defense needs no introduction. put the decline of the marlins and the rise of the tigers next to eachother, and you gotta conclude he's a difference maker.

lots of difference makers at catcher this year.

martinez,victor  526  65  69 23 39 .110 .869 .136 .283

number 1 catcher of the year. good patience, great contact/power combo. he turns 26 thursday, so expect a top 10 career.

lieberthal,mike  480  48  69 17 32 .091 .856 .119 .271

quality performer for a long time. still a strong contributor.

pierzynski,a.j.  474  34  27 11 30 .067 .943 .092 .272

best contact of all, and strong power in a pitcher's park. easily a strong contributor.

estrada,johnny   466  50  66  9 36 .097 .858 .113 .314

great patience and power for that contact. gotta be a difference maker. we'll do a ranking at the end.

barrett,michael  464  38  64 16 38 .076 .862 .135 .287

michael always had the skills, but didn't have the luck. this year he did. strong contributor.

varitek,jason    464  72 126 18 31 .134 .728 .145 .296

great patience, great power. but lots of strikeouts. strong contributor, but barely.

so far no guys.

piazza,mike      458  70  78 20 21 .133 .830 .108 .266

again, patience and power, with decent contact. strong contributor. it'll be interesting to see if he becomes a difference maker again.

posada,jorge     450  96  92 21 31 .176 .796 .145 .272

yeah. i don't know how he walks that much. difference maker. sorry to kill the suspense.

schneider,brian  438  45  63 12 23 .093 .856 .093 .257

solid all-around skills. and i hear he plays defense. still, he must improve patience or power to be a strong contributor.

inge,brandon     414  36  72 13 22 .080 .826 .102 .287

not a catcher anymore, but still a guy. actually his offense improved a lot this year.

hall,toby        411  29  41  8 21 .066 .900 .078 .255

you gotta figure one of these years toby'll get some power and start hurtin people. we'll see. till then he's a guy.

ausmus,brad      406  35  56  5 15 .079 .862 .057 .248

guy, barely.

miller,damian    399  41  87  9 25 .093 .782 .109 .272

ditto.

larue,jason      393  49 108 14 26 .111 .725 .140 .251

yeah.

hernandez,ramon  388  40  45 18 23 .093 .884 .120 .276

now this kid can hit. compare with johnny estrada. lower average, but better contact, and way more home runs, in a pitcher's park. the big one. death to fly ball stadium. strong contributor. good candidate for difference maker next year.

matheny,mike     388  26  83  5 23 .063 .786 .092 .247

his defense must be something if they still let him hit.

mike and the rest are guys.

barajas,rod      365  16  63 15 27 .042 .827 .139 .249

molina,bengie    341  20  35 10 13 .055 .897 .075 .276

zaun,gregg       339  53  61  6 24 .135 .820 .108 .269

wilson,dan       324  26  57  2 13 .074 .824 .056 .251

blanco,henry     318  23  56 10 20 .067 .824 .115 .206

moeller,chad     318  25  74  5 14 .073 .767 .078 .208

johnson,charles  306  54  91 13 20 .150 .703 .153 .236

olivo,miguel     302  23  84 13 19 .071 .722 .147 .233

redmond,mike     248  21  28  2 15 .078 .887 .077 .256

buck,john        239  15  79 12  9 .059 .669 .131 .235

bennett,gary     222  24  32  3 14 .098 .856 .089 .224

melhuse,adam     214  16  47 11 11 .070 .780 .132 .257

valentin,javier  204  18  36  6 11 .081 .824 .101 .233

molina,jose      203  10  52  3 12 .047 .744 .099 .261

greene,todd      196  13  38 10 14 .062 .806 .152 .282

hammock,robby    196  13  39  4 18 .062 .801 .140 .241

davis,ben        194  13  49  6  9 .063 .747 .103 .207

mayne,brent      193  27  41  0  7 .123 .788 .046 .221

cash,kevin       183  14  59  4  9 .071 .678 .105 .193

santiago,benito  176  10  32  6 10 .054 .818 .111 .274

brito,juan       173  10  41  3  7 .055 .763 .076 .205

torrealba,yorvi  173  19  31  6 10 .099 .821 .113 .227

perez,eddie      171  15  29  3 12 .081 .830 .106 .229

ross,dave        170  20  62  5  4 .105 .635 .083 .170

chavez,raul      162  10  38  0  8 .058 .765 .065 .210

mirabelli,doug   160  22  46  9 12 .121 .713 .184 .281

wilson,vance     160  15  24  4 11 .086 .850 .110 .274

ojeda,miguel     158  16  34  8  3 .092 .785 .089 .256

fordyce,brook    151  11  34  2  6 .068 .775 .068 .205

laird,gerald     150  14  35  1  6 .085 .767 .061 .224

alomar,sandy     148  13  13  2  4 .081 .912 .044 .240

diaz,einar       142  15  10  1  7 .096 .930 .061 .223

bako,paul        139  17  29  1  8 .109 .791 .082 .203

molina,yadier    136  13  20  2  6 .087 .853 .069 .267

pratt,todd       129  19  38  3  5 .128 .705 .088 .258

flaherty,john    127   6  25  6  9 .045 .803 .147 .252

burke,jamie      121  11  13  0  9 .083 .893 .083 .333

pellow,kit       121  12  43  2  6 .090 .645 .103 .240

laker,tim        118   8  28  3  2 .063 .763 .056 .214

closser,j.d.     113   8  22  1  6 .066 .805 .077 .319

mauer,joe        110  12  14  6  9 .098 .873 .156 .308

mauer's gotta be an up-and-comer, if his knees hold up. other up-and-comers include chris snyder of the diamondbacks, guillermo quiroz of the blue jays, and dioner navarro, who the yankees lucked into not trading to the dodgers. don't worry, they'll send him somewhere.

ranking:
1. martinez
2. posada
3. kendall
4. rodriguez
5. lopez
6. estrada
7. hernandez
8. loduca
9. pierzynski
10. barrett
11. piazza
12. varitek
13. lieberthal

i had 5 and 6 switched, as well as 8 and 9. but playing time makes the difference.
- posted by julien @ 7:52 PM