With the likelihood of a shortened MLB season growing by the day streaming and targeting matchups will be more important in our 2020 fantasy world than ever before. One of the best places to take a stab at that is using catcher defense to try and mine some stolen bases. Two things factor into this: how often a catcher is run on and how often they throw runners out. Ideally, you’re getting a good matchup on both sides, like finding toilet paper at the grocery store that’s also not sandpaper texture, but I’d prefer volume to efficiency. Here are the 2019 stats and some of the likely hot spots.
| Name | Team | SB | CS | CS% | Inn | SB/Inn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson Ramos | NYM | 94 | 17 | 15.3% | 1016.1 | 0.09 |
| Yasmani Grandal | MIL | 73 | 27 | 27.0% | 1095.2 | 0.07 |
| Omar Narvaez | SEA | 58 | 13 | 18.3% | 815.2 | 0.07 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | – – – | 53 | 18 | 25.4% | 669 | 0.08 |
| Jeff Mathis | TEX | 50 | 10 | 16.7% | 651.1 | 0.08 |
| Buster Posey | SFG | 50 | 24 | 32.4% | 846.1 | 0.06 |
| Josh Phegley | OAK | 50 | 24 | 32.4% | 824 | 0.06 |
| J.T. Realmuto | PHI | 49 | 43 | 46.7% | 1139.1 | 0.04 |
| Robinson Chirinos | HOU | 45 | 12 | 21.1% | 966 | 0.05 |
| Kurt Suzuki | WSN | 45 | 5 | 10.0% | 628.1 | 0.07 |
| Tony Wolters | COL | 44 | 23 | 34.3% | 904.1 | 0.05 |
| Elias Diaz | PIT | 42 | 15 | 26.3% | 706.2 | 0.06 |
| Pedro Severino | BAL | 42 | 13 | 23.6% | 719.2 | 0.06 |
| Danny Jansen | TOR | 42 | 19 | 31.1% | 852.2 | 0.05 |
| Yan Gomes | WSN | 41 | 18 | 30.5% | 787 | 0.05 |
| Tucker Barnhart | CIN | 41 | 12 | 22.6% | 773 | 0.05 |
| Willson Contreras | CHC | 39 | 16 | 29.1% | 811.2 | 0.05 |
| Tyler Flowers | ATL | 38 | 9 | 19.1% | 679 | 0.06 |
| Grayson Greiner | DET | 38 | 13 | 25.5% | 509 | 0.07 |
| John Hicks | DET | 37 | 16 | 30.2% | 494.1 | 0.07 |
| James McCann | CHW | 37 | 17 | 31.5% | 905.1 | 0.04 |
| Brian McCann | ATL | 36 | 9 | 20.0% | 678 | 0.05 |
| Christian Vazquez | BOS | 36 | 22 | 37.9% | 918 | 0.04 |
| Gary Sanchez | NYY | 36 | 11 | 23.4% | 742.2 | 0.05 |
| Travis d’Arnaud | – – – | 35 | 14 | 28.6% | 626.2 | 0.06 |
| Curt Casali | CIN | 34 | 11 | 24.4% | 504.1 | 0.07 |
| Tomas Nido | NYM | 34 | 3 | 8.1% | 341.2 | 0.10 |
| Jorge Alfaro | MIA | 33 | 16 | 32.7% | 973 | 0.03 |
| Carson Kelly | ARI | 32 | 15 | 31.9% | 785.2 | 0.04 |
| Mitch Garver | MIN | 31 | 6 | 16.2% | 673.2 | 0.05 |
- It should come as no surprise to anyone that’s scratched the surface of this data that the Mets catchers get hung out to dry continuously. Even more interesting since the coaching staff was new coming into 2019 and nothing changed. They’ll be under new management again. I wouldn’t expect a different result. Maybe a slight improvement since Noah Syndergaard, the worst offender, will miss the season with TJS.
- Kurt Suzuki’s not throwing anyone out these days. He’s not catching every day, either though. You’ll have to find your spots to attack.
- The Rangers should be a good team to target. Neither Robinson Chirinos nor Jeff Mathis do much to discourage base stealers.
- The Tigers are taking a chance on career backup Austin Romine as their starting catcher. We’ll see how that pans out. His 2019 offensive numbers are decent but flawed in sample size. Should he not hold onto the job either of the backup options has been a frequent target of opposing green lights.
- An interesting game of musical chairs (catcher version) happened with Yasmani Grandal heading to the ChiSox and Omar Narvaez replacing him in Milwaukee. Grandal and the Brewers pitchers were run on often. It could have been a product of some of the youth in the pitching staff. Grandal was solid throwing out 27% of runners. Narvaez threw out about 9% less. There could be a stress point fracturing here.
