Catching On

Who are the two major league pitchers with 3 wins, and an ERA and WHIP each below 1.00?

Yup, you got Roy Halladay. The other?

No, not Tim Lincecum. Hint: he's a Cardinal.

Adam Wainwright? Good guess, but no. Chris Carpenter? Strike three.

Give up? Thought so.

Brad Penny. Yes, that Brad Penny. After spending a month with the Giants rebounding from a disastrous stint in Boston, Penny has re-emerged with St. Louis. But really, you can just add his revival to the list.

Jeff Weaver. Braden Looper. Jeff Suppan. Todd Wellemeyer. Kyle Lohse. Joel Pinero. All these pitchers came to the St. Louis Cardinals after less-than-stellar seasons, and most teams had less-than-active interest in picking them up. And all of them became at least solid middle-of-the-rotation type guys crucial to a quality pitching staff. (Ask the Mets.)

Weaver and Suppan were key components to a World Series title. Wellemeyer and Looper were bullpen-retreads turned reliable starters. Pinero took his 5.88 ERA from 2005 to his mid-2007 trade to St. Louis, and posted a 4.15 ERA over the next two and a half seasons, including a 15-win, 3.49 ERA campaign in 2009.

So Penny is following a pattern, and has allowed just three earned runs allowed in over 28 innings. The lore of St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan grows by another right arm. (We have barely broached the brilliance of Wainwright and Carpenter.) The Cardinals' pitching coach has clearly been pivotal in keeping the staff competitive year-in, year-out despite never really splurging on the free agent market or even attempting to compete on price with other teams on their own success stories.

But that might even be a superficial explanation. There's another common element in the equation, one that has more to do with a pitcher's success than most realize. It's the man behind the man behind the scenes. Or in this case, the man behind the dish.

Yadier Molina is regarded by most as the best defensive catcher in baseball. (This "most" includes other catchers.) What is poorly understood and rarely relayed by analysts is just how helpful that can be to a pitching staff. Most recognize that Molina ties anchors to base-runners. Teams simply don't try to steal on them, and when they do, they regularly get thrown out about half the time...if they're not picked off first. (Only eight have even tried this year; four have failed. And he regularly leads the league in pick-offs) This obviously takes tons of pressure off pitchers.

But the handcuffs he puts on would-be thieves might just scratch the surface. His ability to block pitches in the dirt allows pitchers to throw breaking balls with any count and with any number of runners on without worrying about a wild pitch. (Don't think this is lost on Wainwright and his freakish bender.) In addition, his biggest contribution might be the game he calls. Even Duncan himself concurs:

"I think pitch to pitch along with Yadi, and I find my thinking very predictable where his is very innovative." So said the man largely credited with being the reason pitchers have success in St. Louis, quoted from an article about Molina last August.

And the pitchers trust him; quotes like this don't come out of nowhere:

“Last year, I shook Yadi off only four times. And I gave up 3 hits," said Kyle Loshe in that same article.

The article (written by Lindsay Berra, granddaughter of catching great Yogi Berra, of all people) does an incredible job of explaining Molina's value. It also raises an important question, one that I haven't seen addressed effectively since: quantifying the value of catchers.

Jorge Posada makes about $9 million more than Molina in a year, and yet his defensive stats are routinely brutal. Last year, he had a catcher's ERA over 1.75 runs higher than his primary backup (go figure, another Molina: Jose). It was about a run higher than Jose's the previous year. Think about that: the last two years, the same Yankee pitchers allowed well over a run more per game when Posada caught. And no one writes a word about it. Nothing. But if Posada hits 5 more home runs this year than last year and drives in 15 more runs, everyone will be all over the ageless hitter's increased "production."

So Brad Penny was walking into a great situation, even if writers and analysts have a hard time explaining just how great. Now, let's be fair. This is a smart veteran who had success in the past, and who admittedly had turned things around somewhat with a sub-3.00 ERA in his final month last year with San Francisco. And his ERA probably won't stay under one all year. This isn't turning water into Cy Young, here. But it certainly shouldn't be as surprising as it's been to people that Penny has shot out of the gate in St. Louis. (Go check to see where Penny was drafted in your fantasy league. If he was drafted.)

In this fantasy-happy and Bill James stat-happy world, it's remarkable that we haven't been able to even attempt to address the evaluation of the second most important position on the field. And considering the everyday vs. 230-innings-per-year imbalance with catchers vs. pitchers, maybe the most important. We rarely even consider a catcher's direct defensive influence on the game, and fail completely with regard to his effect on his pitchers. It's about time we (your languishing GM probably included) start figuring out who the other catchers (and coaches) are that can help transform a pitcher's, or even large parts of an entire staff's, career. And maybe even start paying them as such.