Atlanta Braves feature 9 defenders on midyear SABR Defensive Index
By Fred Owens
Braves catcher stats are complicated
All of the metrics available to me suggest Flowers would fall in the top ten catchers if he had played enough innings to qualify for the midyear list. He ranks ahead of Suzuki in most readily available categories and my best guess puts him at the eight or nine slot on the list.
Based on that Flowers should be primary catcher but it isn’t that simple. The problem facing the Braves comes on the other side of the ball.
Looking at catchers with 180 PA, Flowers ranks eighth in wRC+ (102) and Suzuki ninth (97) but Suzuki has 100 more PA skewing the wRC+ count in Flowers favor.
Suzuki also posts a higher OPS – a relatively weak .727 – than Flowers .709 and hits left and right-handed pitchers equally well.
| Split | PA | AB | HR | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHP | 219 | 194 | 4 | 13 | 20 | .247 | .315 | .387 | .702 |
| vs LHP | 68 | 62 | 4 | 5 | 11 | .258 | .324 | .484 | .807 |
Flowers also has a huge L/R split.
| Split | PA | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RH Starter | 102 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 24 | .193 | .304 | .273 | .577 |
| vs LH Starter | 82 | 3 | 12 | 17 | 20 | .270 | .439 | .444 | .883 |
The difference gets bigger when relievers are included.
| Split | PA | AB | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHP | 126 | 111 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 33 | .162 | .262 | .234 | .496 |
| vs LHP | 58 | 40 | 3 | 11 | 16 | 11 | .400 | .586 | .650 | 1.236 |
These splits are typical of his career numbers outside of 2016 and 2017.
Based on these numbers, Flowers should face only left-handed pitching. That and age are why the Braves’ free agent search this off-season will certainly include better catching.