A catcher ranks near the top of the Atlanta Braves to-do list. The Braves aging backstop duo led MLB in passed balls; catching defense must improve.
There’s little doubt age slowed both Atlanta Braves receivers in 2019, and Brian McCann’s surgically repaired knees were an issue on both sides of the ball.
Tyler Flowers led MLB in passed ball futility, allowing 16 of the 24 pitches that didn’t find the glove make their way to the screen.
The Atlanta Braves also tied for at #21 in wild pitches (70). According to the rules, wild pitches fall on the shoulders of the pitcher, and a pitch that touches the dirt in front of the plate and gets by the catcher is a wild pitch even if an average catcher would handle the pitch.
I make that point because I saw a few wild pitches that were the fault of the catcher. Our pitchers weren’t as wild as that statistic indicates.
The Duo of Flowers and newly retired Atlanta Braves icon Brian McCann, ranks sixth on Fangraphs list of National League teams, with 3.2 fWAR, their 28.5 composite DEF stat ranked third, and their 5 DRS ranked eighth. There are several caveats to those overall numbers.
In the first half, Atlanta Braves catchers produced 2.0 fWAR (fifth); in the second half, that dropped to 1.2 fWar (sixth).
In the first half catchers provided 91 wRC+ (fifth) and a .315 wOBA (sixth); in the second half 85 wRC+ (tenth) and a .313 wOBA (seventh).
Among 22 NL catchers who received at least 3000, Baseball Prospectus ranks Flowers and McCann:
- Adj FRAA – Flowers 13.0 (seventh), McCann 4.3 (eleventh)
- Framing runs – Flowers 15.3 (third), McCann 5.3 (tenth)
- Blocking runs – Flowers –3.8 (#22), McCann –0.9 (#18)
- Throwing runs – Flowers –0.6 (#19), McCann –0.7 (#20)
Fangraphs show Flowers finished with #11 of 30 catchers with 250 PA with 2.1 fWAR, but in offensive production stats, he ranked near the bottom – #18 RC+ and # 22 in wOBA. In short, the only thing keeping him viable is his pitch framing.