Name that Catcher

by Getting Yosted on Jul 30, 2009 4:41 PM CDT Comment 16 comments

We all know our beloved Jason Kendall has struggled at the plate recently, but exactly how bad has he been? Here is Kendall's average for the last 3 years: 243/317/309 and a 67 OPS+. For some historical perspective(and a fun guessing game) on these seasons of futility: What catcher, known for his innovative approach to catching knuckleballs, posted a 200/293/287/62 OPS+ career line? This career spanned six years in an era so dominated by pitchers it led to multiple rule changes.

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has to be Ueck

or was it just rhetorical?

by keephopealive on Jul 30, 2009 4:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Definitely Uecker

by cwolf20 on Jul 30, 2009 5:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

agree

plus i think he said that he waited for the knuckler to stop rolling and then would just walk over and pick it up.

by Capt Science on Jul 30, 2009 5:44 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Uke

He owned Sandy Koufax

by statsllc on Jul 30, 2009 7:15 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree...

He considers one of of his two career highlights getting intentionally walked by Koufax. Go Ueck!

by bplatz on Jul 31, 2009 12:03 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

the other...

Career highlights? I had two. I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.

by Capt Science on Jul 31, 2009 3:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was that obvious, huh.

I just thought it weird that our starting catcher, who is so great he can’t sit for more than 30 games a year and bat lead-off periodically has put together three years comparable to a guy who’s offensive production is a punchline around baseball.

On the plus side, at least he’s being compared to a Hall of Famer!

by Getting Yosted on Jul 30, 2009 10:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Not that comparable...

Yes, if you compare Kendall’s last three seasons to Uecker’s career in terms of BA, OBP, SLG and OPS+, they do seem comparable… although Kendall’s is still better across the board.

If you check their stats a little closer, you’ll also notice that Uecker struck out quite a bit considering he wasn’t a power hitter. Yes, Kendall isn’t hitting nearly as well as he’s done in his career, but he is very patient at the plate and doesn’t strike out very much.

Although I do agree that Macha should play Rivera more.

by sjlee on Jul 31, 2009 12:13 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Although, with more ABs, we'd actually see how not very good Rivera is...

by Mykenk on Jul 31, 2009 8:58 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not this again

by Getting Yosted on Jul 31, 2009 9:13 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Possibly...

but the fact of the matter is that we already know what Kendall is capable of at the plate in 150+ games.

Rivera may only hit .250 with more ABs, but that would still be an improvement over Kendall. Plus, despite saying he’s fine playing this much, I think that Kendall would actually perform better with more rest.

by sjlee on Jul 31, 2009 9:26 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

by Hyatt on Jul 31, 2009 9:54 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Your'e failing to take into account Ueck's game-calling skills

I’d like to point out that Ueck’s game-calling ability with Niekro was practically flawless which puts him on par with Kendall for that intangible.

by ecocd on Jul 31, 2009 10:33 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs

well played

Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".

by tcyoung on Aug 3, 2009 1:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

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