BCB Community Report Card: Catcher Grade & Infield Vote

The Report Card

The grade on this one fell right in the middle of the A-/B+ range. Since it was close, I went with the side that got more votes and gave them an B+. Opinions on the catchers were very positive, with almost all votes falling in-between an A+ and B-. The one complaint people had was Maldonado's offense. Beyond that, it was all positive reviews for the catchers.

Here are some more detailed opinions from the community:

cooper82 - Had to go with a B+. Giving 1/4 of the PA to Maldonado brings it down quite a bit. More Ron’s fault really.

GoldenFrank - A-. Lucroy had a very fine season with the bat, and chipping in 9/10 SBs is an added bonus. His low % of throwing runners out keeps him from being elite, although Rock is always quick to blame whatever pitcher is on the mound. He’s often mentioned as a top pitch framer (a category that I think should be renamed "Umpires are bad at calling balls and strikes") and seems to be loved by all pitchers not named Randy Wolf.

Maldonado’s offensive season was atrocious. There’s really no other way to put it. 2012 appears to have been an outlier. Nothing sums it up better than his August 30th pop up with the bases loaded on a 3-0 Jared Weaver pitch. Whether it’s coincidence, or Maldonado actually calling a better game, pitchers seems to have better results when he’s pitching. Personally, I really enjoy watching him catch. He’s got a laser-rocket arm and he’s not afraid to throw down to first or third to catch a napping baserunner. Just plain fun to watch. DM could do much worse for a backup catcher.

aaronetc - Same grade for me (A-), and same reasons. But I think 2014 is it for Maldonado if he doesn’t figure out how to hit. I don’t know how feasible it is to go into every Peralta start with essentially a seven-man line-up. Yo actually hit better than Maldonado this year, and Estrada was close.

Next Vote: The Infield

We now move from one of the easier votes to one of the more difficult votes. If I just asked you to vote for the middle infield, the vote would be on the positive side because of players like Jean Segura and Scooter Gennett. Meanwhile, if I asked you to vote for the corner infield, that vote would be more on the negative side because of Alex Gonzalez, Juan Francisco, and Yuniesky Betancourt. When you have to consider both at the same time, how will that affect your vote? Let's find out.

(Note on the stats: I omitted any players that played less than 10 games at one of these positions.)

First Base

Second Base

Third Base

Shortstop

Now that you've seen the stats, what do you think? What grade does the infield get? The vote is open now and will remain open until 3 pm on Monday. Vote below and leave your thoughts in the comments below.