The Astros’ Quiet Catching Advantage
CLEVELAND — In the seventh inning on Friday at Progressive Field, Astros starting catcher Brian McCann did not come out for his scheduled at-bat. Instead, fellow catcher Max Stassi appeared out of the third-base dugout as a pinch-hitter. Astros manager A.J. Hinch had elected to pinch-hit for his starting catcher with another catcher to face Indians left-hander Tyler Olson, owner of considerable splits. We don’t often see a manager pinch-hit for his starting catcher, but the decision worked: Stassi singled.
The Astros have not exactly made it a regular practice, but it was the eighth time they have pinch-hit with a catcher for a catcher this season in order to gain the platoon advantage. But the Astros are one of the teams that has regularly tried to do this with the left-handed McCann and right-handed Stassi and Evan Gattis. (With McCann going on the DL on Tuesday, the Astros’ aggressive catcher platooning will be placed on hold, probably.)
In an age where managers try to leverage handedness as often as possible, catchers have the lowest platoon advantage (41.4%) among all non-pitchers, according to research assistance from Sean Dolinar. Shortstop is next (42.8%) and is the only position that doesn’t enjoy a platoon advantage the majority of the time. What they share is status as specialized, glove-first positions:
| Position | PA | Platoon Adv % |
|---|---|---|
| P | 1572 | 40.1% |
| C | 5883 | 41.4% |
| 1B | 6359 | 61.7% |
| 2B | 6328 | 60.8% |
| 3B | 6275 | 53.5% |
| SS | 6173 | 42.8% |
| LF | 6318 | 59.8% |
| CF | 6244 | 51.9% |
| RF | 6304 | 54.7% |
| DH | 3137 | 50.7% |
| PH | 1568 | 67.5% |
If a club is looking for a position from which to extract more value by facing more opposite-handed pitchers, catcher is the untapped positional market.
Of course, the problem is the scarcity of catchers who can hit — the position collectively holds an 87 wRC+ this season — let alone left-handed-hitting catchers. Also, roster flexibility is an issue, as a majority of teams only carry two catchers.
The Astros are carrying three, including Gattis, who has only caught four innings this season but was behind the plate for 413 innings last year.
The Astros are one of nine teams enjoying a platoon advantage at the position. The Dodgers (84.5% platoon advantage) are an outlier amongst hopeful contenders. Not only do they roster the switch-hitting Yasmani Grandal, but they essentially have formed a platoon where the right-handed bat of Austin Barnes starts often against left-handed pitching. It’s quietly been a significant advantage.
FanGraphs asked Hinch about whether he’s become more curious and interested in trying to create platoon advantages with his three catchers, including in response to in-game matchups.
“When I hit Stassi for McCann [Friday], there is some safety net knowing there is a third catcher,” Hinch said. “The schedule doesn’t always allow you to play a perfect platoon. You may run into a string of night games, or a string of right-handers or left-handers where a perfect platoon is not always going to happen. Third catcher on roster does help… against a mid-game, pinch-hit platoon situation that you don’t mind going to.”
While Gattis hasn’t caught much this year, he notes it’s another area the club is trying to leverage as much as possible to create advantages.
“I think it makes sense, it’s pretty cool,” Gattis said. “I think it just makes us more dynamic. We have a bunch of guys that play outfield-infield and we have three catchers. Two right-handed and a left-handed, which is good.”
Hinch said Stassi and McCann sit in on all pre-game scouting meetings with that day’s stating pitcher and Astros pitching coach Brent Strom, so having familiarity with an opponent and a plan of attack shouldn’t be a problem. But could there be issues in not having an up-close view of opposing batters’ swings and takes before entering the game in the middle or late innings as a catcher off the bench?
“I think there’s something to be said for a pitcher and catcher being in rhythm, same game plan,” Gattis said. “But the guy coming into the game will be prepared. Our guys know what they want to do.”
The Astros are perhaps making the case that there is value in carrying a third catcher — that is, if a club can find three competent catchers. That’s easier said than done at a weak-hitting position, but even if a club is carrying two below-average offensive catchers, platoon advantage is still platoon advantage. Catcher is, of course, a highly specialized position, so if a club can carry players who are capable of playing infield and outfield positions, it frees up more flexibility to enable a third catcher.
Advantages are tough to find and even more difficult to retain in today’s game. But if you want to increase your platoon advantage, there is a glaring opportunity available.
A Cleveland native, FanGraphs writer Travis Sawchik is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Big Data Baseball. He also contributes to The Athletic Cleveland, and has written for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, among other outlets. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Sawchik.
Rumor has it Stassi is second among AL rookies in WAR among position players. Hard to believe he still has rookie status in his 6th season (looks like most of his time was in September and Astros beat writer confirmed he is still technically a rookie).
Funny what a .412 BABIP will do for your WAR…
That and being a good defensive catcher. Expect his offense to crater, but defense (even without taking into account framing) to keep him playing and accumulating WAR. There is a very good chance he remains in the top 3-4 in rookie position player fWAR for the season.
Stassi looks to be a good framer. But he is actually the worst in MLB in pop time among guys with more than 5 attempts according to statcast with an avg pop of 2.15, thats no bueno
Never really understood why managers don’t pinch hit Catcher B for Catcher A more often. I understand that if Catcher B goes on to get hurt, then you’re stuck without a catcher. But so what? The worst case outcome is still only that you lose the single game.
While I think there’s a case to be made for using catchers more flexibly, the worst case outcome is that other players also get injured because non-catchers are not used to what catchers have to do – alternating between squatting and standing, and catching 95+ mph fastballs and sharp curveballs coming straight at you.
Oh I have no doubt. But it’s not going to happen until inning 6+ anyway, and if your utility infielder has to catch a couple of innings … well … all sorts of bad things will happen. But in the end it’s still just one game that you lose, and then you fix your roster before the next day’s contest.
MY assumption has always been that managers don’t do it more often because given the physical demands of the position they want an off-day to be an off-day and not “Hey, we need you to come in and catch a few innings even though you’re over 30 and have been sitting on the bench for 2 hours getting stiff. Oh, and if this thing goes 15 innings, well, sorry. “
Catchers are easily injured, so most managers are very reluctant to remove the starter.
So Bobby Cox was right after all???
Thanks for a good read. The fact that DH’s only have the advantage half the time is interesting; they’re next lowest after shortstop and lower than center field. How much does this have to do with handedness? Are DH’s disproportionately right-handed like catchers and shortstops?
I thought the same thing. Seems like they would be along the lines of LF and 1B in that you can essentially play the matchup in every game. My thought is that the DH is like a half day off for most teams now, so the platoon player for the position, say LF, goes to play LF for the night while the regular LF moves to DH, negating the platoon advantage.
So this discussion on the Astros’ advantage in carrying 3 catchers and using it to gain platoon advantages begs the question of why Cora doesn’t do it more often with the Red Sox. Leon is starting to swing better, which is nice, but most of the rest of this season has been characterised by a) Boston posting the worst offensive catching stats in MLB and b) a reluctance to ever use Blake Swihart (20G / 44PA, albeit 3/11 in the past 5 games).
As the article points out, taking advantage of a 3rd catcher on the roster doesn’t necessarily mean playing him more. You get the same or more benefit by pinch-hitting for your weakest batter in high-leverage situations with the best option on the bench, knowing that you have two catchers still available to swap in for the remainder of the game. As a Sox fan I was excited about that prospect in ST and have surprised that a manager like Cora, who seems otherwise quite amenable to new ideas, hasn’t taken advantage of this opportunity his roster provides him.
I do have to admit that having looked through the box scores it does appear that the Sox have replaced their catcher (or would have had to replace their catcher had they scored runs to extend the game) on 9 occasions this season. That’s more than I had expected. They also seem to be doing it a bit more in mid-May (5 times in 10 games from 9/5 to 18/5) but haven’t done it in the 11 games since.
Platoon advantage aside, shouldn’t this be adjusted for ability (wRC vs LHP/RHP)? I’m right handed, but I’d pinch hit any LH MLB player over myself against LHP.
In other words, a “platoon advantage” isn’t always a real advantage. I get the concept and appreciate the work but we shouldn’t look at this with such broad strokes.
I think the Problem is not to find catchers who can hit but hitters who can catch. 10 years ago guys like napoli, vmart and santana were catching but then came framing data saying this is so important that the defense of mike napoli will cost you more than positional value and his 115 wrc+ or so would gain you.
Teaching hitters how to frame (even if blocking and throwing never becomes great) could be a big potential for improvement in player development because if you turn mike napoli (or this generation’s napoli kyle schwarber:)) into a decent framer that could give you a big advantage.
“…another catcher to face Indians left-hander Tyler Olson, owner of considerable splits. I think A.J. feels comfortable with that catcher vs. lefties because of his own considerable splits — 35 PA, .500 BA, 1.324 OPS, .268 wRC+!