Best defensive catchers, 2008

Runs saved, 2008

Jason Kendall +13
Kurt Suzuki, +13
Joe Mauer, +9
Jose Molina, +7
Dioner Navarro, +7
Rod Barajas, +7

Worst
Ramon Hernandez -10
Saltalamacchia, -7

I calculate how many passed balls, wild pitchers, errors, steals, and caught stealing each catcher has compared to a league average catcher. The run value is -.275 for err, pb, wp, -.19 for steals, and +.44 for caught stealing. This does not adjust for pitcher. When I run these from retrosheet data, I adjust for pitcher handedness (though not for specific pitcher) and for catcher pickoffs. At some point I'd like to add tag plays at the plate if it makes sense to do so.

Jason Kendall? Consistent is one thing he's not. Last year, after throwing poorly for the A's, was godawful for the Cubs, 52 steals against him in 57 attempts, and I think a few of the CS were actually pitcher CS that Kendall had nothing to do with.

Kendall threw OK in 2006, was well below average in 2005, and wasn't bad in his Pirate years. He's good with the non-SB aspects of catching, and is extremely durable for the position. My take on Kendall is that he has the ability to be a good defensive catcher, but if his mechanics get out of whack, it can take a full season before he fixes them.