John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

Catcher Pickoff Leaders

Over the last several seasons, no one compares. Yadier Molina has nabbed more baserunners who fell asleep on the bases than any other catcher by a wide margin. Here are the leaders in catcher pickoffs since 2003:

Most Catcher Pickoffs
(Since 2003)

Player

Pickoffs
Yadier Molina

33
Miguel Olivo

19
Jose Molina

17
Ivan Rodriguez

13
Jeff Mathis

11

How much is that helping his team? In The Fielding Bible—Volume II, we spent a considerable amount of time and effort on translating catcher defense into Defensive Runs Saved. We are now adding catcher pickoffs as an additional element. Based on analyzing run values, each catcher pickoff is estimated to save the team .46 runs. Over the years, Molina’s 33 pickoffs are worth 15 runs. Once again, no one compares to Yadier:

Defensive Runs Saved Leaders—Catchers
(Since 2003)

Player

Runs Saved
Yadier Molina

45
Jose Molina

35
Ivan Rodriguez

35
Gerald Laird

23
Paul Lo Duca

21

In 2009, the Yadier version of the Molina brothers is once again doing well, currently tied for third in most defensive Runs Saved at catcher. Here are the 2009 Runs Saved leaders for catchers, now including catcher pickoffs:

Defensive Runs Saved Leaders—Catchers
(2009 through September 10)

Player

Runs Saved
Koyie Hill

8
Rob Johnson

8
Yadier Molina

4
Russell Martin

4
Kenji Johjima

4
Miguel Montero

4
Jeff Mathis

4
Joe Mauer

4
David Ross

4
Eliezer Alfonzo

4

Used with permission from John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™, http://www.statoftheweek.com/.

Related posts:

  1. John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™ Who are baseball’s best and worst baserunners? In The Bill James Handbook 2010 we analyze a player’s baserunning ability.  For each player, we measure his...
  2. John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™ Who are the Fielding Bible Award winners for 2009? THE 2009 FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS have been officially announced after one of the closest races in...
  3. John Dewan’s Stat of the Weekâ„¢ Who are the MVP leaders based on Total Runs? Teams are clinching playoff spots almost daily now that we’re in the last week of the...
  4. John Dewan’s Stat of the Weekâ„¢ Who are the Rookie of the Year leaders based on Total Runs? With just over two weeks left in the 2009 season, let’s take a...
  5. John Dewan’s Stat of the Weekâ„¢ How many scoops? The most recent edition of ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball pitted the New York Yankees against the Tampa Bay Rays. Rick Sutcliffe, former...

September 13, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: John Dewan, Stat of the Week, stats BallHype: hype it up!

Leave a Reply