Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards
One of those subjects that make the defensive knock on Piazza so frustrating. Generally pitchers liked throwing to him and he was good at blocking balls in the dirt, plays at the plate etc. He was pretty awful at throwing out base-stealers. Other than that he was not a bad defensive catcher.
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I think that's part of what makes it so difficult...the fact that there's so many facets of the catching game - you mentioned blocking balls in the dirt and throwing out runners. Add in calling a game, ability to work with pitchers young and old, pitch framing, and more, and you've got a lot of things to measure, that take very different skill sets.
We're starting to see study in this area, which is nice compared to even the 90's, when guys who could throw out would-be base stealers won gold gloves, and those who couldn't were considered "poor defensive catchers" (your Piazza example plus say an Ivan Rodriguez).