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Darkstone42
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I have recently become absolutely fascinated by pitch receiving. I love watching what the catcher does. Everything about it is so subtle, but it's such a big impact on the game.
Jonathan Lucroy is exceptional at receiving pitches. He uses his body, just slightly shifting toward the zone, catches the ball quietly, and any motion of the glove back to the zone is quick and subtle.
Here is Lucroy talking about it.
Diamond Demo: Lucroy's catching | MLB.com
And here's an article discussing trying to quantify the value of framing.
Jonathan Lucroy, Catcher Framing, and the NL MVP | FanGraphs Baseball
Mike Zunino and Christian Vazquez are a couple rookies who do it well. Below is Vazquez, who uses incredible quickness rather than quietness (like Lucroy) to frame his pitches.
On the other hand, a bad framer can cost his pitcher strikes, especially on the bottom of the zone. This is especially problematic for sinkerballers. Adrian Nieto has demonstrated himself as an awful framer, contributing to the worst strike zone of 2014 in a problematic start for White Sox pitcher (and hilarious human) Scott Carroll.
Investigating The Worst Strike Zone of 2014 | FanGraphs Baseball
Notice how Nieto starts his glove in the middle of the zone, then dives it below the knees to catch the ball. That pitch was comfortably in the strike zone when it crossed the plate, but Nieto took it so far and so sharply down below the zone, the umpire called it a ball.
There are a number of examples in the article (in gif form) of Nieto framing terribly, including outright missing a ball.
In any case, since pitch receiving is aesthetically one of my favorite parts of baseball, I figured I'd start a thread on it.
Jonathan Lucroy is exceptional at receiving pitches. He uses his body, just slightly shifting toward the zone, catches the ball quietly, and any motion of the glove back to the zone is quick and subtle.
Here is Lucroy talking about it.
Diamond Demo: Lucroy's catching | MLB.com
And here's an article discussing trying to quantify the value of framing.
Jonathan Lucroy, Catcher Framing, and the NL MVP | FanGraphs Baseball
Mike Zunino and Christian Vazquez are a couple rookies who do it well. Below is Vazquez, who uses incredible quickness rather than quietness (like Lucroy) to frame his pitches.
On the other hand, a bad framer can cost his pitcher strikes, especially on the bottom of the zone. This is especially problematic for sinkerballers. Adrian Nieto has demonstrated himself as an awful framer, contributing to the worst strike zone of 2014 in a problematic start for White Sox pitcher (and hilarious human) Scott Carroll.
Investigating The Worst Strike Zone of 2014 | FanGraphs Baseball
Notice how Nieto starts his glove in the middle of the zone, then dives it below the knees to catch the ball. That pitch was comfortably in the strike zone when it crossed the plate, but Nieto took it so far and so sharply down below the zone, the umpire called it a ball.
There are a number of examples in the article (in gif form) of Nieto framing terribly, including outright missing a ball.
In any case, since pitch receiving is aesthetically one of my favorite parts of baseball, I figured I'd start a thread on it.
