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MLB: NL Sabermetric All-Stars

By Jim Turvey

Jul 12, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; National League pitcher Jon Lester (34) of the Chicago Cubs waves as he is introduced before the 2016 MLB All Star Game at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 12, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; National League pitcher Jon Lester (34) of the Chicago Cubs waves as he is introduced before the 2016 MLB All Star Game at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

Catcher: Yasmani Grandal (Los Angeles Dodgers)

This is a win for catcher defense. Grandal’s closest competition for the spot was Buster Posey, and he was indeed quite stiff competition. If we go simply by fWAR (which, again, is not the point of this All-Star list), the two are tied at 1.9 wins above replacement through Thursday.

Posey is slashing .345/.435/.540 with seven home runs and 32 RuBIns (runs + RBI).

Grandal is slashing .292/.359/.496 with five home runs and 37 RuBIns.

Posey holds the edge in wRC+ by a difference of 163 to 129. If we were choosing an NL catcher strictly by their offensive performance, Posey would be the guy.

But catcher is a position that requires a lot more depth of analysis than almost any other position on the baseball diamond. And Grandal holds a nice advantage of Posey in all defensive metrics. In fact, Grandal is the best defensive backstop in all of baseball – and it’s not particularly close. Grandal has been worth 7.2 runs, per FanGraphs defensive value metrics, with no other catcher in baseball within even two runs of Grandal. FanGraphs doesn’t measure pitch framing as of now, but Baseball Prospectus does, and once again no catcher can catch Grandal, as he leads all catchers by 0.6 runs so far this season by BP’s pitch framing runs. BP’s catcher stats also agree with FanGraphs that Grandal is the best throwing catcher in baseball. Add it all up and it’s quite clear that Grandal is a dominant force on the defensive side of things.

As we saw above, it’s not as though Grandal has been a let down on the offensive side of things either. His 22 RBI are tied for the most among NL catchers, and his wRC+ of 129 ranks third (behind Posey and Tyler Flowers). Grandal has also been heating up of late, with a wRC+ of 164 for the month of May and four extra-base hits in his last six games. In fact, Grandal has at least one extra-base hit in 10 of his last 14 starts, and if he keeps this up, might even pass Posey on the offensive side of the equation. For now, his defense is enough to lock in his spot as the NL All-Star backstop.

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