Arizona Diamondbacks taking steps to improve system defense
The Arizona Diamondbacks take a significant step to improve their defense.
Though the Arizona Diamondbacks fielded a strong offensive lineup, hits and runs are not the criteria which necessarily defines winning.
Throughout the recently-completed season, catcher Chris Iannetta constantly told Call to the Pen that it’s pitching and defense which wins championships. From a pitching standpoint, starters clearly kept the opposition in most games and the Arizona team ERA was over a run lower in 2017 than 2016. Still, the emphasis remains on limiting chances of the opposition while maximizing their own opportunities.
To that end, the Diamondbacks are heavy on analytics, trends, development and crunching numbers. Scouting charts have given way to The Playbook, and the emphasis of expanding technology over a scout’s eye and judgment.
In that vein, the Diamondbacks took an important strategic step for 2018 improvement.
Moving minor league manager J. R. House from the bench at Double AA Jackson to a roving catching instructor throughout the organization, the Diamondbacks hope to strengthen their emphasis on development and policy enhancement.
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As House, who is currently managing Salt River in the Arizona Fall League, told Call to the Pen, the move is designed to keep the Diamondbacks competitive in general and develop a shut-down mode in execution.
“I’ll be going through the minor-league system, helping the catchers and make sure that each coaching staff is able to facilitate the developmental standards we have for our catchers,” he said. “Make sure they’re moving in the right direction.”
A catcher by trade, House joined the Diamondbacks organization six year ago, and managed Spilt-Season Hillsboro and Advanced-A Visalia before named to Jackson in 2017. Now, House will tuck general manager Mike Hazen’s book of analytics under his arm, and set about to improve and enhance catching sills throughout the organization.
In the past, minors league coaches would lend assistance to catchers, but did so from a helpful vantage. The help did not come from a substantive standard because, as House pointed out, those coaches were not catchers.
“My responsibility is to work directly with the catchers themselves,” he said. “But, also to assist the coaches who never caught. When I’m not here, or not someone on staff who was never a catcher, they be able to get the work in and help became better players.”
The aim is toward development, because numbers, for 2017 at the major-league level, were not impressive.
Just in the category of throwing runners out attempting to steal, those behind the plate for Arizona were not imposing.
Of the three catchers employed by manager Torey Lovullo, runners stole 25 bases in 35 attempts on Chris Herrmann, and runners swiped 25 bases on Iannetta in 33 attempts. Only Mathis had quasi-success by gunning down 14 of 29 base runners.
Now, House, who played for Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston at the major-league level, takes over an area in need of improvement. Not only does House and the organization recognize the need to improve defensively behind the plate, but also to open important lines of communication between the pitching staff and catchers.
“We proved in our off-season acquisitions and what we were looking for in a catcher,” he said in reference to Mathis and Iannetta. “We showed what is needed to do to move forward, and how important that is to our success. So, we’re trying to develop that internally as well.”
To that end, major league coach Robbie Hammock put together a criterion of the routes catchers need to follow to reach the major league, His job was essentially to define what House called, “a big-league catcher.”
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At the same time, the Diamondbacks want to cultivate the trust factor between pitchers and catchers, and develop leadership skills beyond throwing, receiving and handling a pitching staff.
Going forward, House wants to answer essential questions pertaining to both catchers and pitches, “can we trust this guy, and does he have leadership skills?”
Then again, House pointed out, “if we don’t have this within our system, we’ll go out and buy that.”