Wilson Ramos is a Better Fit for the Mets than J.T. Realmuto

Ramos vs. Realmuto on Defense

Over the past year more defensive catching metrics, most regarding pitch framing, have become a part of mainstream baseball discussion. It makes a lot of sense that these stats have become more prevalent; a catcher’s job behind the plate is very unique, so looking at other preexisting fielding metrics doesn’t help one evaluate players very much in the context of the position.

One testament to the importance of defense when teams are evaluating catcher’s is that on average catcher’s have the lowest OPS of any position, meaning teams put a premium on finding someone who can field the position soundly versus catcher’s with big bats (with a few exceptions like Mike Piazza).

One of the most comprehensive statistics for evaluating a catcher’s pitch framing is Strike Zone Runs Saved, abbreviated as RszC. This is another area where Realmuto and Ramos were pretty comparable in 2018; both had an RszC of -2, meaning pitch framing wasn’t their forte but they weren’t unbelievable bad at it. This is about on par with Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki’s -3 RszC, who would have taken a bulk of the Mets catching work had no one else been acquired.

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Another great catching stat that takes into account both framing alongside other important defensive aspects of catching, like pitch blocking and pick offs, is

Baseball Prospectus’ FRAA_ADJ

. Ramos has a slightly better FRAA_ADJ with a 0.9; Realmuto has a 0.4. This difference isn’t really significant, and continues to show that both catchers are bigger assets swinging the bat than behind the plate. For context the catcher with the best FRAA_ADJ in 2018 was

Yasmani Grandal

, who is still on the market as a free agent, with a 16.3, mostly due to his pitch framing.

One place that Realmuto does significantly better than Ramos is blocking. The young and athletic Realmuto had 0.9 blocking runs in 2018 compared to Ramos’ -0.1. The Mets pitching staff isn’t particularly wild and relies more on velocity and control than crazy breaking balls, so this isn’t too big a strike against Ramos.

The conclusion we can draw from defensive metrics between the two is pretty similar to what was found when looking at offense. Realmuto has more room to grow, and is a bit more athletic than Ramos, meaning that in the long term he will probably end up the better defensive catcher (if his coaches allow him to focus on improving in that area. They might be fine with him as a bat-first catcher).

Ramos is more complete at the moment, but is also less durable. Over the two year period the Mets will have him he’s the safer defensive choice, though the difference isn’t drastic, and Realmuto will be available in two years if the Mets decide they still want his services.