Quantifying defence behind the plate: Where does Barajas stand?


Fangraph's Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) has become one of the established methods for quantifying the quality of a player's defense at his position. One major shotfall to UZR is that it currently is not able to give an appropriate score to catchers; many factors influence how good a catcher is at his position which do not apply to any other position: SB/CS ratio, passed balls, reputation—will a player not attempt to steal because so-and-so is behind the plate?—to name a few factors.

chuckb writes on Beyond the Box Score about a metric that he's developed to rate a catcher's defensive value (and conveniently he attempts to put it in the same context as UZR).

So, where does Barajas rank among the cathers in the league? Ninths, at a cost of -8.663 runs per 150 innings. Ironically, he sits one back of Greg Zaun. Hanigan was rated the top defensive catching at -0.693 R/150 Hundley was last at -39.560 R/150. I found it amusing to see Posada in the penultimate position with a -34.564 R/150.

Player Watch: August 5, 2009.





Here is today's prospect update. There's some good news for position players:

Travis Snider LF







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AAA) 5 9 6 1 2 11 0.500 0.625 1.278










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AAA) 35 36 9 1 9 30 0.293 0.400 0.602
Blue Jays 32 24 6 0 3 12 0.242 0.292 0.394
Totals 67 60 15 1 12 42 0.270 0.355 0.509










J.P. Arencibia C







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AAA) 4 2 0 0 0 1 0.143 0.235 0.143










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AAA) 83 75 26 1 11 48 0.227 0.278 0.411
Totals 83 75 26 1 11 48 0.227 0.278 0.411










Brian Dopirak 1B







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AAA) 5 11 0 0 5 12 0.478 0.478 1.130










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 87 101 29 1 19 68 0.308 0.374 0.576
Blue Jays (AAA) 17 27 3 0 5 16 0.375 0.387 0.625
Totals 104 128 32 1 24 84 0.320 0.376 0.585










Brian Jeroloman C







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 4 4 0 1 0 0 0.333 0.385 0.500










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 84 66 12 1 6 22 0.235 0.345 0.349
Totals 84 66 12 1 6 22 0.235 0.345 0.349










Kyle Phillips C







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AAA) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0.250 0.400 0.250










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 12 7 0 0 1 1 0.175 0.233 0.250
Blue Jays (AAA) 53 65 12 0 5 16 0.333 0.400 0.472
Totals 65 72 12 0 6 17 0.306 0.373 0.434










Justin Jackson SS







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (A+) 78 53 12 1 0 17 0.213 0.321 0.269
Totals 78 53 12 1 0 17 0.213 0.321 0.269










David Cooper 1B







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 5 5 2 0 1 4 0.263 0.263 0.526










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 94 88 23 0 5 46 0.251 0.322 0.360
Totals 94 88 23 0 5 46 0.251 0.322 0.360










Kevin Ahrens 3B







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (A+) 4 5 2 0 0 1 0.313 0.333 0.438










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (A+) 84 65 14 1 2 26 0.212 0.283 0.283
Totals 84 65 14 1 2 26 0.212 0.283 0.283










Brad Emaus 2B/3B






Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 5 6 0 0 1 2 0.353 0.450 0.529










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 107 101 25 2 7 49 0.256 0.341 0.382
Totals 107 101 25 2 7 49 0.256 0.341 0.382










Eric Thames OF







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (A+) 42 48 11 2 2 30 0.308 0.391 0.442
Totals 42 48 11 2 2 30 0.308 0.391 0.442










Scott Campbell 2B







Week









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (AA) 4 1 0 0 0 2 0.071 0.188 0.071










Season









G H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OPB SLG
Blue Jays (A+) 5 10 1 0 0 3 0.500 0.522 0.550
Blue Jays (AA) 27 22 5 1 2 13 0.234 0.339 0.372
Blue Jays (AAA) 27 22 3 1 0 6 0.229 0.327 0.281
Totals 59 54 9 2 2 22 0.257 0.351 0.348

Travis Snider was an absolute monster at the dish last week. Over 18 at bats he was slugging 1.278 and had a monster .625 OBP. Not to be outdone, Brian Dopirak also had a great week at the plate; a whopping 1.130 slug with 12 RBIs. Hopefully we'll get to see Dopirak in Toronto as a September callup—I'm sure he'll hit better than Millar and probably better than Overbay. Jeroloman also had a good week in New Hampshire, and once again Arencibia continues to struggle this season. Jeroloman is making a case to be the future starting catcher over Arencibia. Justin Jackson and Eric Thames are both injured and on the 7-day DL.

On to the pitchers:

Ricky Romero LHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays 1 0 2.57 1 7.0 0 1 5 1.29










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays (A+) 0 1 13.50 1 4.0 2 1 5 1.75
Blue Jays (AA) 0 0 1.69 1 5.1 0 5 4 1.57
Blue Jays (AAA) 0 0 7.20 1 5.0 0 2 3 2.00
Blue Jays 10 4 3.53 17 109.2 13 42 87 1.38










Brett Cecil LHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays 1 0 5.14 1 7.0 0 1 3 1.00










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA) 1 5 5.69 9 49.0 2 19 32 1.47
Blue Jays 5 1 4.36 11 66.0 9 25 52 1.53










Marc Rzepczynski LHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays 1 2 3.25 5 27.2 1 17 30 1.32










Zach Stewart RHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP










Robert Ray RHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays (A+) 0 1 4.91 1 3.2 0 0 1 2.19
Blue Jays (AAA) 0 0 0.00 1 4.1 0 3 3 1.22
Blue Jays 1 2 4.44 4 24.1 4 6 13 1.20










Brad Mills LHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA) 2 8 4.06 14 84.1 6 35 72 1.40
Blue Jays 0 1 14.09 2 7.2 4 6 9 2.78

Romero had a an excellent start in Oakland last week. Cecil's start last week wasn't as solid has his previous two with the Jays, but what he has show since being recalled has definitely been good. Rzed didn't get a start, but is on the mount tonight versus the Yankees. Both Mills and Ray are injured and not pitching.

Notice that I've added Zach Stewart (acquired in the Rolen deal). He has yet to make an appearance in Las Vegas.

On to the rehabbers:

Shaun Marcum RHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays (A+) 0 1 3.00 2 6.0 0 0 5 1.17
Blue Jays (AA) 0 1 1.17 2 7.2 1 2 8 1.39
Blue Jays (AAA) 0 0 4.50 1 2.0 0 1 0 1.50










Casey Jansen RHP







Week









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA) 0 0 0.00 0 2.0 0 0 2 0.50










Season









W L ERA GS IP HR BB SO WHIP
Blue Jays (R) 0 0 9.00 0 1.0 0 0 0 2.00
Blue Jays (A+) 0 0 0.69 3 13.0 0 2 10 0.62
Blue Jays (AA) 1 0 2.40 1 15.0 0 5 12 1.13
Blue Jays (AAA) 0 0 9.82 0 3.2 0 1 3 1.56
Blue Jays 2 3 6.23 5 26.0 4 7 11 1.81

After making his way quickly to Class AAA during his rehab stint, Marcum did not pitch over the last week in Las Vegas. No news as to why. Hopefully he hasn't aggravated the injury; he was timelined to be back mid-late August, and I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch in the MLB again.

Casey Jansen also didn't see much action pitching from the pen in Class AAA. The two innings that he did pitch were solid.