Molina tied for 5th in pickoffs

NOTEBOOK: Molina tied for pickoffs

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Originally Posted by Derrick Goold and Rick Hummel, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

04/07/2008

Yadier Molina’s pickoff of Washington Nationals base runner Lastings Milledge in the first inning Sunday was the 20th of the catcher’s career, pushing him into a territory only 10-year vets at the position usually tread.

With 20, Molina is tied for fifth in pickoffs since 1987, the first season STATS has complete data for the statistic. Detroit’s Ivan Rodriguez leads the game with 81 pickoffs. The list plummets from there to Benito Santiago’s 45 since ’87.

But all of the catchers listed ahead of Molina have 13 or more seasons at the position. Molina is just starting his fourth as the everyday catcher. Two spots ahead of Molina on the rankings is his mentor Mike Matheny, who picked off 26 base runners in his 13-year career.

"Every time they give me a chance, I will take it," Molina said.

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emphasis mine

If he had a bat he could be an MVP contender

Molina's glove is severely underrated. He's been deserving of the Gold Glove ever since he came into the league. Now, don't get me wrong, Martin's a very good defensive catcher in his own right, but he won the award because he's also a good offensive catcher and offense matters more than it should in Gold Glove voting (it shouldn't matter at all).

Steal Attempts / Game : Molina 0.48, Martin 0.82
Caught Stealing % : Molina 50.0%, Martin 28.1%
Blocking Pitches in the Dirt %: Molina 91%, Martin 87%
Runs Saved Above Average / 120 Games by Blocking Pitches in the Dirt: Molina 3.94, Martin 0.79
Throwing Errors: Molina 5, Russell 14

Yeah. Molina is heads and shoulders above the competition, defensively.

Molina picked off another tonight

Just like everything else in the civilized world, gold glove voting is corrupt.

It's not really corrupt, it's just that most people understand offense and don't understand defense. Offense is easier to see. Granted, people voting for Awards ought to know, but they just don't.

Molina is definately getting noticed for his defense though (finally), so I'm willing to bet that he'll begin to receive some serious attention for the Gold Glove (finally).

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Originally Posted by ohms_law

It's not really corrupt, it's just that most people understand offense and don't understand defense. Offense is easier to see. Granted, people voting for Awards ought to know, but they just don't.

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Also, a "great defensive play" is more visually appealing than a great offensive play, so when a player makes a great defensive play, that one sticks in the minds, and he gets a reputation even if it's not warranted, like Gary Matthews - one mindblowingly awesome theft of a home run, and people think hes a great center fielder, when he's really just around average.

Derek Jeter is another guy. He makes some very visually awesome plays. The thing is, they look so awesome because he's not a good shortstop and makes play look difficult and other good shortstops like the extremely underrated Adam Everett would make the same play and make it routinely.