Indians remind us what a baseball town Cleveland can be: While We’re Waiting
October 21, 2016Eye of the (Bengal) Tiger: Browns-Bengals Preview
October 21, 2016When it comes to a small sample, the smallest marginal gains can chance an entire series. The pitcher-defense interaction is most easily understood in the relationship between pitcher and catcher. There are four essential components of good catching: framing, game calling, blocking, and throwing(deterrence).
When baseball’s ninth best offense is held to eight runs in five games — shutout twice — it is important to examine what the pitching staff and defense did correctly. Of course, part of baseball is randomness and variance which can explain part of this but the Indians dominated an outstanding offense with a No. 1 starter, No. 5 starter and a lot of bullpen innings.
While Ron Darling and Ernie Johnson wielded a potpourri of cliches offering less insight than the baseball consumer thought possible, they did emphasize how exceptional Roberto Perez was throughout the series. The TBS announcing crew were not the only ones to emphasize Perez’ brilliance. His teammates heaped praise:
Ryan Merritt regarding preparation for Game 5 with Roberto Perez:
I have thrown to Roberto before, I’m comfortable with him, he knew my strengths and played to my strengths.
Miller, Allen, Tomlin and Kluber all went out of their way to praise the catcher for his game calling and overall defensive help in silencing Toronto bats.
Because Perez was solid in each of the four areas, I want to take a look at the different ways he impacted the series defensively, first with pitch framing. Perez by any measure was a top ten pitch framer in Major League Baseball in the 2016 regular season, something inordinately useful in upgrading an already good pitching staff.
However, when the samples get smaller, the minimal advantages to be gained become more and more important. This series is a sterling example of the potential impacts of pitch framing.
Perez value started in Game 1, grabbing strikes and putting his starting pitcher in an advantageous position against dangerous hitters.
In the top of the sixth in a 0-0 game, Perez made a game-saving frame. It seems like hyperbole but judge for yourself.
Call helps #Indians
Strike 3 should be ball 4
Top 6 Kluber vs Bautista
4% call same
3.9in from edge pic.twitter.com/M29V00NIeC— Indians Strike Zone (@IndiansUmp) October 15, 2016
Perez shifted the outcome from runner on first with no outs in a 0-0 game to one out and nobody on. The Indians would go on to score in the bottom of the sixth and take a 2-0 lead but this frame was part of a momentum grab. The run expectancy with a runner on first and no outs .87, with one out and no one on .27. A run expectancy swing of half a run in a game with a final score of 2-0.
Perez was not done. In the ninth inning of Game 2, Perez would grab another important strike to protect the lead.
Call helps #Indians
Strike 3 should be ball 4
Top 9 Allen vs Encarnacion
34% call same
0.9in from edge pic.twitter.com/VnyTuHf28h— Indians Strike Zone (@IndiansUmp) October 15, 2016
With no outs and a one run lead, Cody Allen faced a full count to Edwin Encarnacion with the game on the line. Perez grabbed a strike increasing the Indians win expectancy on Fangraphs from 84.4 percent to 91.5 percent, a huge gain in a high leverage situation.
“Circumstances” as Jose Bautista described them were Roberto Perez being a pitch-framing savant.
Perez grabbed another advantage against Bautista in Game 5 for young starter Ryan Merritt.
Call helps #Indians
Strike 1 should be ball 1
Bot 4 Merritt vs Bautista
20% call same
1.9in from edge pic.twitter.com/QxAfE85uQN— Indians Strike Zone (@IndiansUmp) October 19, 2016
With the at bat ending in a fly out, in another close win. There are no doubt more examples but the two above were huge in aiding the Indians advancing to the World Series.
Moving on to the other catcher defense buckets of importance. Perez arm served as a tool of deterrence, his regular season success including to base running kills of the Royals Terrence Gore resulted in the Blue Jays being relatively passive on the base paths.
Usage and blocking for the purpose of this discussion will be discussed hand in hand. The Indians scouting reported noted that Blue Jays were best attacked with heavy breaking ball usage, the best example being Josh Tomlin.
Tomlin’s curveball — while perhaps his best offering — was used sparingly in 2016 until October.
During the regular season, Josh Tomlin threw his curveball 15% of the time. Of his 76 pitches today, 42% have been curveballs.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 15, 2016
Similar usage spikes were visible for Kluber, Merritt, and various relievers.
Perez used the works of advance scouts and constructed a game plan with Mickey Callaway which they executed brilliantly. His ability to sequence pitches and adapt the game plan through the lineup was a huge advantage for the Indians pitching staff.
I include blocking as a related topic because Perez game-calling strategy in terms of usage, raises his responsibility immensely. Calling a large amount of breaking balls increased the importance of Perez’ ability to keep the ball in front of him. With all of the offerings in the dirt, Perez did not register a single passed ball, which showcased his outstanding blocking skills.
Was Roberto Perez really the ALCS MVP? Probably not, but sometimes all the little things a catcher does when aggregated can shift the probability of a series. The 2016 ALCS would have been much closer if not for Roberto Perez.
2 Comments
Good stuff, Michael. Callaway had more good things to say about Perez in Terry Pluto’s article today.
Ahh, the little things can be so big.
I was all for the Lucroy trade and thought catcher would be a weakness in the playoffs, even after baseball people warned me there was much more to handling the staff. I am an idiot.
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