John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

Catcher Pickoff Leaders

Over the last several seasons, no one compares. Yadier Molina has nabbed more baserunners who fell asleep on the bases than any other catcher by a wide margin. Here are the leaders in catcher pickoffs since 2003:

How much is that helping his team? In The Fielding Bible—Volume II, we spent a considerable amount of time and effort on translating catcher defense into Defensive Runs Saved. We are now adding catcher pickoffs as an additional element. Based on analyzing run values, each catcher pickoff is estimated to save the team .46 runs. Over the years, Molina’s 33 pickoffs are worth 15 runs. Once again, no one compares to Yadier:

In 2009, the Yadier version of the Molina brothers is once again doing well, currently tied for third in most defensive Runs Saved at catcher. Here are the 2009 Runs Saved leaders for catchers, now including catcher pickoffs:

Used with permission from John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™, http://www.statoftheweek.com/.

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