It’s likely a rookie or young catcher will have communication problems with his starting pitchers. They have a gameplan; their gameplan might not fit what the catcher is thinking. A lot of times, confusion becomes problem, and problem becomes issue. Especially on the stat sheet. I thought going through starts for Marson, Carlos Ruiz and Chris Coste could better help us understand if, maybe, pitching struggles was more of a backstop problem.
Carlos Ruiz: 4 G, 21 R, 15 K, 6 BB, .404 AVG
Chris Coste: 9 G, 28 R, 38 K, 12 BB, .298 AVG
Lou Marson: 6 G, 22 R, 30 K, 16 BB, .304 AVG
These are short sample sizes, but Ruiz had the first run through the rotation, and it wasn’t good at all. Interesting trends: Marson has not caught Cole Hamels or Jamie Moyer, while Chris Coste has not caught Joe Blanton. Meanwhile, Marson has caught Brett Myers twice despite Coste allegedly being Myers’ personal catcher. Coste’s better numbers might be better explained by being Moyer’s catcher (and not Blanton’s). Then again, could Coste make Blanton better?
There’s no way of telling, at least here, if the receivers aren’t calling good games. But it does seem, however, that Coste is benefiting some how.
