Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeyMikey
Of course not, but Rudel wasn't the one making the statment that there is a significant difference in ability to call a game.
There may be a difference, but the signficance is at best undetectable.
To put your statement another way. Somebody should not give a player a ranking in a skill that may or may not exist and isn't quantifiable.
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Managers, pitchers, etc. note the difference. They may not be able to quantify it in any statistical way, but clearly given the emphasis on calling a good game throughout the culture of baseball there's something to it. I mean basically you guys are suggesting that a catcher with a better understand of his opponents and his pitcher won't necessarily call a better game than me or you. Which is just silly.
Part of the problem is that calling a game is so dependent on the given pitcher and the given opponent and that it's hard to isolate and observe independently.
I think it's erroneous to simply eliminate the aspect of calling a game because we can't measure it. It stinks but we have to rely more on human observation and reputation, basically scouts and managers and other players to distinguish who has this skill and who doesn't. I get that it's totally unsatisfactory, but it's what we have to go with.