Catcher Impact on ERA

[psav13]

Does catcher quality impact pitcher performance?

Looking at the catchers with regular playing time in my PT league and sorting them based on CERA, I tried to find a correlation with defensive ratings. Berra appears as 5 of the top 10 CERA catchers in this league. His catcher fielding is 86 and catcher ability is 78, so maybe there's something to it.

But the next most frequently appearing name on the CERA list is Piazza, with 4 top 15 appearances. He's an awful catcher with 35 fielding and 46 ability.

This left me believing that perhaps catchers have no impact on pitchers in OOTP, and the repeated appearance of these names high on the CERA list simply meant that the teams built with the best pitching also invested in offense, and Berra and Piazza may have been chosen for that reason.

Then again... The Berras appeared on the CERA list at 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 (the better of the best) while the Piazzas were at 8, 10, 14 and 15 (the lesser of the best). So, while it's possible they were chosen for their offense by the teams with (coincidentally) better pitching, perhaps the catching ability does have an impact on CERA and that's what differentiated the placement of the Berras (high) and Pizaas (lower) on this list.

FWIW, on my own team (where the catchers are catching the same staff) Berra has a CERA that's .32 runs better than Cochrane. Small sample size, of course.

Thoughts?

[Sharkn20]

Originally Posted by psav13

Does catcher quality impact pitcher performance?

Looking at the catchers with regular playing time in my PT league and sorting them based on CERA, I tried to find a correlation with defensive ratings. Berra appears as 5 of the top 10 CERA catchers in this league. His catcher fielding is 86 and catcher ability is 78, so maybe there's something to it.

But the next most frequently appearing name on the CERA list is Piazza, with 2 top 10 appearances and 2 more just a bit further down the list. He's an awful catcher with 35 fielding and 46 ability.

This left me believing that perhaps catchers have no impact on pitchers in OOTP, and the repeated appearance of these names high on the CERA list simply meant that the teams built with the best pitching also invested in offense, and Berra and Piazza may simply have been chosen for that reason.

Then again... The Berras appeared on the CERA list at 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 (the better of the best) while the Piazzas were at 8, 10, 14 and 15 (the lesser of the best). So, while it's possible they were chosen for their offense by the teams with (coincidentally) better pitching, perhaps the catching ability does have an impact on CERA and that's what differentiated the placement of the Berras (high) and Pizaas (lower) on this list.

Thoughts?

There are plenty of threads about this already, I prompt you to look for them.

Catcher ability impacts in team ERA
Catcher arm impacts in SB allowed

It's not a linear correlation, more a curve which flattens as you go higher in the ratings.

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[KleineBiere]

CERA is telling you something after 10 seasons or so...but not after a few games


Look for a SP

a) with high stuff und low control ratings
b) has a defensive catcher and someone like Piazza as teammates

and compare the K/9 & BB/9 numbers (you need the boxscores)


also: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...71#post4628071

[Garlon]

They should reduce the impact of catcher ability on pitchers to a minimum in the game. The effect of this in studies is very low for things like pitch framing ability and calling pitches as they affect pitching staffs, and anyway there is no historical data for that.

[Syd Thrift]

Actually IIRC people did find a fairly decent effect, then the league looked at the guys who did this well, copied them, and now there’s virtually no effect anymore. And the biggest effect was always with guys who hadn’t logged their 500+ amateur and minor league games yet (I remember the target of this the very first time people tried to study it was Geno Petralli, who was converted to the position in the minors).

[CBeisbol]

Check the study by Argonaut in the link in my signature

[psav13]

Thanks, all. I appreciate your perspectives and links you shared to other threads.