Consistent Catcher Production Key To Atlanta Braves Success
By W. M. Lawson
The Atlanta Braves (39-28) slid past the Mets Wednesday to expand their tenuous NL East lead. That Divisional lead is due, in part, to the less than heralded Catcher platoon.
There are any number of reasons one could point to as a driver or contributor as to why our Atlanta Braves currently lead the Division in mid-June, and look to be legit contenders throughout the year. Freddie Freeman. If you don’t start there, you don’t know this team. Nick Markakis. Starting Pitching. The slightly better than average Bullpen. Young talented players showing out ahead of schedule. Improved Defense. All would be true. But, one area that consistently gets overlooked is the quality and consistent production from the platoon at Catcher.
No one in their right mind would argue, vehemently anyway, that Tyler Flowers and/or Kurt Suzuki should be All-Stars. In fact, in order to be considered a candidate for league leader in hitting stats, one has to average 3.1 PA (plate appearances) per team game played. A quick glance will show that neither qualifies based on that criteria.
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Both, however, would be Top 5 in Batting Average at their position, were either qualified. And that is in all of MLB. A little known fact is that, based on that criteria, only six Catchers do qualify.
Tyler Flowers, though having spent some time on the DL already, sports a line that reads .275 BA, .827 OPS with 12 RBI. That OPS is higher than Buster Posey’s.
Kurt Suzuki, the 30-plus year old stalwart when Flowers is hurt, has a line that reads .274 BA, .807 OPS with 24 RBI.
The aforementioned Buster Posey, from the 229, I might add, has a line that reads .293 BA, .788 OPS with 24 RBI. Posey is the number 1 ranked Catcher, statistically, according to MLB.com.
The point here is that, while Freddie Freeman is getting all the love, and deservedly so, and while Albies, Acuna, Swanson, and Inciarte get the fan focus, and while Folty, Newcomb, Teheran, and Soroka have fans excited about pitching again, Flowers and Suzuki have platooned to give top-level play from behind and at the plate.
And because they share time, and do their thing quietly, most overlook their collective contributions, it seems.
It is a rarity to get .275 production from the Cather position. It is also a rarity that this kind of production is matched with better than average backstop performance. It is rarer still that it would come from a platoon. Very rare.
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While not as flashy, the contribution, day in and day out, from Flowers and Suzuki helps fuel this NL East Division leading drive. It would be a mistake to dismiss or overlook this as fact.