Is David Ross the worst catcher of all-time at making a play at the plate? It seems like every time a runner is bearing down on him, he drops the ball. The same thing happened tonight.
Is David Ross the worst catcher of all-time at making a play at the plate? It seems like every time a runner is bearing down on him, he drops the ball. The same thing happened tonight.
Not the worst of all time
Most catchers don't get the out in that situation. That is what makes it an exciting play when it does happen.
All time... No
Past 3 seasons... you could make a case
Really, last 3 seasons? I don't think so. Last year Ross had a better FP than the league average and his first year here (the first of those 3 seasons) he was one of the best hitting catchers in the league. I think Ross is now peaked and is a solid back up, but he is far from the worst in the league.
Jack Eliot: I'm a World Series MVP!
Skip: That was four years ago, Jack. Last season, you hit .235.
Jack Eliot: LAST SEASON, I led this team in ninth-inning doubles in the month of August!
---Mr. Baseball 1992
Ross is terrible at making plays at the plate. I doubt anyone in MLB is worse at it than him. :thumbdown
There have been worse than Ross. He has better numbers at that position than Eddie Taubensee did and is has a .989 career fielding average which is one point below Jason Larue's career average. He has even had better years (defensively) than the great Johnny Bench did. Bench had some .986 or worse years. This is not a knock on Bench but merely putting Ross' defense in perspective. Go on and compare him to others on baseball-reference.com. Now his offense is another story.
Jack Eliot: I'm a World Series MVP!
Skip: That was four years ago, Jack. Last season, you hit .235.
Jack Eliot: LAST SEASON, I led this team in ninth-inning doubles in the month of August!
---Mr. Baseball 1992
Those plays at the plate won't factor into his fielding percentage, since they're almost never charged as errors. The question was, is he the worst on those plays to the plate? I can't quote you stats on it, but he does seem to screw it up every freaking time!!!
Ross is far from the problem with this team. And no, he doesn't "screw it up" every time. Sports fans are so reactionary. If he goes on a hot streak we will see people posting threads about whether or not he is untouchable in trades etc.
Thats funny because last night after his botched play at home, I admit I had the same initial reaction "He is horrible with plays at the plate." But after they showed the replay a couple of times the thing that bothered me wasn't that he had misplayed the short hop, but the fact that he had taken steps back, leaving the plate wide open, to make the play. That must not be one of the little things that George Grande likes to talk about all the time because last night all he said was how the near perfect throw by Dunn would have been better if it had bounced a couple times.
Last edited by Orenda; 06-26-2008 at 12:40 PM.
So Grande blames Dunn for a perfect throw. That seems about right. Ross does drop a ton of throws at the plate. I wish they had a stat for that.
Stupid Dunn.
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