The Giants’ “Vote Bengie” All-Star campaign took a hit with Molina’s month-long slump, but amazingly, even with his .265 OBP, Bengie is still a viable candidate. The fans won’t vote him in, no matter how much San Franciscans stuff the ballot box. But perhaps NL manager Charlie Manuel and his staff can be persuaded.
Three of the best hitting catchers in the NL this year — Brian McCann of Atlanta, Carlos Ruiz of Philly and Jesus Flores of D.C. — don’t officially qualify for the batting title (which doesn’t mean they don’t qualify for the All-Star Game, but let’s use that as a cut-off for the sake of argument).
There are only six qualifiers, and Bengie leads them all in slugging. There are some shocking stats other than Bengie’s putrid OBP, such as Russell Martin’s .299 SLG. (Still no home runs for Martin? Gotta be an injury problem.)
But the larger point is that, as much as we shake our heads at Molina’s ultra-hackiness, his peers are either only slightly better thanks to higher OBPs or far worse (Jason Kendall, .572 OPS). None are slugging better than Bengie, though a healthy McCann will soon qualify and officially be the best hitting catcher in the league.
Let’s not forget about defense, though let’s also admit it’s bloody hard to separate a catcher’s performance from his pitching staff. For example, Bengie’s “Catcher ERA” is an excellent 3.87. Is that because of him, or because the Giants have excellent pitchers? He’s allowed 41 steals in 52 attempts. Is that his fault or the fault of pitchers like Jonathan Sanchez and Tim Lincecum who pay little attention to baserunners? (The top catchers in caught-stealing are Pudge Rodriguez in Houston and Bengie’s brother Yadier in St. Louis. Runners have tried fewer than 30 steals against each.)
As far as I know, no stat guru has tried to create a “pitcher-independent” measurement for catcher defense. It would be tough. For example, how to gauge a catcher’s skills at preventing wild pitches? The ratio of balls in dirt to wild pitches? But what if a pitching staff has a couple Nuke LaLooshes who unleash missiles no one can block?
Back to the All-Star voting. Right now Yadier Molina and McCann are 1–2 in the polls. If they both make the team, the squad probably needs one, perhaps two more catchers. Time for Big Money, no?
But beware the team allotments. Every team must have at least one representative at the game. The Giants will certainly get one or two pitchers on the team, and at this point, Cain and Lincecum look like good bets. Unless Bengie gets hot and stays hot — a couple highlight-reel homers that East Coasters catch on SportsCenter wouldn’t hurt — he’s going to be a longshot for the Midsummer Classic.
