[miked]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The problem is there's more data that supports the notion that Piazza was an underrated defensive catcher than there is that shows he was a poor defensive catcher.

Here's a quote from a Bill James article

http://www.billjamesonline.com/shoul...hall_of_fame_/





And here's a Rob Neyer article that discusses the same thing:

So about Mike Piazza's defense ... - Baseball Nation

Maybe I'm late to the metrics part of this, is there now data to suggest that catchers calling a game has a significant effect? Can this be separated from luck of the pitchers, or defense when the catcher is playing? I guess the runs he saved by calling a good game (or whatever) somehow cancels out the fact that he allowed 100+ SBs a season and threw out like 15-20% of runners.