The case for Chris Herrmann

[BC867]

I made a brief reference in another post to the idea of making Chris Herrmann our predominant Catcher. As long as Wellington Castillo is with the team, a lefty-righty platoon would achieve that, with Herrmann starting against righties and Beef against lefties.

Chris has 95 less official at-bats than Beef, but only 3 less RBI's (27 to 30) and only 4 less Runs (20 to 24).

In every other category, Chris outshines Beef, as well. Chris has a higher batting average (.289 to .278); a higher slugging % (.501 to .461) and on base % (.353 to .323) which results in a higher OPS (.857 to .783). And Chris has 14 walks to Beef's 15.

And the word is that Chris is more skilled in handling a pitching staff (which the D-back's need desperately), is a better fielding Catcher and has been a more consistent hitter since he emerged on the scene.

I see no reason for Beef remaining lead Catcher, based on the comparison of their performances. And with Chris in the lineup against righties, it gives the D-backs a greater balance of lefty hitters throughout the batting order.

What are your opinions?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/batting/_/name/ari/arizona-diamondbacks

 

[BC867]

I made a brief reference in another post to the idea of making Chris Herrmann our predominant Catcher. As long as Wellington Castillo is with the team, a lefty-righty platoon would achieve that, with Herrmann starting against righties and Beef against lefties.

Chris has 95 less official at-bats than Beef, but only 3 less RBI's (27 to 30) and only 4 less Runs (20 to 24).

In every other category, Chris outshines Beef, as well. Chris has a higher batting average (.289 to .278); a higher slugging % (.501 to .461) and on base % (.353 to .323) which results in a higher OPS (.857 to .783). And Chris has 14 walks to Beef's 15.

And the word is that Chris is more skilled in handling a pitching staff (which the D-back's need desperately), is a better fielding Catcher and has been a more consistent hitter since he emerged on the scene.

I see no reason for Beef remaining lead Catcher, based on the comparison of their performances. And with Chris in the lineup against righties, it gives the D-backs a greater balance of lefty hitters throughout the batting order.

What are your opinions?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/batting/_/name/ari/arizona-diamondbacks

Oops, sorry Chris. I misspelled your last name in the thread title.

 

[sundevil04]

My only concern with Herrmann is the small body of work. He's 28 years old and prior to this year he was a sub .200 hitter

 

[BC867]

My only concern with Herrmann is the small body of work. He's 28 years old and prior to this year he was a sub .200 hitter

A valid point, but I still think that his current body of work should be used to the best advantage of the D-backs in a regular platoon unless and until he shows that he can't handle it.

And from what I've heard, Herrmann is a better handler of pitchers than Beef. I'd like to see if Chris getting most of the starts would improve the starting staff. This nightly guarantee (4/5 of a guarantee when Greinke returns) of our starting pitchers giving up 4 runs in 5 innings needs a change.

 

[DWKB]

And from what I've heard, Herrmann is a better handler of pitchers than Beef.

Where have you heard this?

 

[BC867]

Where have you heard this?

It was Steve and BB, hinting at it by referring to how well Herrmann handles the pitchers and, on another occasion, how Beef has been getting better at it.

I couldn't help but draw the conclusion that Herrmann is a better handler of pitchers.

 

[Dback Jon]

No catcher is going to make up for a starter that has one pitch.

Or three others that pitch good first two times through the order, then fall apart the third time.

 

[Dback Jon]

To validate your theory, you would need to compare a pitcher when Beef was catching and when Herrmann was.

 

[DWKB]

Well the numbers disagree with the announcers. Neither are really that good at pitch framing, but Castillo seems to be the better defensive catcher this year.