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This cannot be the same guy who was once touted as the best young catcher in baseball. His batting is all but gone and he can't even get the ball to second on an attempted steal anymore!Its really shocking to watch him play now!Hopefully this is just an off year and he can get back to the level we are all used to him playing at.
Dude, this the thing. He was OK his rookie season. But what pisses me off is when Brian McCann keeps getting voted in as the BACKUP catcher for the NL in the All-Star game, when he deserves to start.
Brian McCann has been voted in all four years he's been in the MLB, but always the backup. This should tell you one thing, at least: the man is consistent.
First it was Paul Lo Duca, then it was Russel Martin, then it was Giovanni Soto and then this year it was Yadier Molina.
Not trying to diss you or Martin, but he's really not that great.
Brian McCann is arguably the best catcher in baseball and he's really just getting started.
Every player has a peak season in his career and they get distributed along a normal curve with the majority taking place between the ages of 27 and 30. Of course there are outliers among the results with some players not peaking until late in their careers, and some doing it very early. Among those who made the most noise in their first few seasons...
Tom Tresh
Vida Blue
Vada Pinson
Wally Bunker
Ben Grieve
Some go on to have reasonably good careers...Pinson, Blue, some fade away quickly..Tresh, Grieve..and some just vanish ..Bunker.
If this is the case with Martin, he could still have a reasonably good career ahead of him as a starting ML catcher, but he will always be perceived as underperforming because he peaked so early.
He's hitting less fly balls. Less fly balls=less home runs.
He's been a bit unlucky with balls in play with a .010 and .020 decrease in BABIP the last two years compared to 2007. This pretty much makes up for the difference in batting average.
His line drive rate is up, which should drive up his BABIP and Batting Average. However, he's also hitting more infield pop-ups. Pitchers are pitching him more fastballs, which he's not hitting.
In conclusion, it could be some bad luck. Or he might have lost some skill.
He is definately having a down year. But to say he is done is a little premature, he is 26. Also, to say that he "wasnt that good" is not correct either. He has been one of the more solid catchers in the game in the past two seasons. He had a solid rookie campaign in 2006 and backed that up with two years where he averaged 153 games (including almost 150 behind the plate), 16 Home Runs, 78 RBIs, 87 runs, 20 steals, and an OBP + (which compares his OBP to the rest of the league) of 110. That means he is ability to get on base is 10% higher than the league average and this is from a catcher. Most catchers dont even play as regularly as he has. Maybe this has taken a toll on him, thats debatable. Admittedly, while he is a serviceable gloveman behind the plate, the GG award was not warranted, not a in a league where Yadi Molina works.
Now this year his OBP+ is down to 81. He is still handling a bulk of the catching duties in LA. So his numbers are down but there are still two dozen teams in MLB that would take this guy over their current backstop.
G Man
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