Can Charlie Greene Magic and a Very Hungry Veteran Sell the Brewers on Carrying Three Catchers?

[Jake McKibbin]

A backup catcher has to be defensively sound. As evidenced by three passed balls on Wednesday (and some other instances), Gary Sánchez doesn't necessarily meet that standard. Will that open the door for Eric Haase to squeeze onto the Milwaukee Brewers' Opening Day roster?

Image courtesy of © Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

Eric Haase has come out of the gates hot this spring, but while his bat may improve, there are concerns over his catching ability. Grading out as well below average over the last two seasons in blocking, framing and pop times isn’t particularly appealing, but this Brewers staff turned William Contreras from a liability into a defensive stud only last year. Can they do it again?

How Well Does Haase Call Games?
Out of 132 catchers in the last three seasons with over 1,000 pitches caught, Haase is 117th for average exit velocity. Simply put, when he’s been behind the plate, balls have been crushed at an average of 89.4 mph. Yet, there are a few caveats to this. The Detroit Tigers staff have been hampered significantly by injuries and, frankly, talent deficiencies, and as such, the quality of pitches he was receiving are far below what William Contreras and Victor Caratini caught last year. 

Take the above as an example, it’s the location of every pitch Haase has received over the last three years. Inducing weak contact while catching that much of the plate that often just isn't on the cards. It's hard to parse whose fault it is when the ball wanders down the middle, because surely, both the catcher and the pitcher have to take some share of the blame.

Ultimately, how a catcher calls a game is often judged more on reputation and rumor than on statistics, but that in and of itself can be handy. Tucker Barnhart is renowned as a solid defensive catcher, and over the course of 2022 and 2023, he received a similar number of pitches and produced an almost identical average exit velocity, hard hit rate and xWOBA as Haase. (For half that time, of course, they were teammates, so do we count that as evidence that the pitchers were to blame, or that Haase and Barnhart are closer in skill at calling games than is generally thought?)

To say Haase bears no fault for the high average exit velocities would be wrong, it is a catcher’s role to limit hard contact with their pitch-calling, exploiting weaknesses in the hitter’s swing. Ultimately, it appears as though a considerable portion of blame should be attributed to the lackluster Detroit Tigers staff, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on if Haase starts the season with the Brewers. 

Athleticism & Stance
One thing that Charlie Greene spoke about with William Contreras is his raw athleticism and how the Brewers tried to find a way to capture that in his catching technique. They used his body strength and hand-eye coordination to develop a technique more suited to picking rather than blocking pitches, and going to one knee in an effort to help him frame below the strike zone. Both endeavors were quantifiable successes that improved his framing, blocking and pop time numbers in 2023.

Haase had an average sprint speed of 28 ft/sec last season, demonstrating at least some level of agility and athleticism, so can the Brewers turn this around? They may have already started, with his blocking. Haase was in the 18th percentile for blocks above average last season, using a very low, spread-out body position to maximize his frame on pitches lower down:

While he still adopts this position from time to time, he’s started to receive these pitches in a more upright stance, allowing him to use his hands better, as you can see below. William Contreras made a very similar change, and it resulted in him saving nine extra runs from blocking pitches alone in 2023, compared to his 2022 numbers.

This ball is virtually in the dirt, yet Haase kept his left knee in a stronger position. On top of whether this can help him with blocking, it should be a big boost to his framing abilities, as Haase in 2022 and 2023 used two differing stances, depending on pitch location; he was very upright for pitches up in the zone, and sprawled out for pitches down in the zone. Maintaining a more consistent stance should add a layer of deception for the umpire to deal with, and allow him to get more calls in the shadow areas outside the strike zone.

Haase has had considerably more time with this Brewers pitching staff this spring, looking sharp both with the bat and behind the plate, while Sánchez may be a bit rushed to be ready for Opening Day. He certainly didn’t look sharp on Wednesday, and that hand injury may have played a part in it, although he will likely improve as the spring goes on. It seems more and more likely that Haase will be on the initial roster, at least holding his position for a while as Sánchez alleviates concerns with his injury and his receiving skills. At the very least, Haase should be a serviceable trade chip if another team comes calling for his services.

What do you think of Eric Haase? Can Charlie Greene work his magic once again? And will the bat continue to thrive after spring?

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[Ro Mueller]

We've enough optionable players that we shouldn't need to trade Haase until the right deal opens up. And that right deal may likely depend on another team's #1 or clear #2 catcher going on the 60-day injured list.

Also, until Brian Navarreto is clearly healthy in AAA, an immediate trade of Haase risks Quero being the "next man up", which I'm not certain is the organization's preference.

So there's probably no rush to DFA or trade Haase, as we watch for Sanchez and Navarreto to get back to peak catching shape.

[eddiemathews]

Maybe I'm nuts (well, okay, there's no doubt), but that system for grading catchers could be the most absurd stat thingie I've heard in a long time. If Barnhart and Haase having the same rating isn't evidence of that...

Besides, how much leeway do catchers have anymore?

[biedergb]

This comes down to assets. If the team wants to maximize the asset valuation, they keep haase and then see how the Haase/Sanchez back up roles shape up (Sanchez I can see being more of a DH/C and maybe 1B unless they keep Bauers).

Bauers is the other consideration. If he makes the team, then I don't think Haase does. And vice versa since neither helps in OF or in the non-1B IF mix.

[rolafaive]

Why is framing a pitch so important? Have you all watched games where that catcher frames the perfect pitch and depending on the umpire it gets called a ball? This happens consistently because I still cannot figure out what box constitutes a strike anymore. What is Haase's real trade value? Is Sanchez ever going to be healthy for the year?

[Jake McKibbin]

1 hour ago, rolafaive said:

Why is framing a pitch so important? Have you all watched games where that catcher frames the perfect pitch and depending on the umpire it gets called a ball? This happens consistently because I still cannot figure out what box constitutes a strike anymore. What is Haase's real trade value? Is Sanchez ever going to be healthy for the year?

So framing is incredibly valuable because of how often it's used and how direct a link it provides to saving runs. The difference between a 2-1 and 1-2 count is massive in termof likely outcomes, never mind stealing a strike in a 3-2 count which directly creates an "out". It's probably the most valuable statistics a catcher.

You're right about the umpires zones however, and maybe with ABS arriving soon it does become less valuable in some ways.

[duewizard]

1 hour ago, rolafaive said:

Why is framing a pitch so important? Have you all watched games where that catcher frames the perfect pitch and depending on the umpire it gets called a ball? This happens consistently because I still cannot figure out what box constitutes a strike anymore. What is Haase's real trade value? Is Sanchez ever going to be healthy for the year?

Every extra strike stolen by framing a pitch is worth roughly 0.135 runs. Why? because counts have different run values. A 3-1 count and 2-2 are very different situations for a pitcher. Even if a catcher steals only 7 strikes over a whole game, that is equivalent to saving a run.

[eddiemathews]

56 minutes ago, duewizard said:

Every extra strike stolen by framing a pitch is worth roughly 0.135 runs. Why? because counts have different run values. A 3-1 count and 2-2 are very different situations for a pitcher. Even if a catcher steals only 7 strikes over a whole game, that is equivalent to saving a run.

#RoBoTuMpS

[eddiemathews]

4 hours ago, biedergb said:

This comes down to assets. If the team wants to maximize the asset valuation, they keep haase and then see how the Haase/Sanchez back up roles shape up (Sanchez I can see being more of a DH/C and maybe 1B unless they keep Bauers).

Bauers is the other consideration. If he makes the team, then I don't think Haase does. And vice versa since neither helps in OF or in the non-1B IF mix.

Yeah, Bauers seems to be the least valuable player among the catcher/fb/dh options. Might keep him until Sanchez is fully healthy, after a season start on the IL.

[Bratwithspecialsauce]

If we were to carry three catchers, Sanchez still wouldn't be one of them. Wes Clark has hit, catches and plays 1st base. He is a power bat, eliminating the need for Sanchez. Plus, he's young and he's healthy.

[wiguy94]

1 hour ago, Bratwithspecialsauce said:

If we were to carry three catchers, Sanchez still wouldn't be one of them. Wes Clark has hit, catches and plays 1st base. He is a power bat, eliminating the need for Sanchez. Plus, he's young and he's healthy.

Wes Clarke was sent back to minor league camp over a week ago. He has a 0% chance of making the team.

[Bratwithspecialsauce]

2 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Wes Clarke was sent back to minor league camp over a week ago. He has a 0% chance of making the team.

I'm aware he was sent back, but that was so he could continue to get regular at bats..

[wiguy94]

4 minutes ago, Bratwithspecialsauce said:

I'm aware he was sent back, but that was so he could continue to get regular at bats..

Well no he was sent back because he was never seriously going to make the team

[ironyooperwood]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:28 PM, wiguy94 said:

Well no he was sent back because he was never seriously going to make the team

That, and as a catcher, he kinda stinks:)