This post is basically about Jorge Posada, but includes some other thoughts about catching.

Firstly, here are all seasons by a 35-year-old catcher (age calculated on June 30th) with an OPS+ of 100 or better. (At least 50% of games at catcher, minimum 300 PA):

  Cnt Player            **OPS+**  PA Year Age Tm  Lg  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Jorge Posada         155   458 2007  35 NYY AL 113 397  66 132 32  1 15  70  54   7  84   4   0   3  16   2  0  .332  .415  .531  .946 *2/D3
    2 Mike Grady           139   351 1905  35 STL NL 100 311  41  89 20  7  4  41  33   0   0   3   4   0   0  15  0  .286  .360  .434  .794 *23
    3 Carlton Fisk         134   545 1983  35 CHW AL 138 488  85 141 26  4 26  86  46   3  88   6   2   3   8   9  6  .289  .355  .518  .873 *2/D
    4 Smoky Burgess        133   399 1962  35 PIT NL 103 360  38 118 19  2 13  61  31   9  19   0   2   6   6   0  1  .328  .375  .500  .875 *2
    5 Spud Davis           132   324 1940  35 PIT NL  99 285  23  93 14  1  5  39  35   0  20   2   2   0  15   0  0  .326  .404  .435  .839 *2
    6 Walker Cooper        129   420 1950  35 TOT NL 117 384  55 120 22  3 14  64  30   0  31   3   3   0   9   1  0  .313  .367  .495  .862 *2
    7 Elston Howard        127   607 1964  35 NYY AL 150 550  63 172 27  3 15  84  48  12  73   5   0   4  10   1  1  .313  .371  .455  .826 *2
    8 Roger Bresnahan      124   311 1914  35 CHC NL 101 248  42  69 10  4  0  24  49   0  20   2  12   0   0  14  0  .278  .401  .351  .752 *24/8
    9 Ernie Lombardi       123   315 1943  35 NYG NL 104 295  19  90  7  0 10  51  16   0  11   3   1   0  18   1  0  .305  .347  .431  .778 *2
   10 Yogi Berra           119   404 1960  35 NYY AL 120 359  46  99 14  1 15  62  38   6  23   3   0   4  11   2  1  .276  .347  .446  .793 *279
   11 Alan Ashby           117   441 1987  35 HOU NL 125 386  53 111 16  0 14  63  50   2  52   1   0   4  14   0  1  .288  .367  .438  .805 *2
   12 Gabby Hartnett       114   468 1936  35 CHC NL 121 424  49 130 25  6  7  64  30   0  36   6   8   0  12   0  0  .307  .361  .443  .804 *2
   13 Gregg Zaun           110   339 2006  35 TOR AL  99 290  39  79 19  0 12  40  41   3  42   3   0   5  10   0  2  .272  .363  .462  .825 *2D
   14 Rick Dempsey         108   420 1985  35 BAL AL 132 362  54  92 19  0 12  52  50   0  87   1   5   2   2   0  1  .254  .345  .406  .751 *2
   15 Jeff Reed            106   303 1998  35 COL NL 113 259  43  75 17  1  9  39  37   4  57   1   3   3   6   0  0  .290  .377  .467  .844 *2
   16 Ernie Whitt          105   494 1987  35 TOR AL 135 446  57 120 24  1 19  75  44   4  50   1   0   3  17   0  1  .269  .334  .455  .789 *2
   17 Al Todd              104   534 1937  35 PIT NL 133 514  51 158 18 10  8  86  16   0  36   1   3   0  16   2  0  .307  .330  .428  .758 *2
   18 Jason Varitek        102   396 2007  35 BOS AL 100 340  45  90 13  3 10  51  47   7  86   5   0   4   8   1  1  .265  .359  .409  .768 *2
   19 Bob Wood             100   368 1901  35 CLE AL  98 346  45 101 23  3  1  49  12   0   0   6   4   0   0   6  0  .292  .327  .384  .711 *2/596437

I chose OPS+ so that each season could be judged in its own context. Remember that by definition, a player can appear on this list only once (unless he can find a way to be 35 years old in more than one season.)

Let's mention briefly some of the guys who you might have thought would be on that list, but aren't:

• First coming to mind is of course Johnny Bench. His 35-year-old season was actually his last season in the bigs (1983), and although he had an OPS+ of exactly 100, he played mainly 3B.
• Gary Carter didn't have enough PA in his 35-year-old season (1989) to qualify, plus he had a horrid OPS+ of 51 (!!) that year.
• In Mike Piazza's 35-year-old season (2004) he had on OPS+ of 108 but played more 1B than C.
• Roy Campanella's 35-year-old-season was, like Bench, his last in the bigs. He played catcher but had an OPS+ of 81.
• Ivan Rodriguez is 35 this year and has an OPS+ of 90.
• Ted Simmons had an OPS+ of 103 in 1985, but played mainly DH.

Now let's talk about Posada. Firstly, those numbers above aren't updated through last night (and don't represent a full season, unlike everyone else on the list.) At the moment he has 16 HR, 73 RBI, and an OPS+ of 156. For 2007, he's on pace for 21 HR and 97 RBI. That would be, by far, the RBI record for a 35-year-old catcher. The current record is 86, held by Fisk and Todd, as above. The 21 HR would be second all-time to Fisk's 26. (By the way, can you believe that Fisk was 35 all the way back in 1983???)

It's pretty clear that Posada is having the greatest season by a 35-year-old catcher. What's less clear is what to expect coming up. As has been well-documented, he is a free agent after this season.

First take a look at the 10 players most similar to Posada through age 34 (end of last season):

1. Carlton Fisk (917) *
2. Rich Aurilia (909)
3. Doug DeCinces (902)
4. Mike Lieberthal (901)
5. Jose Valentin (897)
6. Mickey Tettleton (896)
7. Roy Campanella (895) *
8. Brian Downing (888)
9. Joe Gordon (885)
10. Carl Everett (882)

If you're hoping that Posada remains productive for a few more years, this is not an encouraging list. Fisk and Downing were the only ones productive past 35. Aurelia is 35 this year and looks finished. Amazingly, the same is true for Leiberthal. Valentin is 37, out for the year, and has had two dreadful seasons and one okay season in the last 3. DeCinces and Tettleton were finished at 36. Gordon, Campanella, and Everett were finished at 35.

More generally, we know that catchers rarely continue catching full-time after the age of 35. So the big question is: wherever Posada plays next year, whether with the Yankees or not, what position will he play?

If you're following the Yankees, you must think that they plan to try to re-sign Posada to play first base. Firstly, with both Johnny Damon (who has lost his starting job in CF to Melky Cabrera) and Jason Giambi under contract for next season, there is no way that Posada can DH full time, especially considering that Hideki Matsui has a chronic knee problem and occasionally needs to DH (and be spelled in LF by Damon, a much better position for his below-average defense.) Moreover, the Yankees resisted trading for a new 1B after Doug Mientkiewicz went down with an injury. They played Cairo at 1B earlier in the season, and have been giving Wilson Betemit and Shelley Duncan time at 1B, which cannot possibly be their long-term plan. I can only assume that they did not go after Teixeira because they expect to be able to resign Posada and play him largely at 1B next year (where he has appeared in 18 games previously in his career.)

I wanted to touch on another subject about Posada and more generally about catchers. Supposedly, from what I hear, Posada is an excellent game-caller and has a good rapport with all of his pitchers except Mike Mussina. To a fan, this aspect of catching is largely unknown and overlooked. We forget that catchers are responsible for recognizing the in-game performance of pitchers, calling pitches, and studying up on hitters just as much as pitchers. The common fan (myself included) has no idea how good most catchers are in these areas. There was a time not so long ago when catcher, like the middle infield positions, was considered a defensive position and any offense was a bonus. Just look at OPS+ leaders for catcher in the 1980s (minimum 2000 PA):

  Cnt Player            **OPS+**   PA  From  To   Ages   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+--------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 Gary Carter          119    5415 1980 1989 26-35 1312  4793  625 1265 219  19 207  800  505  69  540  41  12  64 119   11  18  .264  .335  .447  .782 *2/3975   MON-NYM
    2 Carlton Fisk         112    4736 1980 1989 32-41 1194  4221  601 1104 189  16 192  660  378  62  652  81  12  44  97   67  32  .262  .331  .450  .781 *2/D735   BOS-CHW
    3 Lance Parrish        109    5249 1980 1989 24-33 1283  4769  599 1223 212  20 225  764  405  50  960  19  11  45 135   17  25  .256  .314  .451  .765 *2/D397   DET-PHI-CAL
    4 Darrell Porter       109    2794 1980 1987 28-35  808  2355  302  568 103  17  80  350  395  52  463  18   2  24  47   16  12  .241  .351  .401  .752 *2/D3     KCR-STL-TEX
    5 Bob Brenly           106    2995 1981 1989 27-35  871  2615  321  647 119   7  91  333  318  35  438  17  21  24  50   45  38  .247  .330  .403  .733 *2/35D79  SFG-TOT
    6 Ron Hassey           105    3153 1980 1989 27-36  946  2770  300  754 143   7  59  361  321  25  307  19  14  29  93   10   9  .272  .349  .393  .742 *2/D3     CLE-TOT-NYY-CHW-OAK
    7 Alan Ashby           104    2941 1980 1989 28-37  857  2590  257  668 121   6  67  353  297  44  365   5  16  33  77    3   3  .258  .332  .387  .719 *2        HOU
    8 Ernie Whitt          103    3927 1980 1989 28-37 1193  3469  420  881 161  15 131  512  400  42  437   4  20  34  87   22  24  .254  .329  .422  .751 *2/D      TOR
    9 Ozzie Virgil         102    2550 1980 1989 23-32  736  2253  258  549  84   6  98  307  248  21  450  29   8  12  81    4   5  .244  .325  .417  .742 *2/D      PHI-ATL-TOR
   10 Mike Scioscia        100    3765 1980 1989 21-30 1070  3245  294  848 151   7  45  316  433  80  213  15  46  26  81   18  18  .261  .348  .354  .702 *2        LAD

Those are pretty low values for the top 10. If you don't believe me, compare it to the same list for 1B:

  Cnt Player            **OPS+**   PA  From  To   Ages   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+--------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 Will Clark           155    2410 1986 1989 22-25  582  2100  361  638 125  22  98  352  257  62  406  17  12  24  20   26  28  .304  .380  .524  .904 *3        SFG
    2 Don Mattingly        144    4422 1982 1989 21-28 1015  4022  615 1300 272  15 164  717  314  82  238  10  13  63 101    8   7  .323  .368  .521  .889 *3/97D584 NYY
    3 Eddie Murray         141    6437 1980 1989 24-33 1500  5612  858 1642 289  19 274  996  754 133  733  13   0  58 139   52  18  .293  .374  .497  .871 *3/D5     BAL-LAD
    4 Alvin Davis          135    3772 1984 1989 23-28  881  3180  461  921 176   9 131  530  531  67  403  24   2  35  78    7  11  .290  .392  .474  .866 *3/D      SEA
    5 Keith Hernandez      132    5756 1980 1989 26-35 1357  4932  744 1480 273  32 114  735  742  93  674  24   4  54 107   63  42  .300  .390  .438  .828 *3/79     STL-TOT-NYM
    6 Kent Hrbek           131    4767 1981 1989 21-29 1156  4178  624 1212 224  16 201  724  523  77  564  17   5  44 101   19  16  .290  .368  .496  .864 *3/D      MIN
    7 Glenn Davis          127    3044 1984 1989 23-28  737  2705  383  713 135   6 144  454  264  59  436  39   4  32  59   15   7  .264  .334  .478  .812 *3/9      HOU
    8 Jason Thompson       127    3294 1980 1986 25-31  839  2724  371  715 127   2 114  448  531  51  513   6   2  31  64    4   2  .262  .380  .436  .816 *3/D      TOT-PIT-MON
    9 Leon Durham          124    4067 1980 1989 22-31 1067  3587  522  992 192  40 147  530  444  96  679   9   3  24  49  106  61  .277  .356  .475  .831 *398/7    STL-CHC-TOT-STL
   10 Willie Aikens        123    2308 1980 1985 25-30  616  2022  237  551 103   2  89  328  248  32  342  17   0  21  76    1   1  .273  .354  .457  .811 *3D       KCR-TOR

When catchers and middle infielders started to really hit in the 1990s, strategy seemed to change to simply get the best-hitting player at every position. Most people agree that defense has suffered and is of overall lower quality now than it was 20 years ago. My question is: to what degree has this affected pitching? If there is less emphasis on a catcher's ability to study hitters and call a game, or more allowance for substandard performance in these areas if guy is giving you 20 HR and 80 RBI, is this one reason why run-scoring is up? It's sort of a double-whammy effect. Today's catchers produce stats closer to league-wide averages for OPS+, and probably are also less effective catchers, both leading to increased offense.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 8:24 am and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.