Yasmani Grandal Unconcerned About Numbers Behind the Plate

“He’s been unbelievable back there,” Dodgers’ pitcher Zack Greinke said of his teammate and freshman Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, “His catching is better than advertised.” When it comes to Grandal’s “advertising,” the jury is still out. He’s universally hailed as one of the best pitch-framers in the league. From 2007-2013, Grandal created 4.1 strikes above average. In 2014, Grandal had 1,668.4 predicted strikes, or pitches that should have been called strikes. In actuality, Grandal caught 1,768 called strikes. The difference is 99.6, meaning that Grandal framed, or brought the pitch back into the strike zone, nearly 100 strikes that may not actually have been strikes. This 9.6 framing difference put him at thirteenth-best among all catchers in baseball last year, and his statistical history supports that.

On the other hand, Grandal’s defensive reputation has haunted him throughout his career—even from as far back as high school. Grandal has been on the leaderboards multiple times for passed balls; last year he tied for first with 12. In fact, Grandal would’ve passed two Tuesday night if the first hadn’t automatically advanced runners with a walk. Grandal also draws criticism for his low caught-stealing percentage, a career average of 16.4%.

Grandal’s recovery from right knee surgery aggravated him last year to the point where he’s said it’s affected his performance: “The whole passed-ball thing last year—I had limitations.” Grandal also hesitated to call his numbers behind the plate as indicative of weakness. “I don’t look at it as a weakness,” Grandal told Sonya Egoian from The Sports Journal Tuesday night. “I just need to get better at everything. It’s a game—things are going to happen no matter what. You’re going to have passed balls, you’re going to have guys steal on you. I need to work enough on every aspect of my defense to minimize that.”

Grandal has also drawn attention for his value as a switch hitter, adding to a very short list of switch-hitting Dodger catchers. “He’s got pop from both sides,” manager Don Mattingly said about Grandal’s hitting. Grandal posted low numbers from the right in 2014—he batted .241 from the left versus .167 from the right—but in 2013 and 2012 his average was much more comparable from both sides of the plate. “It’s just a matter of getting in a groove and having at-bats. As soon as I went out to the Dominican and got a lot of righty at-bats, my swing came around. It’s not a matter of whether I’m hitting badly or not, it’s a matter of repetition,” Grandal told The Sports Journal.

The Dodgers acquired Grandal for Matt Kemp in a trade with the San Diego Padres, a move that had Los Angeles fans mourning the loss of their big-name star, but, at 26, Grandal is only now approaching his peak, his pitch-framing stats far exceed those of former starting catcher A.J. Ellis—not an insignificant skill when strikes lead to strikeouts that lead to outs—and between Grandal and youngster slugger Joc Pederson, the Dodgers will easily make up, if not surpass, Kemp’s production at the plate. From both a financial and developmental standpoint, the Grandal-Kemp trade was sound, and the Dodgers’ confidence in Grandal, despite knowing about his defensive reputation, is surely a representation of that.


(h4-entertainement.com)