Back to the Arizona Diamondbacks Newsfeed

Calling Pitches

Catchers have many responsibilities. One responsibility is calling each pitch. That process includes communication between the pitcher and catcher about which pitch to throw.

As a fan, measures of how well pitches are called do not seem to exist. Exploring pitch calling was like exploring a foreign country. Although I didn’t know the territory, there were several prominent landmarks. Let’s visit three landmarks!

League-wide, catchers are worse batters than every position except pitchers.

Looking at the Depth Charts projected OPS shows the relative batting skills of catchers:

Three possible explanations are:

  • In the field, playing catcher is strenuous and arduous.