Last Thursday, it was announced that star catcher Yasmani Grandal will be in the Southside in 2020 after agreeing to a 4-year, $73M contract spanning the 2020 to 2023 seasons.
Grandal, entering his age 31 season, has built up the pedigree of the best catcher in the game. In the 2019 season, he posted a .246/.380/.468 slash line, 121 wRC+, and a 6.1 WARP. His glove is what really launches him into the best in baseball conversation, however. From 2015 to 2019 his low in framing runs was 15.7 and his low in FRAA was 17.7. His only weakness involving his glove would be his pop time, which was categorized in the 13th percentile at 2.07 seconds to second base and 1.66 seconds to third base.
The White Sox have not been known to play the free agent market aggressively, so it did come as a surprise that they payed Grandal so soon. But, for the investment he clearly provides, it’s very understandable why they went snatched him up. The investment, more specifically, being Grandal’s framing.
The Significance of His Pitch Framing
“Framing is a method of receiving the pitched ball from the pitcher, using subtle movements of the catcher’s wrist and body, made for the purpose of presenting the pitch to the umpire in a manner which increases the likelihood that the pitched ball will be called a strike,” -A definition of pitch framing in a FanGraphs article by Sheryl Ring
Imagine you’re on the mound nearing your 110th pitch in the 7th inning. You want to finish a fantastic start, however there are runners in scoring position yearning to reach home plate with 2 outs already recorded. In a very grueling plate appearance between you and a very disciplined batter, you’ve managed to rack up a full count. In this final pitch, you want to command a strike to freeze the hitter.
When trying to throw the pitch to paint a part of the zone, it’s not just you doing that job. It’s up to the catcher to frame that pitch with the most accuracy as possible. It’s up to them to turn a potential ball 4 into strike 3 and not vice versa.
While that is an insanely specific hypothetical, it provides a good example as to just how important catcher framing can be. To illustrate this, a summary of what framing runs do is helpful. Framing runs are calculated using an extremely scrupulous algorithm to create the smallest possible margin of error for measuring how good catchers are at framing pitches.
First and foremost, it takes into account the likelihood of a pitch being called a ball or a strike using a probability map of calls. But, not every framed pitch has the same significance. For this, it distributes different run totals based on the count before which the pitch was framed. To take out the skill of pitchers completely, it uses a “With or Without You” analysis towards the skill level of a pitcher. It also adjusts to exclude umpire bias as well as luck by regressing career totals to the league average, varying with each catcher.
With all of the nooks and crannies involved with catcher framing, it’s easy to understand that every small detail is very significant. Especially when applying it to a pitching staff as inexperienced as the White Sox. While they have a plethora of talent to work with, the key now is to develop that at a strong major league level. Pitch framing plays a significant role in translating that talent.
To truly understand the value of Grandal’s pitch framing to the White Sox, he must be compared with their catchers of 2019. Last season, catchers James McCann and Wellington Castillo combined for -8.3 framing runs. Grandal alone had 19.4. When the Sox look at the 27.7 framing runs upgrade, they immediately see a far better environment for their young and inexperienced staff to thrive in. To pair an ace-level Lucas Giolito with a top-of-the-rotation Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech. To give some members of their bullpen with control or command issues far more confidence. To improve their entire pitching staff across the board.
With Grandal’s combination of upside and consistency there’s little doubt he will perform out of the gate for the Sox. With his deal, the Sox are hoping to find that cornerstone catcher that can lead them to the promise land. The perfect threat, with little to no significant weaknesses for their young staff. A guy who can frame a pitch as well as he can take and drive one. They finally found that in the Yazmanian Devil.
The MLB Enthusiast 