A lot of emphasis is placed on offensive skill sets that change the odds and generate potential; understanding the strike zone, taking pitches, long at-bats. These are skills that improve chances for the most important outcome of an at-bat: getting on base, both in that particular at-bat and in the long run of a game.

Blocking and throwing are important, yes, but these skills largely only matter if someone is on base. If it is true that the most important role for a batter is not to be put out, then it would seem that any defensive skills that contribute to a batter being put out would outweigh defensive skills that impact batters who do reach base, in my opinion.

Couple guys to look at for context: LuCroy, who showed this yr the data is suspicious, and Sal Perez, who rated among the worst framers on his way to maintaining as one of the best C’s.

I’m no expert on these stats, but I think there’s a reason why framing is so important: high stress pitches. Take the Moneyball emphasis on 1-1 pitch outcomes. How valuable is framing in terms of reducing 2-1 and 3-1 counts and transforming them into 1-2 and 2-2 counts? How many fewer high stress pitches are pitchers forced to deliver because of framing success?

And there’s plenty of extrapolation from that: longer starts and less exposure of a team’s weakest bullpen pitchers in the middle innings.

I don’t know if FRAA takes that into account, but it seems clear that framing can substantially alter the outcome of a pitcher’s day in totality, and that of the team.

The big question to me is whether framing is already growing passe; I believe the Catchella reports indicated that umpires seem to be growing wise to framing, which could diminish its importance over time.

The weakness of pitch framing: it’s a pitch. It’s not a base, let alone a run, let alone 4 runs, let alone a W.

What is the percentage of pitches that are even “frameable”? 33%? 25%? Next, of that minority, how many actually influence the ump? It’s not half. Call it a quarter–for even the best or worst (or, to truly investigate the trustworthiness, check out one of the best 2 yrs ago-Lucroy–vs one of the worst this past yr–Lucroy). We are talking 16% of all pitches–and perhaps far fewer.

We then hafta remember that, while pitch count is important, it’s still just a pitch; it only becomes so much as a base when it results in a BB or called K.

We also hafta ask ourselves who made whom, e.g., could Maddux get all those corner calls cuz of his (various!!) C’s–or was it Maddux?

A guy that throws out more runners is more valuable than a better pitch framer. So is a guy that commits fewer E’s, PB, or prevents more WP’s. Those each represent REAL BASES.

Finally, don’t forget that Piazza, Simmons, Torre were great with the bat–again, more bases, more runs–which in turn led to their EXTREME VALUE to their teams.

As for this Cubs’ system–crime we were forced to let go of Castillo for Ross; crime we still have Ross; we are in great shape with Schwarber as a backup C, so lose Ross; with a Contreras/Schwarbs rotation, we can even lose Montero; if you’re worried about the kids not making it, Davis was better offensively and defensively at a higher level than Contreras was, and Federowicz is far better defensively than Ross right this second. Hoping Theo does the right thing.