Who is the best ALL AROUND catcher?

[LukeW9027]

ill give it to victor martinez

Swings a mean bat, plays well defensively, carries a good and young pitching staff in CLE, a leader, and an all around great player

[mweir145]

I have to give it to Gregg Zaun, without him this year, the Jays would have been nowhere.

[The_Met_Threat]

I have to give it to Gregg Zaun, without him this year, the Jays would have been nowhere.

The Jays are nowhere.

I dont know who it is, but i can tell you its not Mike Piazza.

[baseball6791]

Matheny. He is considered one of the best defensive catchers of all time, and probably the best handler of pitching staffs ever. Look at everything any former teammate has ever said, especially the pitchers, and you will see what I mean. He has a solid arm, blocks the plate well, calls great games everytime - he spends a ton of time with his pitching staff looking at video and hitters tendencies. He plays most of the games and is a very tough guy. He's not too shabby with the bat either, not great stats but ok and he's pretty good in clutch situations.

[RAmst23]

.. and not being biased at all, Yadier Molina. He calls a fantastic game, and has a great arm. He held the opposing teams to about a 40% success rate on the basepaths, and during May and June really knocked the ball around. He'll be one of the top catchers for years to come.

[PlayingWithFire]

I say it's Bengie Molina hands down. Pudge was for a long time, but I think his offense and arm have definitely gone downhill the last year+. All the ANA pitchers rave about the games Molina calls and he's one of the best defensive catchers in terms of glove and arm. He also swings a decent bat (usually protecting GA/Vlad in the 5 hole), which is really icing on the cake considering what he does everywhere else. I think Yadier could be up there one day, but he needs to work on blocking the plate more since he tries to get too cute sometimes by picking it with his glove in order to catch a runner napping. There are a lot of catchers who are better at either one or the other, but none that combines both quite like B. Molina IMO.

can't say it any better

[RynMan]

I say it's Bengie Molina hands down. Pudge was for a long time, but I think his offense and arm have definitely gone downhill the last year+. All the ANA pitchers rave about the games Molina calls and he's one of the best defensive catchers in terms of glove and arm. He also swings a decent bat (usually protecting GA/Vlad in the 5 hole), which is really icing on the cake considering what he does everywhere else. I think Yadier could be up there one day, but he needs to work on blocking the plate more since he tries to get too cute sometimes by picking it with his glove in order to catch a runner napping. There are a lot of catchers who are better at either one or the other, but none that combines both quite like B. Molina IMO.

can't say it any better

I agree here. I think Molina is emerging as one of the best catchers in the game.

[WittyC]

.. and not being biased at all, Yadier Molina. He calls a fantastic game, and has a great arm. He held the opposing teams to about a 40% success rate on the basepaths, and during May and June really knocked the ball around. He'll be one of the top catchers for years to come.

I think for the 2005 season, it was Yadier, hands down.

He was first in CS% and second among qualified catchers in CERA (which I know is a controversial stat, but it still has some relevance).

He was decent at the plate with a .395 OBP and 8 homers. And he's only 24, which is nice.

I will say, though, that Mauer might pull away just because of what he can do with the stick. Mauer will probably not ever be better than Yadier defensively, but he'll certainly be among the best behind the plate for years to come.

[TheYanks04]

Defensively it is not even close with Irod leading my quite a bit.
Game calling and overall game knowledge I would say Varitek has the edge.
Hitting it would be Vmart or Varitek.

There really is no clear cut winner. Varitek is the best overall if you want to consider evereything, imo. But guys like Irod and Bengie Molina do pretty well all things considered. A number of guys are pretty good like Ramon Hernandez, Lo Duca, Mauer, etc.

[Pogotheostrich]

V-Mart and Varitek were top offensively this year. Problem is that they threw out less than 25% of base stealers.

Defensively I think I-Rod edges out Yadi. Matheny, Schneider, Ausmus are really good too. Problem is the offense. None of these cracked .750 OPS.

But if I'm picking the best all-around it is Mauer. Probably will be for years to come.

Jason Kendall was easily the worst.