Twins pitching a mess!!!

[Ender]

There has been dozens of studies about this and they find that it all a bunch of nonsense in general. As long as your catcher has spent a year with the rotation his 'calling a good game' is just hogwash.

Dozens of studies? I'll believe it if you can list 10.

The majority of them come out in books like the hardballtimes, baseballprospectus, inside the book or on blogs which I'm not willing to search hard for. Even a quick internet search brought up a bunch. It is like clutch actually existing, if it does exist it is to such a small amount that it isn't significant for the majority of players in the game. The team goes over how to pitch players before the game, the pitcher generally has an idea of how he wants to pitch players in general, the C is just a small part of the overall equation.


http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... cleid=1489
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... icleid=432
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... icleid=436
http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/cera1.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=uxdvwQ ... #PPA107,M1
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/sport ... yt&emc=rss
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/catching-up/

[jfg]

I think it depends on what kind of a pitching staff you have. I think Mauer's game calling has really helped the Twins because they always have an inexperienced staff and need to rely on the catcher a little more. With a staff that's a little more experienced this year he probably isn't changing much by not being behind the plate to call the games. But, I do think he's played a big role in the success of young pitchers and he'll continue to do so as the Twins keep churning pitchers through their system. Obviously, the minor league coaching and Anderson are huge factors as well, but I really believe that Mauer being behind the plate has had an impact as well.

[WickedSmaat]

it may not be the decisions of calling a game, but I definitely think there would be something of a comfortability factor of pitching to a good defensive catcher, someone you can trust back there. That's something that Mauer does well for being a tall guy.

Either way the Twins can't contend without him when pushing out lineups with brendan harris and brian buscher and mike redmond out there...