Chicago Cubs: The importance of catcher David Ross

Chicago Cubs veteran catcher David Ross has quietly been making a huge impact this season. He doesn’t hit for a high average, but his ability to make his teammates better and his solid defense makes him one of the Cubs most valuable assets. As the Cubs continue their march towards the playoffs, Ross will play a pivotal role in how far they make it this season.

Jul 29, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross (left) celebrates with relief pitcher Hector Rondon (56) right after defeating the Colorado Rockies 3-2 at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The 38-year-old veteran catcher from Bainbridge, Georgia has played for seven different ball clubs throughout his 14-year career in the majors. He has a career slash line of .230/.317/.428 and has 474 career hits, 297 RBI, and 96 home runs.

Ross is too far past his prime to significantly help this team in a conventional manner. However, he has found his niche and has made important contributions with his intangible leadership qualities as well as his outstanding defense behind the plate.

Next: Mentor Role

David Ross is an important factor in the long-term development of the Chicago Cubs 2014 first round draft pick Kyle Schwarber. The 22-year-old, former Indiana University standout has turned to Ross for guidance throughout his 24 games MLB career.

Aug 3, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross (right) chases Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Sean Rodriguez (3) back to third base to tag Rodriguez out as Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco (left) and Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant (17) look on during the third inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

In mid-June, the Chicago Cubs decided to call up Schwarber for a six-game stint against two American League teams so he could fill the role of designated hitter. His job was to get a feel for Major League pitching as well as pick the brain of the veteran catchers on the Chicago Cubs roster. Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein outlined the main purpose of Schwarber’s first call up.

He’ll really benefit from seeing what goes into being a major league catcher, seeing how much preparation there is, how to work with the scouting reports.,all that pregame preparation. I think he’ll benefit in that way.

Ross isn’t a long-term solution at the catcher position for the Chicago Cubs. However, his contributions to the development of Schwarber will have long-term implications. Now that Schwarber has once again been called up to the MLB, this time, while the Cubs are in a playoff race, his ability to learn quickly, is even more crucial.

From the outset, people questioned whether Schwarber was good enough defensively to play catcher in the MLB. Although he may not play this position long-term moving forward, Schwarber is doing everything in his power to learn more about the position. Ross said that Schwarber comes to the ballpark every game looking to become better.

He obviously is a very talented player. He’s a good kid. He asks a lot of questions, and he’s real receptive. The word you hear tossed around is ‘sponge.’ He takes it all in. He’s got a lot of leadership qualities. He’s impressive for a young guy. –Quoted obtained by ESPN writer Mark Schmetzer

As the next sections will prove if Schwarber wants to become a better catcher, Ross is the guy to turn towards for advice.

Next: Elite Pitch Framer

It isn’t just a coincidence that the Chicago Cubs acquired David Ross only two weeks after signing free agent pitcher Jon Lester to a 6-year contract valued at $155 million. The Cubs front office wanted Ross in Chicago to ease Lester’s transition with his new team. The two spent two years as teammates in Boston and won a World Series together in 2013.

After some struggles initially, David Ross has helped Jon Lester post some good numbers this season. Lester has a 3.26 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP to go along with a 6-8 cumulative record in 21 starts. However, these numbers are bit deceiving because a few bad starts at the beginning of the season dragged these stats upwards. According to baseball reference, Lester posted a 1.66 ERA and a .762 WHIP in the month of July.

May 11, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester (34) and Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross (3) meet during the fourth inning against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

Ross has caught Lester in 19 of his 21 starts; missing these other two opportunities because of a concussion. The way that Ross frames the ball seems to suggest that he has been instrumental to Jon Lester’s success this season.

Stat Corner is a website that has pitch framing data. This data clearly shows that Ross is a standout pitch framer capable of helping his pitcher earn more strikes than he otherwise would have recorded. 

According to the data on this website, Ross has a zBall% of 10.2 percent. This means that umpires called balls on 10.2 percent of the pitches that Ross handled that were actually in the strike zone. Placed in a vacuum, this number needs context to denote meaning. The MLB average zBall% is around 14.5 percent and Ross’ 10.2 percent number places him at number seven in the Majors among almost 100 qualified catchers.

Similarly, Ross’ oStr% is elite among Major League catchers this season. This statistic measures the percentage of balls caught outside of the strike zone that the umpire called strikes. Ross’ percentage is 10.6 which hover’s three percentage points higher than the league average of around seven percent.

Ross is the fourth best at yielding strike calls on balls among qualified Major League catchers this season and pitch framing abilities have helped the Chicago Cubs pitching staff. And it shows with the Cubs pitching staff ranks number three in the Major Leagues in strikeouts with 913 while Jon Lester currently ranks number 18 in strikeouts among 640 qualified pitchers.

His ability to frame pitches well and earn his pitcher more called strikes than the average catcher is a factor that has contributed to a collective 3.40 ERA posted by the Chicago Cubs pitching staff this season – which is fifth best in the league.

Ross has been invaluable in maximizing the talents of the Cubs pitching staff this season because of his pitch framing abilities.

Next: His defense has been good too

Despite making fewer appearances at catcher than every player above him on the list, Ross has a defensive wins above replacement (dWAR) number of 0.9 which puts him at tied for seventh in the Major Leagues among 88 qualified catchers. This statistic shows that Ross has been the best defensive catcher on this Chicago Cubs team. Veteran Miguel Montero has a dWAR of 0.4 while youngster Kyle Schwarber checks in at 0.0 in this statistical category.

Jul 24, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp (29) runs from Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross (3) at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

According to baseball reference, Ross has saved seven runs more than his hypothetical replacement (Rdrs) across his body of work this season. He has one error in 263 chances and has a fielding percentage of 99.7 percent in the 30 games that he started at catcher.

Less advanced statistics also confirm that David Ross is having a good year defensively this season. In 257 1/3 innings behind the plate, he committed one error and  has three passed balls charged to him–both very tolerable totals. Perhaps, Ross’ best defensive quality is his ability to pick off runners. According to baseball reference, he has already picked off five runners this season.

The one area defensively that Ross has struggled with is throwing out stealing base runners. In 2015, he has thrown out 12 of 34 runners for a caught stealing percentage of 26 percent. This is slightly below the league average of 28 percent. Even though his caught stealing percentage is slightly lower than average, it is still better than the other catchers on the Cubs roster. Miguel Montero has thrown out 25 percent of runners while Kyle Schwarber has only thrown out 20 percent.

His other defensive statistics coupled with his ability to maximize his pitchers’ talents with his pitch framing makes the slightly below average caught stealing percentage a sacrifice that the Cubs are willing to take.

Next: Conclusion