Chicago Cubs: A statistical analysis of the National League Central

Is Willson Contreras the man to beat behind the dish?

The catcher player group is one that is always very difficult to pin down. Defensive superiority at the position is something that most would agree serves as a differentiator. Offensively, most catchers don’t produce at the same level as other position players. Why?

They call every pitch of every game, while also preparing to contribute offensively. The challenge lies in determining how best to measure these traits – as they split their attention on a daily basis.

The criteria for evaluation of the catcher groups focused on three key “core competencies” most would agree represent the minimum qualifications for excellence at that position. Those competencies are relative player value, defensive impact and offensive impact. Within each competency, one or more statistical categories were determined to qualify best each catcher’s ability to deliver on those competencies.

As will be the case throughout these assessments, and to reiterate a very key point of understanding, each team’s position unit rating is representative of the summary of projected statistics prorated against the anticipated number of games played for each individual (not to exceed 162 total team games).