Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers - Catching Base Runners

Which 2006 Catchers

Catch Thieves?

(Minimum 500 innings caught in 2006)

By Chuck Rosciam

The King of Catching Thieves again is Ivan Rodriguez (DET). His 0.21 Stolen Bases Allowed per 9 innings (SB/9) in 2006 is a continuation of his power at shutting down the running game. He caught 51% of all would-be base stealers and is, undoubtedly, the very best among those backstops who caught 500 or more innings this year.

Only young David Ross (CIN) and phenom Joe Mauer (MIN) even came close to Pudge's SB/9 rate. Ross had a .247 while Mauer, the American League Batting Champion in 2006, allowed just .306 SB's per 9 innings.

There were 8 catchers who had a CS Rate of 40% or better out of the 107 backstops that caught this year. Only 33 of them caught 500+ innings and just 14 had 1000+ innings. Twenty-six caught 50% or more of their team's games (81+) and 14 caught 120 or more games, the leader being Kenji Johjima (SEA) who caught 144 games (88%).

Using the minimum of 500+ innings caught, here are the best of 2006 at catching thieves:

Take a look at the following chart. It lists the runners each catcher caught stealing (CS), the stolen bases attempted (SBA), the stolen bases (SB) while he was behind the plate, the caught stealing percentage (CS%), and the stolen bases allowed per 9 innings (SB/9) all ranked at CS%.

Catcher	Team	INN	G	SB	CS	SBA	CS%	SB/9
Ivan Rodriguez	DET	1054.3	123	25	26	51	0.5098	0.213
Gerald Laird	TEX	578.3	71	25	21	46	0.4565	0.389
David Ross	CIN	620.6	75	17	14	31	0.4516	0.247
Yadier Molina	STL	1037.3	127	37	29	66	0.4394	0.321
Ramon Hernandez	BAL	1094.3	135	55	42	97	0.4330	0.452
Henry Blanco	CHN	526.0	69	24	18	42	0.4286	0.411
Jose Molina	LAA	603.3	76	27	20	47	0.4255	0.403
Yorvit Torrealba	COL	530.0	63	31	21	52	0.4038	0.526
Miguel Olivo	FLA	971.3	124	48	30	78	0.3846	0.445
Joe Mauer	MIN	1059.3	120	36	22	58	0.3793	0.306
Jorge Posada	NYA	1050.3	134	64	38	102	0.3725	0.548
Ronnie Paulino	PIT	1047.0	124	67	38	105	0.3619	0.576
Jason LaRue	CIN	512.3	63	23	13	36	0.3611	0.404
John Buck	KCA	930.3	112	33	17	50	0.3400	0.319
Kenji Johjima	SEA	1172.6	144	57	29	86	0.3372	0.437
Rod Barajas	TEX	825.0	94	38	19	57	0.3333	0.415
Damian Miller	MIL	840.0	98	36	17	53	0.3208	0.386
Russ Martin	LAN	1015.0	117	71	32	103	0.3107	0.630
Mike Napoli	LAA	716.3	94	38	17	55	0.3091	0.477
Jason Kendall	OAK	1254.0	141	71	31	102	0.3039	0.510
Brian Schneider	WAS	990.3	123	58	25	83	0.3012	0.527
Johnny Estrada	ARI	924.6	108	66	27	93	0.2903	0.642
Eliezer Alfonzo	SFN	700.3	84	52	18	70	0.2571	0.668
Paul LoDuca	NYM	1027.0	118	84	27	111	0.2432	0.736
Greg Zaun	TOR	541.3	72	55	17	72	0.2361	0.914
Brian McCann	ATL	1016.3	124	70	21	91	0.2308	0.620
Brad Ausmus	HOU	1124.6	138	60	17	77	0.2208	0.480
Jason Varitek	BOS	822.3	99	46	13	59	0.2203	0.503
A.J. Pierzynski	CHA	1125.0	132	90	25	115	0.2174	0.720
Michael Barrett	CHN	852.0	102	89	21	110	0.1909	0.940
Bengie Molina	TOR	842.0	99	68	15	83	0.1807	0.727
Victor Martinez	CLE	1110.0	133	100	22	122	0.1803	0.811
Mike Piazza	SDN	718.0	99	97	13	110	0.1182	1.216