Catch Thieves?

(Minimum 500 innings caught in 2001)

Another new king is on the throne.

Last year Henry Blanco dethroned King Ivan, when the Texas' backstop 2000 season ended in late July with a fractured thumb. This year, Rodriguez returned and met new competition in Jason Larue while last year's champ fell to 8th place in caught-stealing percentage. Meanwhile the five straight season champ, Ivan Rodriguez, has been dethroned as the King of this category even though he was barely beaten out by the new king.

To be fair to the game's premier backstop, when Rodriguez was healthy, opponents smartly avoided running on him. The below league average total of 58 attempted steals demonstrates how his mere presence on the field deters the running game. He allowed just 0.24 stolen bases per nine innings in 2001, far and away the lowest number of steals per nine among all catchers who caught at least 500 innings last summer.
Using the same minimum, here are the best of 2001 at catching thieves:

Take a look at the following chart. It lists the runners each catcher caught stealing (CCS), 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).