Jason LaRue

[Roscodog]

I notice very few people seem to use him as there catcher, I'm thinking about it though. Any opinions on him good or bad? thanks RD

[JdEarly]

I think that his bat would be great for a catcher, especially in a pitchers park with all those doubles. He also strikes out a lot, but I guess I would rather have him strikeout than ground into a doubleplay. I think the biggest reason people don't use him is the fact that he's a 4 behind the plate - I'm not sure how much catchers range rating effects anything, but if you're comfortable with that risk, I say go for it. He could be productive.

LaRue's bat at catcher - good, but might not make up for the glove.
LaRue's bat at DH because of the poor glove - not even close.

[Roscodog]

My home park is Jacobs field with two MM's and Yankee stadium in my division. I think he may put up alringt #'s. What is the importance of a 4 behind the plate as opposed to a 1?

[milezd]

from what I can gather a 4 behind the plate, while worse than a 1 isn't that great of an impact, what is more important is their other catcher ratings (pass balls and possible throwing errors)

[Mean Dean]

Yeah, it's not that important at all. A 4 has a higher chance of a possible passed ball on a CATCH-X: 45% higher than a 1, 30% higher than a 2, or 15% higher than a 3 (non-cumulative.) But, there's only a 1.4% chance on any given roll of a CATCH-X to begin with, so it only happens once every couple of games. And even if you [i:3380d01037]do[/i:3380d01037] roll the CATCH-X and [i:3380d01037]do[/i:3380d01037] also roll the possible PB, it's only a [i:3380d01037]possible[/i:3380d01037] PB -- whether the PB actually happens in turn depends on the pitcher's WP rating. So it's really not a big deal.

[Roscodog]

thanks, that's good to know

[packleader]

Why would a pitcher's WP rating impact the catcher's likelihood of having a passed ball? I'm not disagreeing that it may be true, but it is illogical to connect the two. :?

[Mean Dean]

That's just how the game works :) I don't think it's illogical at all; wilder pitchers [i:266818c555]do[/i:266818c555] create more PB, as well as more WP. Knuckleballers are the most vivid example of this. Five of the six [url=http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/btf/scholars/ruane/articles/bad_things_good_pitchers.htm]all-time leaders in passed balls per 9 innings[/url] are knuckleballers, including the top 4.

The other way to get a PB is entirely dependent on the catcher (to be specific, every time runners are on base, you roll a d20, and if the d20 is a 2 and the result on the die that determines hitter's or pitcher's card is a 4, 5 or 6, that's a possible PB.) So these are "extra" passed balls, as it were.