Kottaras and Wild Pitches

[CheezWizHed]

I'm hoping someone that saw the game yesterday can shed some light into the 4 wild pitches from yesterday. Obviously, these were not PBs, but there is a lot of assumptions that these were mainly Kottaras' fault.

 

Were these pitches in the dirt that most catchers would have blocked? Any other thoughts on Kottaras' defense (he did throw out a base runner w/ DD "slow to the plate" pitching).

[BREWCREW5]

1 game = small sample size

[zzzmanwitz]

I saw the first two WPs. They were definitely in the dirt. Could they have been stopped, yes, but there was a reason they were scored wild pitches and not passed balls.

[razzzorsharp]

I think you can point to Davis's first inning as to the command of the starting pitcher. Davis was off and because of that, balls were in the dirt. We also don't know if they got mixed up at all throughout the day with Kottaras and Davis (and the other pitchers) being relatively new with each other.

[CheezWizHed]

1 game = small sample size

 

Yeah, but 4 WPs in one game is a pretty big WOW. Especially when his defense was already in question. I'm not BBQing him. I'm just looking for first hand impressions, as I only followed it online.

 

Basically, anytime a ball hits the dirt before it gets to the catcher, its a WP. Sheets was well known for intentionally spiking his CB in the dirt, trusting the catcher to block it. And from the two "ZZZ" responses, the first inning was more Davis' wildness than Kottaras. So it helps to know that.

[RobDeer 45]

I was a little worried about him when I saw him drop a curve ball on a third strike. It landed right in front of him but it should have easily been caught. What I thought of instantly is that this can really disrupt a pitcher. When you don't have confidence that your catcher can catch/stop a ball you tend not to be as aggressive on things like spiking a curve ball. I'm not roasting him at all either but just saying that a good catcher can really make a difference for a pitcher. A bad one can do the exact same, but the other way.

[Fatter than Joey]

I didn't pay very close attention to the first 2 WPs, but the 3rd & 4th really got my attention. I watched them a couple of times on the DVR

 

3rd WP -- That went right between his legs, right through the proverbial 5 hole. It was certainly a hard pitch to handle, but every MLB catcher should be able to prevent the ball going through his legs. This was not a good play by GK. Basically, catchers are taught to spread their knees out and get their ankles flat. Once that glove goes in the dirt, it ceases to be a "catching device" and becomes a "blocking device" one mistake that young catchers make, is trying to catch the balls in the dirt, and the movement of the glove can actually knock the ball away from the catcher. If the ball hits a still glove or a chest protector it pretty much dies out in front of the catcher. For whatever reason GK did not get down flat and pulled his glove up. This pitch would have never been called a PB, but I can say with 100% certainty, GK could have done better on this one. It almost seemed to me GK got crossed up with the signals or was not expecting the pitch.

 

4th WP -- This pitch bounced a good 1-2 feet in front of HP and to the right of GK, and over his shoulder. Catchers are taught to get down when the ball is in the dirt, that makes them susceptible to pitches that hit HP or in front of HP and have already started to get up in the air again. It would have taken a very non-routine effort for GK to block this one thrown by Coffey.

 

Davis threw a lot of pitches in the dirt, and GK blocked the majority of them. I think when DD walked Olivo, at least 3 of the pitches were in the dirt -- which is the only way you are going to walk Olivo.

 

In conclusion -- The third WP was one GK should/could have def. blocked -- I think almost every MLB catcher blocks that one rather routinely. The 4th one, was one a catcher either gets lucky with, or makes in incredible play on... I don't recall the first 2 enough to really offer much more than that.

 

1 game = small sample size

 

There is always a movement on this site to reduce "meaningless" one-line posts like "I agree" and "lol" -- for the most part I agree with this -- but it seems to me more and more you see "small sample size" inserted into many more threads than it needs to be. I have no idea what thought the poster of " 1 game = small sample size" was trying to convey, and I don't think a lot of thought was put into the post -- especially when the original poster was looking for some sort of description of specific plays, the sample-size post really is out of place and probably out of line.

[JoeHova]

I only really noticed the 2nd one (I was doing other stuff during the game) and that one would have been tough for any catcher to stop. Kottaras was set up on the 1st base side of the plate and the pitch bounced way on the 3rd base side. He never was able to get in front of it (although he tried) and I don't think many catchers would have been able to.

[JohnBriggs12]

I didn't see it, but Gameday indicated the one that Coffey threw was a fastball. Fastballs in the dirt are almost impossible to stop.

[Fatter than Joey]

Yes they are, unless they are heading for the 5 hole. Coffey spiked a FB. Davis's were all off-speed/breaking stuff.

[zzzmanwitz]

To summarize my thoughts and what others have said... I think its something to watch for, but nothing to be too worried about at this point. It was his first regular season game with a new team in front of new fans in a new park. I'm sure there were some nerves involved. And like said above, really only one of the 4 should have been stopped, 2 were nearly impossible to stop, and 1 could have been stopped but it would have been a heck of a play.

[Fatter than Joey]

BTW -- 4 was a Brewer's record.

 

For those scoring at home.

[bucksbeat]

Baseball Reference has those 4 WP for Kottaras as the first 4 of his career. He didn't have any in 243.2 innings in '09 or 8 innings in '08 at catcher with the Red Sox. Assuming that's correct he sees a WP every 65.5 innings while Zaun sees one every 31 innings throughout his career.

 

Kind of strange as Kottaras has a PB every 32.525 innings (8 in 243.2 innings) while Zaun has one every 157 innings (51 in 8009 innings).

[Dragonbait]

Those numbers might be a little skewed.

 

Didnt GK catch Wakefield in Boston? Im sure that had something to do with his Pass Ball/ WP numbers.

[Fatter than Joey]

He didn't have any in 243.2 innings in '09 or 8 innings in '08 at catcher with the Red Sox. Assuming that's correct

 

I looked at a couple of Red Sox boxscores, and according to the box-scores Kottaras was catching Wakefield and allowed some WPs. -- so I don't think the baseball-ref stats are complete/correct.

 

Also -- I looked at GK's fielding page, and in 2009 he has 8 PBs, and the WP box is blank, which I think should be distinguished from "0" -- that is to say, I don't think someone counted up the WPs and assigned them to catchers in 2009.

 

Wakefield had 4 WP's in 2009, I would assume GK had at least that many.

[joepepsi]

Those numbers might be a little skewed.

 

Didnt GK catch Wakefield in Boston? Im sure that had something to do with his Pass Ball/ WP numbers.

He did catch Wakefield, at least last year. The "scouting report" from New England friend had GK as a very capable catch and throw guy, in part due to his excellent work with Wakefield.

[mattsr0625]

i was at the game and i saw first hand how terrible this guy is. there were a few past balls and a ton of dropped balls. i mean this guy would drop a fast ball for a called 3rd strike. why he is our backup catcher is beyond me.

[logan82]

why he is our backup catcher is beyond me.

 

Maybe his left handed bat complements our starter.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[bucksbeat]

Hmmm.. That's kind of disappointing that baseball-reference is kind of unreliable.