Article: William Contreras' Catching Defense, Part 2: Pitcher Synergies

[JasonWang7517]

Baseball is a team game, so while individual stats are important, there are often other variables to consider. It's the reason why some believe FIP to be more indicative of a pitcher's ability than ERA. With catchers, their defensive framing figures are directly affected by whoever is throwing to them. If a pitch is hard to hit, it might also be hard to frame.

This is a continuation of examining William Contreras' defense behind the plate. If you'd like to catch up on part one of this piece, you can do so here.

The Pitcher Picture
While it's important to look at Contreras' defensive abilities, it's equally important to look at how they'll be affected by whoever is on the mound. Because preparation and results are strongly affected by a rotation's pitch arsenal, I wanted to see how his framing preferences sync up with the styles of some of his new teammates.

Corbin Burnes

The Brewers ace primarily relies on his cutter, which breaks toward Burnes' glove side, ending up in the middle or right portion of the zone.  While used less frequently, his curveball and other pitches land closer to the middle-bottom boundary. Contreras may struggle with Burnes’s breaking balls but will likely synergize well with his cutter if it can land a little higher in the zone, especially since Contreras struggled with pitches in the bottom right corner.

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Brandon Woodruff

Woodruff is a more traditional four-seam pitcher, with many of his pitches landing in the upper part of the zone. Unfortunately, many pitches on the edge hug the lower-left side, namely his sinker and change-up. The slider might be a nightmare for Contreras because of how close it is to the bottom-right corner, but luckily Woodruff throws it a mere 11.3% of the time.

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Freddy Peralta

Peralta has the greatest shot at being Contreras’s new best friend in Milwaukee. Heavily reliant on high fastballs, his current arsenal seems to line up the best out of the other pitchers in the Brewers rotation. His curveball also has a decent amount of scatter, sometimes landing high or to the right of the zone, complementing Contereras’ abilities well if Peralta chooses to approach 2023 in the same way he did 2022. 

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Devin Williams

Like Peralta, the Brewers’ new standout closer has the potential to synergize well when throwing his high four-seamer. Still, his air-bending changeup might have to rely more on swinging strikes than called strikes, almost perfectly hugging the bottom edge of the strike zone. Fortunately for Wiliams and Milwaukee fans everywhere, it’s a pitch specializing in swinging strikes with a 43.9% Whiff% so Contreras might be more of a passive contributor.

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The Verdict
There are a lot of things to like about Contreras’s game. He’s a great hitter and will bolster the Brewers' offense more than his predecessor. Still, we’ve yet to see if he will follow in the footsteps of his brother Willson by playing more like a designated hitter than a truly well-rounded catcher. 

On the bright side, William is very young at 25 and has the potential to blossom into an impactful, complete player. Already an All-Star in his first full season as a major leaguer, he’s shown that he’s capable of incredible things and has immense talent. I'm curious to see if the Brewers coaching staff will aim to improve his weak framing, slightly adjust the team's pitch sequences, do a bit of both, or do neither and just let him earn his keep by continuing to rake, hoping his offensive contributions outweigh his defensive detriments.

Regardless of what the team focuses on in this upcoming season, he is an exciting addition to the lineup, and I look forward to seeing just how much he can accomplish as a part of the Brew Crew.

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