Two things happened on July 18, 2019, culminating in the quiet crowning of Minnesota’s Mitch Garver as baseball’s best catcher. Garver crushed another dinger to center field, his 15th in 168 at-bats, to give the Twins an insurance run against Oakland. And “All-Star” catcher Gary Sánchez demonstrated his poor pitch framing abilities to the point that his manager was ejected.
Garver’s home run was overshadowed by Eddie Rosario’s go-ahead dinger just prior to the Garvy Train leaving the station. And Sánchez’s poor pitch framing was overshadowed by New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s argument being picked up by on-field microphones.
Boone wasn’t entirely wrong in his criticisms of the young umpire, but the perceived preferential treatment the Tampa Bay Rays received from the home plate umpire was due to Sánchez’s inability to catch pitches in the strike zone so they were called strikes. It’s no secret that Sánchez struggles with the glove. According to Baseball Prospectus, Sánchez is 94th out of 97 catchers of MLB baseballs this season in framing runs saved (-6.8). Again, this is the American League All-Star catcher we’re talking about.
Meanwhile, Mitch Garver has improved immensely in the pitch framing department. In 2018, Garver was 109th out of 117 MLB catchers in framing runs saved. This season he’s 26th. Baseball Reference has him contributing two runs above average fielding the baseball, which is 10 runs better than he was last season. Combined with his 16 runs above average batting the baseball, Garver’s 2.6 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is 0.4 better than Sánchez’s thus far.
Garver’s done all of this having played 24 fewer games than Sánchez, missing time with a sprained ankle sustained while saving a run at the plate. The only reason Garver isn’t getting the mass sports media love is because he doesn’t have the qualifying plate appearances. But only five catchers do. Amongst non-qualified candidates, Mitch Garver’s 8.27 runs created per 27 outs would rank seventh amongst all MLB players.
It all adds up to the Twins getting the best production from the catcher position in all of baseball (1.2 WAR). The proverbial passing of the Spike Nolan chain featuring the golden catcher’s mask might not be recognized by the mass sports media yet. But Mitch Garver is baseball’s best catcher. He also has baseball’s best walk-up music.
