Top 10 Catchers of All-Time: Nos. 10-6

Note for links: In the past I have linked the names of players to Baseball-Reference (BRef), but for catchers, I am linking to FanGraphs due to BRef not incorporating framing into their WAR calc for catchers, while FanGraphs does.

Catcher is an interesting position in baseball, one of contradictions. When a fan imagines the prototypical backstop, besides the iconic equipment and glove, an athletic specimen is generally not the first thing that comes to mind. Shortstops, center fielders, third basemen, those positions all require a certain mix of arm strength, agility, speed (in the case of the CF), and instincts. Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Adrian Beltre, they all spring to the forefront of examples of elite athletes. And it's true that all of those are important defensive spots, especially SS. As for catchers? Well, the above picture is a pretty good representation of appearances throughout the history of the game: a stocky, short player, but one with a strong arm whose things and calves have been through the sports equivalent of the Thirty Years' War. And therein lies the rub: the physical toll that catching takes on the whole body is orders of magnitude more than any other position. The throwing elbow for a pitcher is probably the most affected anatomically-speaking in all of baseball, but for second, I'd put the thighs and calves of a catcher. It's no wonder that the average catcher spends less time at his position games-wise than any other non-utilityman, and it should surprise no one that among all positions, catchers have the worst hitting statistics on average.

Alright, so it seems that last sentence is not exactly kind to the less glamorous half of the battery (there I go again, smh...), but I had to have some hook, right? In all sincerity, catching is an incredibly arduous task, and for how important and physically-demanding it is, to be able to maintain a high level at it for an extended period of time is a monumental achievement for any ballplayer. There are many qualities that make a catcher great, but how one weighs those attributes determines the ranking. For me, hitting, while the most impactful part how all position players impact games, does not weigh *as* heavily for ranking catchers compared to other positions. If a catcher is a great hitter, but their framing and arm is awful, I am not going to be including them on here. However, that does not mean that a catcher with a poor reputation of even statistics on defense will be precluded from my top 10; like all things in player evaluation, we have to take things on a case-by-case basis. If your catcher has a 160 OPS+, you're probably not going to care so much about their framing, unless it's so terrible that it significantly brings down said catcher's value. WAR will factor heavily in my order, but some leeway will be given for subjective preferences. We are going to start with the bottom half of the 10 best at the position, among which include arguably the greatest defensive player in MLB history (if you buy into the defensive spectrum, which I admittedly do), a backstop who won the most World Series in baseball history, and the author of perhaps the most iconic home run in postseason history. Without further ado, let's get started.

T-10. Russell Martin and Brian McCann: I know, I know, I'm cheating here. This is supposed to be a top 10, not some weird, feel-good, everyone-gets-a-spot-on-the-podium participation trophy. I've never done this on a previous listing, and I know that this will technically make this a top 11, but the simple fact is this: I cannot, in good faith, separate these two. While it is not true that they are exactly the same (Martin was a better framer, McCann a better hitter), the similarities they share are uncanny, incomparable to any other pair of backstops. Both had a single 8+ WAR season, both were world-class framers, both had elite peaks for their position, both were mediocre at preventing stolen bases, both were born in February (Martin in 1983, McCann the following year), and both retired with fewer than 7,000 PAs. My personal methodology in ranking has Martin ahead of McCann, both in overall career as well as prime, but because the latter was a better hitter and that he also had more seasons with at least 6 WAR, I ultimately decided to have them both in 10th place, another example of their inseparability. And in case one needed any more examples of their twin-lite nature, they retired in 2019 and are on the MVP ballot this year for the first time. So, while I normally go in-depth on a player's career from beginning to end, I thought I would do something a little different here: I will go through each catcher's notable seasons and determine which one was better, though I will also summarize their lesser years, such as those with fewer than 400 PAs. So without further ado, let's begin.

McCann was actually the first of the two to reach the Show, doing so at the young age of 21 in 2005. He didn't accomplish much in his short stint, slashing .278/.345/.400 for a mediocre 93 wRC+ and accumulating 0.5 fWAR. His hitting, baserunning, and even defense were subpar, the only saving grace being the position he was tasked with manning. It was a start reminiscent of the #9 guy on this list, nondescript and nothing to foreshadow the greatness that would follow. One thing that would prove prophetic, unfortunately, was his complete inability to throw out baserunners: in 27 stolen base attempts, McCann threw out a paltry 5 runners, a decrepit 18.5%. Considering that the league average was 29.0% caught stealing, McCann was a -10.5%, a terrible mark. While he would get better at this part of his duty, it would never be a strength, and he would thrice allow the most stolen bases in the NL, with his 104 leading both leagues in 2011. Still, Atlanta evidently saw enough from him to make him their opening day starter in 2006, the same year Russell Martin would earn his spot on LAD's roster as a 23 YO. Their first years in the Bigs together could not have been more different, a far cry from how their careers would turn out. For the Dodger's backstop, he would have a subpar hitting season, a 94 wRC+. However, his penchant for framing would come out in full force as a rookie: 13.6 runs saved from that, allowing him to finish with +23 fielding runs and accrue a wildly impressive 4.8 WAR as a rookie catcher. McCann was the complete opposite: he had a 145 wRC+ and +29 runs added from his bat from 24 home runs and a monstrous .333/.388/.572 line; it should surprise no one that he was tops among backstops in hitting that season. An OPS of .961 is great, so to accomplish it as a 22 year-old catcher was remarkable. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end for McCann. While he would develop into an elite framer, as a sophomore, he flat-out sucked. He was -15.2 in that metric, tanking his WAR from what would have been a great mark of 4.6 to a still good, but not elite, total of 3.1. So while McCann had an elite season hitting-wise, I still have to give Martin the victory here for 2006 due to earning over a win and a half more, even if it is relatively close.

If '06 was a close victory for Martin, 2007 would be a giant rout in his favor. He had arguably the greatest defensive season in MLB history this year, with an insane 5.6 dWAR, largely on the back of a remarkable 18 DRS and +24.8 framing runs, good for a ridiculous 42.8 runs saved. Add that to the positional adjustment and 25% of his Rrep going to the defensive side and voila, the most wins from defense in a season with my calculations. He also was a pretty good hitter, with an .843 OPS and a 113 wRC+. It was good enough to give him 2.5 oWAR and a total of 8.1 wins, one of the best seasons ever from a catcher. McCann was, well, not close. He was an average hitter, getting a 99 wRC+ from a .772 OPS (the steroid era was wild) and being a terrible baserunner. On defense, while his framing improved to +4.0 runs, he did little else, allowing 70 stolen bases on 91 attempts, a poor 23.1% CS rate for -4.6% below average. This was only good for a WAR of 1.7, 6.4 wins below Martin. In terms of all-time years, Martin's .544 waaWL% was the 8th-highest in MLB history for players with at least 400 PAs, one of the greatest years we've seen. 2008 would be much different, however. Martin would have another elite season with 7.5 WAR from 30.4 framing runs and +10.4 wRAA (weighted runs above average, basically how many runs a hitter contributed from batting, computed by linear weights) from his bat with a 114 wRC+, but instead of lapping the field for his position, he would actually come in second to McCann. All that I can say is that in the latter's fourth season, everything finally clicked. He was a very good hitter with a 134 wRC+ and hit 23 homers with an .896 OPS (he even hit .301). Behind the plate, McCann finally showed how much he had grown with framing, saving an amazing 34.5 runs. This was 4 better than Martin's, when just two years ago, Martin was 28.8 runs better than him. Both had over 4.5 dWAR, with McCann at 4.9 and Martin with 4.6. I would contend that among catchers, McCann's 2008 season is one of the 10 best, along with Martin's 2007. B-Mac wins this season, but both were amazing. McCann's .549 waaWL% is sixth-best ever and Martin's .536 mark is 35th-best. It was a heavyweight title bout that was sort of a precursor of the 2012 race between our No. 9 and 4 catchers.

2009 comes along and for McCann, it was more of the same. He had another great season, with 6.2 WAR on the back of a .281/.349/.486 slash line and a 124 wRC+ (the third time in four years he was above 120). His waaWL% was .536 and he saved 25.2 runs from his framing, and when combined with the positional adjustment and other parts of his defense, he was good for 3.9 dWAR. Martin would suffer a significant decline after his otherworldly 2007 and 2008 seasons, but he was still a good catcher, with 3.6 WAR, primarily from 19.3 runs saved from his always spectacular framing. His waaWL%, which had been above .530 each of his first three seasons, dipped to .514, but he was still 5th in WAR among catchers, with McCann's 6.2 wins coming in second. The latter takes this, though not to the degree that Martin bested him in 2007. 2010 was kind of a wash in the competition, as Martin only played 97 games and had 387 plate appearances. He was productive in those, with 3.1 fWAR and +10.4 framing runs, but his wRC+ was 90 and he just couldn't muster up enough of a fight to compete with another great McCann campaign. This was the Atlanta backstop's third straight year with at least 6 WAR, 6.1 wins to be precise, and he had a 121 wRC+ with 17.2 wRAA and +17.6 runs saved from framing. This added up to 4.4 WAA over 566 PAs and a third straight year with a waaWL% above .530, with a mark of .533. He accrued 3.7 dWAR, good for 3rd in baseball behind Yadier Molina and Michael Bourn, and while neither his offense nor defense were the best at the position, the elite combination he displayed was sufficient to give him the most WAR among catchers. McCann takes this year almost by default. 2011 would be a different story, with Martin having a full season after missing 65 games the prior year. Having been a member of the Dodgers the previous five seasons, Martin was now a Yankee, and he did not disappoint the Bronx faithful. His +27.4 framing runs saved were good for third in baseball after Jonathan Lucroy's insane +41.5 and McCann's +29.7, and while his wRC+ was a slightly below-average 97, for a catcher, it ranked 13th among qualifiers, so it wasn't poor by any means. His oWAR was 1.0, but when added to his fantastic 4.3 dWAR, he was at 5.2 wins (due to rounding). McCann had arguably the second-best season of his career, with 6.6 WAR in 527 PAs, leading all catchers in the former. Because of the aforementioned Lucroy having over 40 framing runs, McCann's .540 waaWL%, normally good enough to lead his position, was only second, but he was by far the more balanced, with his having over an .800 OPS for the fifth time in six years and a wRC+ of 122, the fourth consecutive year surpassing that threshold. With McCann having over a win more than Martin, I think we have to give him the victory here.

We get to 2012 and this is the first time that I have not been able to clearly determine a winner based purely on my methodology. For the first time since 2007, Martin was the superior hitter compared to McCann, with a perfectly average 100 wRC+ compared to McCann's paltry 86. His framing was excellent as always, with +16.5 runs saved, and added to his positional adjustment, it gave him 3.0 dWAR. While by no means the best year of his career, it was a solid campaign that saw him earn 4.2 WAR in only 485 plate appearances. What's interesting is that McCann who, except for that aforementioned 2007 season, had been the better hitter (and one of the most consistently productive for his position) between the two, was awful that year. Of the 18 qualifying catchers, McCann ranked 16th in wRC+ and had a sub-.700 OPS for the first time in his career. The only saving grace was, once again, his exceptional framing, saving +26.4 runs from that alone. Largely on the strength of that, he also earned 4.2 WAR, although his WAA of 2.8 meant that his waaWL% of .524 was slightly higher than Martin's .522 from the latter's 2.6 wins above average. With that being said, I think I have to give Martin the ever-so-slight edge here because of his materially better hitting. When things are that close, I have to defer to the superior hitter, and as odd as it is, in 2012, Martin was better than McCann at hitting. 2013 would see a return to normalcy of how McCann and Martin traditionally were, the only difference now being that the former was no longer elite at framing. His hitting rebounded to a respectable 114 wRC+ and in 402 PAs, he added 9.4 wRAA from a .256/.336/.461 slash line, finishing a respectable 8th for catchers that year. While his framing took a dip as previously discussed, he was still good at it, +7.2 runs saved. His problem this year was that he simply did not have as many opportunities, and thus, his WAR was 3.5. Martin, in contrast, was an average hitter, a .703 OPS for a 99 wRC+, but his framing was better at +13.1 runs and he also threw out 40.4% of baserunners and led the majors in number of runners caught stealing at 36. All in all, it added up to 3.8 dWAR and 4.9 wins overall. Even though McCann was clearly better as a hitter, Martin's edge in volume and elite defense catapults him to another victory.

2014 Russell Martin was one of the best catchers in baseball history. His +11.6 framing runs saved were very good, but not elite, but what separated him from even his other seasons was how good he was at every aspect of playing his position. His 140 wRC+ (due to an exceptional .402 OBP) was third among backstops behind Buster Posey and Devin Mesoraco and his 6.0 WAR was also third behind Posey and Jonathan Lucroy (those two had 7.5 and 7.8 wins, respectively). Martin's .542 waaWL% ranked first for catchers and was 15th-best in all-time. He did this in only 460 plate appearances, so if you pro-rate his totals to 600 PAs, you get 7.9 WAR. On defense, aside from his framing, Martin threw out 38.5% of would-be base stealers, 10.6% better than league average. In total, with the offensive environment the lowest it had been since the 1980s, his 41.7 Runs Above Average (RAA) was good for 4.6 WAA. Even though he had more WAA and WAR in 2008, because he had 190 more PAs that year, I would contend that this is actually his second-best season, and certainly the apex of his batting. McCann fell far short of the standard Martin set. He only had a .692 OPS and a 92 wRC+, and returned to a very good +12.2 runs, it wasn't nearly enough to offset the massive advantage Martin had on offense. He only earned 3.1 WAR in 538 plate appearances, so while it was good, compared to Martin's nearly doubling it in 78 fewer PAs, Martin wins this in a rout. 2015 and 2016 followed similar trajectories, though McCann was much closer than in 2014. Martin 4.4 and 3.7 WAR in those years while McCann got 3.0 and 2.3 WAR, respectively. They were roughly equal in terms of hitting, but Martin was the much better defender, earning him the gold to McCann's silver in these two seasons.

So with all of the above detailed, in the 11 seasons from 2006-2016, I have Martin as the winner in seven of them, with McCann reigning supreme from 2008-2011. Admittedly, Martin was better for longer, but at their respective peaks, I think McCann has a slight leg up here. He had five seasons of a wRC+ greater than 120, contrasted with Martin's one, and his best season, 2008, was, in my view, better than Martin's best. It's close, and while if I had to choose one over the other, I would probably go with Martin, they are so close and they played at the same time that I think it's only right to have them each place in the top 10. Both were incredibly underrated and while I don't expect them to advance to a second HOF ballot, I hope this write-up helps to demonstrate how good these two were at their best.

9. Yadier Molina: Had Charles Dickens been a) born in 1982 and b) a sabermetrics fan, he could have coined the term "A Tale of Two WAR Frameworks" to describe Yadi Molina instead of that novel that I'm sure no one ever read. Molina is one of a couple examples that first comes to mind when one thinks about the the massive differences between bWAR and fWAR when it comes to the position of catchers. Catchers who were either terrible framers or elite at it have widely diverging win values, in some cases as many as 20. Molina is not that catcher, but his fWAR is materially greater than his bWAR, 55.6 vs. 42.2, respectively. 13.4 wins is a massive gap, especially over 8,500 plate appearances, and it is the difference from Molina being 19th in WAR among catchers per bWAR and 10th in fWAR. Now I didn't merely look at the catcher fWAR leaderboards to come up with my rankings because that wouldn't be fun, but it is cool that it happened to work out that way. In any case, the difference for Molina is due pretty much entirely to fWAR including framing and bWAR not. Molina was a master at that aspect of the position, and FanGraphs estimates that he saved roughly ~15 wins (151.1 runs) from 2008-2022 just by being an elite framer, and an amazing 118.3 runs saved from 2008-2013. Considering that 10 runs is worth roughly 1 win, and seeing that Molina has over 13 more wins by fWAR than bWAR, it's understandable why the former is the better option to use for evaluating backstops. Now with all of that out of the way (and fortunately, we won't have to go over the background of framing again), we can do a deep-dive into why Molina is, in my view, the 10th-greatest catcher in MLB history.

Molina came onto the scene midway through 2004 as a 21 year-old who was never much of a hitter, but had a rifle for an arm. In four seasons in the minors from 2001-2004, Molina had a slash line of .278/.333/.368 for an OPS of .701. Yeah, nothing to write home about, but in his defense, his status as a prospect was never predicated on his prowess with the bat, but on his mastery behind the plate. As a rookie, that didn't really change. Over 151 plate appearances, Molina accrued 0.4 fWAR on the back of a 77 wRC+ and 2 fielding runs (how many runs his defense saved over the course of the season). It was a pretty nondescript campaign, not one that would have you believe he would go on to earn 10 All-Star nominations and a Silver Slugger of all accolades. The following three years would do little to contravene that assessment, with his posting fWAR totals of 1.1, -0.3, and 1.4. 2006 was especially rough on the young catcher, as he finished with a 51 wRC+ and a brutal -29 wRAA (basically, how many runs above average did you provide by hitting), by far the worst of his career. Yadi was still an okay catcher, as his defense was great, but by the end of 2007, he had 2.7 fWAR and an awful 70 wRC+. He had not yet won any GGs nor been elected to an All-Star game. He was 25 and his future, while not bleak by any means, was not looking to be anything other than that of an ordinary, league-average catcher. His profile was that of a good defensive player at the premium position who had an all-time great arm (second only to #8 on this list), but an offensive game that bordered on the worst in baseball. The last part is nothing new for the position, but if Molina was ever going to ascend to the ranks of the best in history, he would need to substantially improve. Well, over the next decade, he would do just that, and go onto claim (in my view) the mantle of the greatest defensive player in MLB history.

I want to take a quick detour and talk about two stats I created: SBAP+ and CS%+. SBAP+ (Adjusted Stolen Base Attempts Prevented) is a metric that aims to measure how well a catcher prevents runners from attempting stolen bases in the first place. The best backstops not only are proficient at throwing out would-be thieves, but they deter them from even trying. Say player A has 810 innings at catcher, so that would be 90 approximate games (810 innings / 9 innings per game), and during that time, he faces 90 stolen base attempts. If the leaguewide average for stolen base attempts per game is 1.5, then catcher A's would be expected to face 135 stolen base attempts; his SBAP would be 45 ((1.5*90)-90) SBAs he faced) and his SBAP+ would be 150. This is computed by taking the average SBAs per game (1.5) and dividing it by average SBAs catcher A faces (1.0), then multiplying it by 100. You get (1.5/1.0)*100, so 150 (in this case, like OPS+ or wRC+, a higher number is better). Similarly, CS%+ (Adjusted Caught Stealing Percentage) works the same way: (catcher A's CS% / leaguewide average CS% * 100), with the higher the number, the better. Why do I bring these two statistics up here? Because Molina was an absolute monster at both. In 2005, he caught 959 innings at the position and faced 39 stolen base attempts, an average of 0.366 per game. The NL average for 2005 was 0.736, so Yadi deterred more than half of would-be thieves, giving him a SBAP+ of 201.1 (0.736/0.366, with rounding). This was only his second season, so he had already instilled fear in them that exceeded the best seasons of defensive titans like Ivan Rodriguez and Johnny Bench (we will get to both of them later). When they did run on Molina, it was a mistake, to put it lightly: While the league average for caught stealing was 29.33%, Yadi threw out a nigh-incomprehensible 64.10% of baserunners, good for a CS%+ of 218.5. That number is first in MLB history since we have CS data starting in 1950. Seeing that the average catcher would have faced 80 runners in the approximate number of games Molina participated in, and with the average CS% at 29.33%, a typical catcher would throw out 23 baserunners. Molina threw out 25 in 39 attempts. The fact that Yadi threw out more runners on the basepaths even though he faced less than half of the pro-rated average shows how impressive his 2005. His CSAA (Caught Stealing Above Average, calculated by taking his CS% above league average and multiplying it by the stolen base attempts he faced) was 13.6, meaning he threw out 13.6 more baserunners than expected given the attempts he faced. In my opinion, it is the single-greatest season a catcher has ever had when it comes to preventing stolen bases. And as a final refrain, of the 2,273 seasons in which a catcher has caught at least 500 innings since 1950, Molina has 5 of the top 12 in SBAP+; no other catcher has more than a single season in the top 20. If that doesn't demonstrate how much Molina intimidated baserunners, nothing does. In 2006, Yadi "declined" to only +15.23% in CS% and a 153.1 CS%+ mark, but he would rebound to a +29.56% and an even greater 220.9 CS%+ figure in 2007. So even though his offense was sputtering, his arm and framing were making him a valuable part of the Cards.

In the first paragraph for Molina, I went into the importance of framing and explained why fWAR is superior to use for catchers compared to Baseball-Reference's version of WAR. Yadi's 2008 is probably the premier example of why it's necessary to incorporate that aspect of a catcher's contributions. By bWAR, Molina actually regressed from 2007, as he had 15 DRS in that year compared to *only* 3 in '08, and 2.1 bWAR in 2007 vs. 1.3 in 2008. But by fWAR, he had the best season of his career in '08, with 4.1 wins, a massive gap of 2.8 WAR between BRef and FG. In my calculation of WAR, I include framing runs as well, and while FG had him at a 97 wRC+ and my calc. gave him a 96, we each had him at 4.1 wins. (As an aside, I will be using my version of WAR as the default unless otherwise specified. Please see the disclaimer at the top of my Top 10 Second Basemen of All-Time article for additional details.) FanGraphs estimates that he saved 20.2 runs just from his framing, and it helped him accrue the fourth-most WAR among catchers in 2008 (he was 17th and 20th in 2005 and 2006, respectively). After four seasons of being a subpar catcher, Molina became a top 5 backstop, and would remain so the next five seasons, never finishing lower than 4th in WAR among catchers. Most impressively, at 25, he was just getting started, and it would be years before he hit his peak. 2009 would see Yadi become an above-average hitter for the first time in his professional career, a .293/.366/.383 slash for a 105 wRC+, a mark good for 7th among catchers. That increase in offensive production, when added to stellar defense, would see his WAR rise to 4.6, once again fourth among all catchers for the year. Molina had produced back-to-back outstanding defensive campaigns, and while I am not generally a fan of using accolades in my evaluation of players, he placed in MVP voting for the first time in his young career, and won a second Gold Glove. This year would also be the first of 10 All-Star selections in his time in the Bigs, and it was well-deserved.

The following season of 2010 would see a steep regression in his hitting, down to only a .671 OPS and 80 wRC+. There was no denying that it was an all-around bad season for him offensively, as he was his typical egregious self on the basepaths, only taking the extra base a paltry 27.8% of opportunities. One would think that this resulted in a mediocre-at-best season, a WAR maybe between 2-3 on the high end, a very reasonable assumption given his struggles at the dish. However, 2010 was also the best year of his career defensively, and by quite a bit. I haven't talked about his arm much, but he was so good at throwing out would-be base thieves in particular that it warrants laudatory mention. The MLB average for SB% in 2010 was 71.2%; Molina allowed only a 51.5% success rate, nearly 20% lower. His 48.5% caught-stealing (CS) rate led the majors (and a 146.4 SBAP+ and 168.3 CS%+ proves that it was elite for any era), and if he was merely a league-average framer, he would have been arguably the best defender in baseball. But he was not an average framer, he was +26.4 runs better! This added up to an incredible 42.1 runs saved on defense alone; Marcell Ozuna had 43 runs added from his hitting in 2024. To think that the Cardinals had the equivalent of 2024 Marcell Ozuna solely from defense is remarkable. So even though he kind of sucked at the most important part of the game, Yadi was so transcendent with the glove that he accrued a then-career high 4.7 WAR in 2010. This would all be setting the stage, however, as the best was yet to come from a total value standpoint.

For all Molina's accomplishments and accolades through 2010 (3 GGs and 2 ASGs), his lack of a good hit tool had kept his ceiling lower than it otherwise would be. 2011 saw the first signs that he actually had the capacity to bust said ceiling, and he did so with a 128 wRC+. That effect it had was massive: even though his defense took a nosedive from all-time elite to merely very good (largely due from his CS% being only 2% better than league average as opposed to 19.7% superior the year before), 4.8 dWAR to 3.2, the increased production from his hitting was a massive boon to the Cardinals offense. He went from -9.0 runs to +14.9, almost 26 runs better in a one year span. His triple slash line was .305/.349/.465 for an .814 OPS, the first time he exceeded the .800 mark. He went from one of the worst hitters in the sport to a very good one, and surpassed double digits in HRs with 14, which resulted in a new career best WAR of 5.4 and a waaWL% of .531, good for 14th in the majors among qualifying position players. For the fourth straight year, he placed in the top 4 among catchers in WAR. He once again placed in MVP voting, this time coming in 21st among NL vote-getters. One would not be remiss to think that this was a one-off, a (wonderful) blip of offensive prowess on a radar made up of ineptitude: his career wRC+ before that year was a woeful 84. So 2012 arrives and did he regress back to form? Quite the opposite, as Yadi had the best hitting season of his career. He set a personal best with 25 wRAA (weighted runs above average, aka runs added by hitting), slashing a great .315/.373/.501 for a new high of .874 OPS and a 137 wRC+ (his OPS+ was also 137). Defensively, he was better than his (for Molina's own standards) subpar 2011, throwing out 47.9% of baserunners for a +21.1% above MLB average, and also saved an impressive 15.4 runs from framing. This resulted in 7.5 WAR and had Buster Posey not had arguably the greatest season ever from a catcher, Molina would have been the clear and obvious choice for best backstop in the game; his .544 waaWL% was second among catchers and third in baseball. It really is remarkable that in just a two-year span, #4 for St. Louis went from an onerous liability at the plate to a top 25 hitter in all of baseball and elite for his position. His home runs were the most of his career at 22, and he even stole 12 bases while getting caught only thrice. Overall, this is one of the best seasons a catcher has put up, 15th-most fWAR ever for the position.

2013 would prove to be more of the same as the prior three years offensively, with Yadi once again producing a very good hitting season with a 135 wRC+ and 20.1 wRAA. He had a .319/.359/.477 line for an .836 OPS and hit 14 home runs. Defensively, well, it should be obvious, he was awesome, he was always awesome. He saved 21.4 runs with his world-class framing and was +15.0% in throwing out baserunners trying to steal. His WAR that year was 7.1, he had 5.4 WAA and his waaWL% was .542; he led all catchers in those three metrics, the first time in his career one could definitively say that no backstop was better than him. He was on a three-year run with an average WAR of 6.7 and a 134 wRC+, and in 2012 and 2013, he would place high in MVP, deservedly so: he finished 3rd and 4th those years, respectively. Very few catchers can say they have reached either of those marks in a single seasons, and Molina averaged them from 2011-2013. Yadi turned 31 in the last of those three years, and like many catchers of that age, he would begin a steady decline. From 2008-2013, Molina accumulated 33.1 fWAR and had a 115 wRC+ from a .783 OPS, really good numbers for a catcher. Starting in 2014, he would post only 19.8 more wins and his hitting would fall to a 92 wRC+ on the back of a not-as-great .707 OPS. His framing would also suffer, as while he was still good at that, relative to the monstrous heights of 2008-2013, when he saved 118.3 runs in only those six years (20.4 per 140 games), over the course of the nine following seasons, he "only" saved 32.9 runs, averaging 4.6 per 140 games. When those aspects of his game are combined with the fact that his arm, the best in baseball at his peak, became merely good (+16.5% caught stealing rate over average from 2004-2013 to a much less impressive +7.9%), it should not shock anyone that his value would never approach that of his best years. That is not to say he had nothing left in the tank, because a catcher accruing nearly 20 wins after turning 31 is wildly impressive. He also was really good in 2016, with 4.3 WAR from a .787 OPS and a 115 wRC+ (what really dragged him down that year was his arm just completely failing, as he threw out only 21.2% of baserunners, 7.3% WORSE than league average, the only occasion in which he wasn't above-average). Even so, by the time Molina retired after 2022, it was well past time; he had a .535 OPS and a 49 wRC+. However, that shouldn't diminish his standing as one of the premier backstops in the history of the majors. He finished with 55.6 fWAR and a respectable 97 wRC+ over a career lasting 19 years. In my opinion, he is the single-greatest defensive player in baseball history, and anyone cheering for any team across any era would be lucky to have him as their catcher.

8. Ivan Rodriguez: We have discussed many qualities that make a great catcher. The ability to call games (Yadi), framing (Martin and McCann), hitting, all are important. But perhaps the most obvious way in which catchers distinguish themselves from all other positions on the field is that they throw out baserunners. There have been some great seasons where catchers have thrown out would-be thieves: Jody Davis has the record for most caught stealings for a single season since data has become available in 1950, with 89 stops out of 187 attempts in 1986. Thurman Munson threw out 60 runners in 119 tries, over 50%. On the other side of the spectrum, Mike Piazza allowed an almost mythical 155 successful stolen base attempts in 1996 out of 189 total, only catching 18.0% of baserunners. It's Jekyll and Hyde with this facet of the game, and to be the best at it, you need a quick delivery and an absolute rifle for an arm. We went in-depth with Yadier Molina and his ability to curb baserunners, but we have to give credit to the GOAT of catching thieves: Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. We will go through his career in great detail, and will focus on much more than just his throwing prowess, but the main reason he places in my top 10 is because of his arm. For my money, it's the greatest one in baseball history outside of pitchers, and it's funny because Rodriguez started off as a pitcher before moving over to the 2 spot in the scorecard. He is on my Mount Rushmore of greatest non-pitcher arms, alongside Bo Jackson, Roberto Clemente, and Oneil Cruz. Let's talk about what made this titan of a thrower worthy of being number 8 on my list.

Pudge (I grew up with Rodriguez having that nickname, so when I get to Fisk, I won't use it, sorry) came up to the big leagues at the age of 19 with the Texas Rangers, one of the youngest players in MLB history, especially a catcher, considering that the position is usually the worst-hitting of all spots on the field and organizations would like to see its minor leaguers have some capacity to handle the pitching at each level before moving them up. Rodriguez didn't set the world on fire with his bat by any means, as he had OPS marks of .633, .693, and .683 at A, A+, and AA, respectively. Baseball-Reference unfortunately does not contain stolen base and caught stealing data for catchers for that time in the minors, but the fact that Texas brought him up as quickly as they did when he wasn't exactly Mike Piazza hitting-wise means that we can safely infer he was rock-solid on defense at those levels. So how did he do in '91 as a rookie? Well, all things considered, I'd say he did alright for a young catcher. It was by no means elite, and his OPS was a mere .630 for a 73 wRC+. Defense was his saving grace, though, and while his framing was a poor -3.9 runs, he made up for it with his arm. Pudge would go on to have many exceptional seasons throwing out baserunners, far greater than what he did in 1991. However, when you compare a 19 YO Rodriguez to other catchers, he was already among the best at catching runners trying to take a free base. That season, Pudge had 70 stolen base attempts while he was behind the plate, while the average catcher would have faced 75 (so a SBAP mark of 5), good for an SBAP+ of 106.6 (you can check this by 75/70 and then there is some small rounding). In those 70 SBAs, Rodriguez sent 34 of them home, 48.57%. This was second in the majors, and he accomplished that as a teenager, with his CS%+ being 145.3. That is in the 92nd percentile since 1950, so pretty good. How would he do for an encore? Well, in terms of framing, he improved, but not substantially, this time costing the Rangers -2.1 runs. As a hitter, he was pretty bad, an 86 wRC+, -7.8 wRAA, and OPS of .659. Besides the positional adjustment, pretty much any positive value was the byproduct of that bazooka on his right shoulder. He caught an insane 51.82% of baserunners, +18.28% better than average, second in baseball. He had an SBAP of 13 and his SBAP+ was 112.2, so it seemed that runners were slightly less anxious to test him. As his SBAP+ improved, so did his CS%+, an elite 142.7 in '91, now an all-time great mark of 154.5, in the 96th percentile ever, with a CSAA of 20.1, the seventh-most in MLB history since 1950. If you assume that any runs Pudge saved on defense were solely from his framing and throwing out runners, then his arm alone was worth 9 runs (6.9 runs saved on defense with -2.1 framing runs, so 6.9 -(-2.1) = 9 runs from his throwing out runners). This added up to a .504 waaWL% and 0.4 WAA with 2.1 WAR, the latter metric being 9th for his position. Not bad for a 20 year-old, but he had not come close to his peak.

1993 saw Pudge improve his hitting to a 90 wRC+ and a .727 OPS. His hitting was worth -3.8 runs, but his baserunning declined precipitously to -3 runs and he hit into a lot double plays as well, costing Texas 2 runs. Overall, his offense was a pretty bad -8.8 runs in value, and while he gets somewhat of a pass because he was a catcher, it was a pretty rough year for him on that side. On defense, his framing finally went into the black, coming in at a whopping 0.2 runs saved (that was mean, I'm sorry). But hey, it didn't hurt the team, a positive development from the prior two years. Unsurprisingly, he was most productive with his arm, catching 44.35% of baserunners with an SBAP of 17. His CS%+ took a downturn from the mountainous heights of his freshman and sophomore seasons, but it was still a very good 123.1, and his CSAA was 9.6. It helped him attain a second consecutive campaign of at least 2 WAR, with 2.2 wins, though his win % was just barely above average at .503. Still, it was a promising beginning to his career: at 21 years, he already had spent three seasons in the majors and was established as the best deterrent of base thieves in the sport. With 1994, his defense took a step with his framing, at +2.1 runs, but his throwing suffered a bit, now only being +7.28% better than average. However, his reputation was paying dividends for the team, as he faced 35 fewer stolen base attempts than expected, good for an SBAP+ of 157.7, his first top 100 season all-time in that category, the 97th percentile ever. It was the first of six years that he would lead the majors in SBAP+, and for a 22 YO to have that sort of reputation was unique, to say the least. On offense, he finally showed out, with an .848 OPS, 119 wRC+, and +9.9 wRAA. His waaWL% was an impressive .521 and was third among all qualifying backstops in the sport, and he got 1.8 WAA and 3.4 WAR over only 405 PAs; pro-rate it to 600 PAs and he's at 5.0 wins, a very good season for any position, but especially so for a catcher. So what about 1995? Well, his hitting really sank, only a .776 OPS and 93 wRC+. What really tanked Pudge's value was a refusal to walk: for his career, it was only 5.0%, but in '95, he only took a free pass on 3.1% of his plate appearances. Still, his WAR actually increased to 3.8, so what gives? Well, to (mostly) quote political strategist James Carville, "it's the [throwing arm], stupid!" Yes, +2.0 framing runs saved helped, and he was actually a productive baserunner, but when Rodriguez is throwing out baserunners at a +17.48% rate and doing so on 35 fewer attempts than would be expected (a 145.8 SBAP+), it's worthy of note. He was 37/77 on CS/SBAs, a new high of 157.2 CS%+, unsurprisingly, leading the league in that metric. His CS%+ was in the 97th percentile, 72nd all-time out of 2,273 qualifying seasons, and even though he had far fewer attempts made against him, he still managed to throw out more baserunners in 77 attempts than an average catcher would have thrown out in 123. It's almost mind-boggling what he was able to do in that part of the game, as baseball had never seen a player quite like him.

1996 rolls into town, and it coincides with the start of Pudge's peak seasons. Up to this point, Rodriguez had had elite CS% seasons and even a good hitting one, but he had not combined everything into one package. Well, that changed this year, and he would continue the trend till the end of 2000. '96 wasn't a great or even good year for Pudge's hitting, but at least he wasn't a liability there, with an .814 OPS and 100 wRC+. He set a new career-best in home runs with 19 and hit .300 on the dot. Still, in an incredibly favorable year for offenses, it wasn't a needle-mover. Neither was Rodriguez's framing, declining to +0.2 runs saved. But he still managed to save 25.2 runs in the field and accrue 6.3 WAR and a .525 waaWL%, and it was because he had the best arm in baseball (and yes, I'm counting pitchers). A bold assertion, but the evidence is strong, might I say. For volume, his CSAA was 19.5 while facing 31 fewer attempts, and he was +20.70% over average in CS%, eclipsing >50% for the first time in his career. For CS%+, he set a new career-high of 168.2, a mark he would top six more times in his career. It helped Rodriguez reach 3.8 WAA and come in second among catchers in waaWL% and WAR, with only Mike Piazza besting him in both metrics (this would be a common occurrence throughout their time in the sport, with Mike dominating in hitting and framing while Pudge destroyed him in throwing out baserunners). He led the league in CS%+ for a second consecutive season and placed third in SBAP+ with 133.2, preventing 31 SBAs. To top it off, he was actually a great baserunner, taking the extra base 56.5% of the time, one of the better marks in baseball, and he stole five bases without being caught once, which made him 4 runs above average from his baserunning. So while his hitting was just average, he was elite in every other facet of the game, allowing him to place 17th overall in WAR among players. We get to 1997 and he shows massive improvement as a hitter, with a 117 wRC+ and adding 16.3 wRAA, 6th at his position. His OPS was .844 and reached the twenty homer threshold for the first time, with exactly that amount (the first of five seasons in a row). His TZR (aka runs saved from fielding) was 21.6, as he had +0.6 runs saved from framing and then more or less the rest from throwing out baserunners. He threw out 49 of 86 baserunners for 56.98% and had an adjusted mark of 174.5, in the 99th percentile. He prevented 44 fewer attempts than average, so if an average catcher were in his position, they would have faced 130 SBAs, and still would not have thrown out the number Pudge did, six fewer in fact. He was an insane +24.32% above league average, a number he would somehow surpass twice more, and he set a new career-high in CSAA with 20.9. This amazing defense allowed him to earn 6.7 WAR and 4.3 WAA, career bests up to that point. His waaWL% was .528 and was fourth among catchers, with his WAR trailing only Piazza (who might have had the greatest season from a catcher in 1997 with 9.2 WAR and a 183 wRC+). For '98, it was mostly a repeat: the best in the game with throwing out runners, a good hitting season (an OPS of .871 with a SLG above .500 for the first time, good for a 119 wRC+), decent baserunning. However, his framing took a dive to -4.6 runs, hurting his by quite a bit. However, he more than made up for it overall on that side of the diamond, with +14.4 fielding runs because he was tossing bullets. His SBAP+ was an obscene 163.8 (up 12.1 points from the previous season), with runners and managers displaying their incompetence by testing him at all (he prevented 55 fewer attempts than expected). He led the majors in CS%+ for the fourth year in a row (breaking Bob Boone's prior record of three straight from 1985-87), and he once again threw out over 56% of runners, 49/87 for a CSAA of 22.0, the most he would ever have in his career. With a CS% +25.28% above average and a new career-best adjusted figure of 181.4, Rodriguez was seemingly at the apex of his powers, with 6.3 WAR and once again coming in second behind Piazza.

He won MVP in 1999 with the best season of his career. Let's start with his hitting, a 126 wRC+ and .914 OPS with an SLG of .558, hitting 35 home runs to boot. He added +23.8 runs with the bat, 5 more than his previous best, and only 3.4 fewer than Piazza. On framing, he finally had an objectively good season, finishing with +6.0 runs saved, good for sixth in baseball. And his arm was as good as ever, throwing out 41 of 75 baserunners for a 54.67% mark, +22.64% above average. His CS%+ was 170.7 and his CSAA was 17.0, but perhaps the most impressive part of this season for Rodriguez was the fear he imparted: his SBAP was 53, and his SBAP+ was a 170.0, meaning baserunners were nearly 45% less likely to test him than an average catcher (he would somehow break this mark three more times in his career). For the fifth straight year, he topped the majors in CS%+, and this was the second time he was first in SBAP+. He was able to accrue 7.3 WAR and 5.0 WAA, both personal bests, as was his .534 waaWL%, in all those categories placing first for backstops, making him, in my estimation, comfortably the best catcher in baseball. While I would have gone with Pedro as the AL MVP if I had a vote, I can't fault the voters too much, since at that time, pitchers just didn't win the award, and Pudge had a phenomenal all-around season. What is a shame about his prime is that arguably the best season he ever had on a rate basis, 2000, was cut short. He only appeared in 91 games and had 389 plate appearances, so he just misses the 400 PA minimum for my WAR calculations. However, FanGraphs and BRef have the numbers, and he did exceed the 500 IP threshold for the SB metrics, and overall, it was a special season he put forth. For hitting, Pudge was the best he had ever been and would be, with a 1.042 OPS (with a .667 SLG and 27 HRs) and a 149 wRC+ per FanGraphs. In only 389 PAs, he contributed 25.7 wRAA per FG, the most for a season in his career, and while his framing was -0.8 runs, his TZR was +5.2, meaning he saved roughly six runs by his arm. He threw out 48.72% of attempted steals for +17.56% above average, and finished with a mark of 156.4 and 174.5 in CS%+ and SBAP+, respectively. Though he only played 82 approximate games at the position (his innings/9), he prevented 29 stolen base attempts, so while the average catcher would have had 68 attempts run on him, Rodriguez only faced 39. BRef gives him a waaWL% of .537 and a bWAR of 4.8, the former being best of his career, and I concur that this was the most impressive he has ever been. For reference, Mike Piazza led all catchers in waaWL% and WAR with .538 and 6.5 WAR, so had Pudge accrued the same number of PAs as Mike (545 times), then Rodriguez gets 6.7 WAR (pro-rate him to his 1999 PAs of 630 and he is at 7.8 WAR). It's a shame that he just couldn't get a couple hundred more times at bat and 400 more innings in the field because I genuinely believe it would have been his best season ever. Oh, well, we have to settle with hypotheticals, and Pudge still had one more year left for his prime, 2001. This was arguably the most impressive Rodriguez was in the field in his career, certainly when it came to throwing runners out. As a batter, though, it was more or less a carbon copy of his MVP season, with an .888 OPS and .541 SLG for a 125 wRC+ and +17.7 wRAA. He was a good framer (at least for his standards), with +2.6 runs saved, and the arm, oh, that arm. Pudge was never better than 2001; it was all-time stuff. His SBAP was 39 for an SBAP+ of 167.8, best in MLB. He faced 58 attempts when the average catcher would have faced 97, and he threw out 60.34% of runners, a percentage +31.34% above average. His CS%+ was 208.0, meaning he was over 2x effective at throwing out baserunners than a standard catcher. That number is third all-time, the 99.91st percentile, and best for his career. For the sixth time in seven season, Rodriguez led baseball in CS%+ and was also first in SBAP+, the third of five times. It helped him to a 5.4 WAR and .534 waaWL% in only 470 plate appearances, helping him to the spot among catchers in the second metric, with only Piazza's 5.9 WAR beating him in that category (although Pudge had 103 fewer plate appearances). The end of this year coincided with the conclusion of Rodriguez's prime years, although he would have a very good 2003. Let's get to the tail end of his time in the majors.

2002 would mark Pudge's age 30 season, and unsurprisingly for a catcher who had already logged 1326 games and 11,108.0 innings at the position, he would see a decline in his production, both on an absolute and rate basis. He was still more than serviceable with the bat, a 126 wRC+ that season, but his framing sucked at -5.4 runs and his caught stealing rate really dropped, to only +4.68% (although his SBAP+ was a career-high 181.7). This would be the first of three seasons in a row in which Rodriguez was subpar (for his standards) at throwing out runners, never exceeding a CS%+ of 115. He wasn't bad by any means, but when he went from throwing out 53.87% of runners from 1995-2001 to 33.75% from 2002-2004, it's noteworthy. He would rebound with two elite seasons in 2005 and 2006, having marks of +21.96% and +22.44% over average, respectively. His adjusted figures were similarly great, with 174.4 and 178.6 ranking 24th and 18th all-time. But after that, he was truly done as the game's best: his high watermark post-2006 was a 120.1 CS%+ split between the Tigers and Yankees in 2008. As a hitter, he was actually really good from 2002-2004, with his getting a 123 wRC+ with the WS-winning Marlins in 2003, his last really good season, as he earned 5.3 WAR and was 4th among catchers with a .526 waaWL%. In 2004, his hitting was exceptional as he was first among catchers in wRC+ at 137 (the best of his career), but his defense, which had been phenomenal most of his career, completely cratered. He was -12.2 runs from framing, costing his team over a win just on that, and his throwing was the worst of his time in the game, at just a 102.6 CS%+. From 1991-2001, Rodriguez averaged 14.7 CSAA a year, but from 2002-2010, it was only 4.7, buoyed by the aforementioned 2005 and 2006, when he had 14.9 and 11.4, respectively. For overall value, Pudge accrued 48.1 WAR from 1991-2001, but after that only managed 21.5. For his career, I have him at 69.6 WAR, with BRef giving him 68.7 and FanGraphs 68.5 wins. For a career, I have Rodriguez as the GOAT of throwing out baserunners, even above Yadi, though it's close. When you couple Pudge's elite arm with an above-average bat, and his longevity at a position that grinds up and spits out even the most durable of baseball players, I hope it's understandable why I think so highly of him.

7. Carlton Fisk: Of the four catchers and three spots I have discussed above, I included them primarily for their defense, either due framing (Martin, McCann, and Molina) and/or their ability to throw out baserunners (Molina and Rodriguez). Pudge (no, not Fisk, I refuse to call him that) was a pretty good hitter, but not on par with even other catchers who did not make my list (Gabby Hartnett, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Ted Simmons, Gene Tenace, Jorge Posada, and Joe Mauer to name a few). Fisk at 7 changes that, and while he wasn't on the level of a Piazza or Tenace, he combined a good presence at the plate with solid-enough defense to have him rank highly. Unlike his nickname counterpart at 8, Fisk did not have three consecutive seasons of even 5+ WAR, let alone the four straight of six wins that Rodriguez had from 1996-1999. What he did accomplish were multiple elite years and possibly the best season ever by a 40+ year-old. He also had perhaps the most famous home run in MLB history, with his walk-off bomb in extra innings to end Game 6 of the 1975 World Series (we don't talk as much about Game 7, which the Red Sox would ultimately lose). Overall, Fisk didn't necessarily have a calling card, he was just a good, quality player in all aspects of catching, and he did it for 24 years, allowing him to accrue impressive volume totals. He finished his career with 376 home runs, 421 doubles, and a slash line of .269/.341/.457 for a .797 OPS and a 117 wRC+. That wRC+ is 31st all-time among catchers with 3,000 plate appearances, with his OPS ranking 30th. However, due to his amazing longevity (2nd in PAs to Rodriguez), his 376 home runs rank 3rd and his 68.3 fWAR is 4th. His offensive value (runs from baserunning + runs from hitting) is 191.1, with defense (runs saved from fielding + positional adjustment) coming in at 133.2. Though not top 10 in either of those categories, what made him unique was his proficiency at both, and his 324.3 runs added is, what do you know, 7th all-time. With that short summary out of the way, let's talk about the original Pudge (okay, I'll use it one time for him...). But first, let's set the stage: Fisk got the September call-up to join the Red Sox for a cup of coffee in 1969. He went 0-5 and struck out twice, and then would not appear in a game until September 6 of 1971, almost a full two seasons later. In an admittedly extremely limited sample size, Fisk fared much better that season, with an .847 OPS and a 133 wRC+. In a mere 14 games, he got 0.7 fWAR, pretty nice, and he was finally scheduled to have a full season to show off his talents.

Fisk was special in 1972, there are no two ways about it. Coming off the heels of promising age 23 stint where he showed elite hitting for the position, one can imagine that Carlton was anxious to show how skilled he was, even as a somewhat old 24 YO rookie. Well, seeing as he had the greatest rookie season for his position, I'd say the wait was absolutely worth it. Fisk was a beast, pure and simple. In a historically poor year for AL hitters, Fisk slashed .293/.370/.538 as a rookie for a .909 OPS and a wRC+ of 161. Across all of baseball, the latter was 7th among all players, and he trailed only Johnny Bench among catchers. His WAR was 7.1 and he added 34.5 wRAA from his hitting. His defense was nothing special, but when you are that dominant of a hitter in a time when offense is in the Stone Age, it doesn't really matter what you do in the field. Still, he wasn't bad, saving 1 run in the field, and with the positional adjustment, he added 8.8 runs of of value there. His CS%+ was almost exactly average at 101.1, throwing out 39.13% of runners when the average was 38.72%, so +0.41% above. Combine that with elite hitting and you get 5.3 WAA and a .542 waaWL% for 2nd in all of baseball, only behind Bench's .543. However, even though the Cincinnati backstop beat him by 1.4 WAR on the season, he also had 139 more plate appearances. If we pro-rate Fisk's 7.1 WAR and 5.3 WAA over 514 PAs and set it to the same # as Bench, then Fisk actually goes to 9.0 WAR and 6.7 WAA, barely edging out Bench. Bench would go on to win the second MVP of his illustrious career, and Fisk kept pace with him as a rookie. For my money, it's one of the best years any rookie has ever had, and even though he was 24, it shouldn't do much to diminish Fisk's brilliance. To top off this incredible debut, Fisk even led the AL in triples with 9, the original Evan Gattis (although unlike Gattis, who had only 12 triples for his career, Fisk would go on to hit a total of 47). After such an impressive start to his career in the majors, Fisk would take a step back in '73, but his defense improved to offset some of his decline with the bat. He had a 105 wRC+ and was +6.5 wRAA, although his baserunning went from +1 run to +3, largely from taking the extra base on 58.0% of opportunities and stealing two more bases than '72. The aforementioned defense was +5 TZR this year, contrasted with only +1 runs his rookie season, although his CS%+ was now an even more average 100.3 (although he did deter a lot of attempts, with his SBAP being 30). This made him worth 4.3 WAR with a .518 waaWL%, sixth and fifth for catchers, respectively. Not great, but good, and the fact he did it over only 558 PAs is telling of his efficiency in racking up wins. It was a solid start to a career for sure. 

Fisk would have been one of the best catchers in baseball if he combined his 1974 and 1975 seasons into a single year. In 510 times up to the plate, Fisk had 21 home runs and hit .318/.390/.538 for a 155 wRC+ and 5.8 fWAR. The problem, of course, was that this was spread over two years. If you pro-rate his fWAR to 650 plate appearances, you get 7.4 wins. He was average in 1975 at throwing out runners with a 101.6 CS%+, but his presence was enough to deter 17 attempts than expected of a standard catcher. Bench was still better in each of these seasons than Fisk combined from his shortened stints, but aside from him, Fisk was above every other backstop, including his NYY rival, Thurman Munson. Once we get to 1976, it had been three years since the last full year he played, and he returned to form accordingly. He was worth 4.7 WAR in 558 plate appearances, good for second in baseball at his position. He had a 110 wRC+ and was worth 11.8 wRAA with the bat and 6 runs in the field. Adding that to his +7.9 runs positional adjustment and he was 2.6 WAA and had a waaWL% of .520, third in MLB. His slash line was a .255/.336/.415 with 17 home runs and a new career-high of 12 stolen bases. He had a 122.5 SBAP+ (6th for catchers) and prevented 32 fewer attempts than expected. Overall, a solid season, one becoming of a great catcher. It was just a precursor to the best year of his career, though. In 1977, for the first time in his career, he was the clear-cut premier catcher in the sport. He had an 8.0 WAR and 5.8 WAA for a .539 waaWL%. He led his position in each of those three categories, and the WAR and WAA would turn out to be the most in a season for his career. This was primarily on the shoulders of fantastic hitting, a .300/.400/.500 season over 632 plate appearances. That line has been accomplished just 25 times in MLB history by catchers with at least 400 PAs, and Fisk did it over 152 games. He had a 144 wRC+ and added 37.2 wRAA with a career-high (to that point) +12 fielding runs saved. This was also his best season throwing out runners, with a CS% of +6.42% above and a CSAA of 7.1. He had an adjusted caught stealing rate of 116.5, sixth-best in baseball, and he prevented a remarkable 45 fewer SBAs than average, a 141.0 SBAP+ that is in the 93rd percentile. It was an exceptional all-around season for an exceptional catcher, and his WAA and WAR were both fourth in all of baseball. Rod Carew took home AL MVP honors, and deservedly so, but Fisk was right behind him alongside George Brett for best position player in the Junior Circuit. The succeeding season of 1978 was great for Fisk as well, when he accumulated 6.5 WAR and had an .841 OPS over 658 plate appearances for a 121 wRC+. His bat did the heavy lifting, as was typical for him, with a 24.2 wRAA, but he was also a very productive baserunner, taking the extra base 57.1% of the time, fantastic for any player, let alone a catcher. Those six-and-a-half wins would be enough to rank him 1st among all catchers, and his 121 wRC+ was 5th at the position. However, this would also be the first of six consecutive seasons where his arm was subpar at throwing out attempted steals. Fisk had never been great at that part of his responsibilities, but he was either average or better than the standard. In '78, he just stunk, a CS% of 32.24% being 5.51% worse than the AL average. His CS%+ was 85.4, the first of seven years he was below 90, and the z-score was -0.55 (basically how many standard deviations better/worse than the mean for a population/sample group), ranking him in the 24th percentile, yucky. While it was never his calling card, he was never that bad, but it would continue to be an anchor dragging his overall value down throughout most of the rest of his time in baseball.

1979 was more or less a lost season for Fisk, a little below-average. He had a .754 OPS and a 94 wRC+ in his age 31 season, and his waaWL% was a mere .496 in 340 PAs. The only thing noteworthy about this year was that he was a DH in more games than he caught, 42 to 39, respectively, which is why he did not meet the 500 inning minimum for my catcher stolen base calculations. Fortunately Baseball-Reference has those data, and they were not pretty, to put it mildly. He threw out only 5 runners in 29 attempts and his 17.2% CS% was less than half the 35.7% league average. It would be one of the worst years any catcher would have had if he played the requisite number of innings. We turn the page to 1980 and he bounces back with his bat, an OPS of .819 and a 128 wRC+ for 4.2 WAR. He would once again miss a substantial amount of time in 1981, but in 394 plate appearances, he was good for 2.4 fWAR and a 110 wRC+ from a .264/.354/.361 slash line. He was 34 years old when the 1982 season began but kept trucking along as a quality catcher, with 3.3 WAR and a 104 wRC+. His waaWL% was only .512, the lowest he had in a season with >=400 plate appearances, but nothing whatsoever to scoff at for someone on the backside of a career, let alone a backstop. Then like a phoenix, he rose from the ashes of mediocrity and had a renaissance at age 35 in 1983. Having moved on from Boston after the 1980 season, in his fourth year with the White Sox, Fisk magically turned back the clock with 4.7 WAR and a .523 winning percentage, placing third in both categories for catchers. With his hitting, he was .289/.355/.518, the first time he had crossed the .500 threshold for slugging since his 1977 magnum opus. It culminated in a 131 wRC+ and 23.9 wRAA, with that wRC+ leading all catchers for the season. When one thinks about the best seasons for catchers post-30, Fisk is chock-full of them, and 1983 is up there (he wasn't close to done, though). His next campaign in 1984 wasn't as impressive, but for a 36 YO catcher, you can do a lot worse than 1.8 fWAR in 394 plate appearances. His OPS dropped 117 points to .757, but he was still above-average at a 103 wRC+ (that .468 SLG is also pretty nice for his position). Still, it falls short of 1985, when at 37 years old, Fisk reached 3.7 WAR on a 121 wRC+ and an .808 OPS. He was exactly average on defense but 14.6 wRAA for a catcher with mid defense makes for a productive season over 620 PAs. He was a machine that continued to be productive into his late 30s. The good times couldn't last forever, though, and he plummeted back to earth in 1986, having a terrible year, by far the worst of his career. He was an awful -3.0 WAA and .474 waaWL% for a paltry-1.4 WAR. His .600 flat OPS was only a 60 wRC+, and he cost his team -22.4 wRAA with his bat. In the field, it wasn't much better, -4 runs mostly from a decrepit -5.03% below average, an 85.03 CSR%+. Out of 178 qualifying players, Fisk was 177th in waaWL%, 176th in WAA, 177th in WAR, and 175th in wRC+. It is one of the worst seasons a HOF player has ever had, and with his WAA per BRef at -3.3, it is the sixth-lowest win total for any HOF player in baseball history. One could be forgiven for thinking that Fisk was over the hill, because he was 39 in December of 1986, and catchers just don't contribute much of anything at that age. Oh, how wrong that mindset would prove to be...

After one of the worst years in MLB history, Fisk would have a second renaissance that made his 1983-1985 stretch look like a prolonged slump. 1987 was a year of increased offense across both leagues, but still, for a 39 year-old catcher to have a .782 OPS and a 102 wRC+ while playing good defense is amazing. It gave him 2.9 WAR and he was fourth for catchers in that category. After completely sucking with throwing out baserunners the year prior, he had an above-average year, with a +0.88% caught stealing rate and a 102.8 adjusted mark. At age 40 in 1988, he had the second-best season of his career hitting-wise, with a .919 OPS and .542 SLG. Yes, it was only over 298 PAs, but still, that's elite for any player at any age at any position (for reference, a 23 year-old Barry Bonds slugged .491 that season). Fisk turned 41 that year and caught 617.2 IPs! He was worth 2.9 fWAR with elite rate totals, and would have had 5.8 fWAR over 600 plate appearances. In 1989, Fisk was once again highly productive with the bat, a 139 wRC+ and 2.5 WAA with 3.9 WAR, placing second in the majors for catchers in all those stats. I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but it bears repeating: He was 41 years-old with an .830 OPS! We also have pitch framing data for catchers for this year, and Fisk was a very impressive +4.9 runs over 739 innings. While he may not have been elite at throwing guys out, he was certainly capable at getting favorable calls for his staff. This is all leading up to 1990, when Carlton sized up Father Time, looked him in the eyes, and smacked him in the face. His hitting was quite impressive, an OPS of .829 and a 133 wRC+, adding 21.0 wRAA. His defense, elite, saving 16 runs in the field, mostly on the back of +10.0 framing runs, which was fifth in baseball. His Runs Above Average, after accounting for double plays, defense, and the positional adjustment, was 40.1. This was, somehow, at the age of 42, third-best for his career. In only 521 plate appearances, Carlton Fisk had 6.1 WAR, which was tenth for all position players and 1st for catchers. FanGraphs does not incorporate framing into their catcher WAR calculations until 2008, but even without than ten run bump, he still has 5.0 fWAR. With my calcs, only Willie Mays at 6.1 WAR supersedes him (difference is rounding, so Mays is technically at 6.13 while Fisk has 6.05). As you can imagine, no catcher is close. After this, Fisk would go on to play three more seasons, rounding out his career with 68.3 fWAR and 68.5 bWAR. Even at 43 he was still a net positive, with 2.5 WAR in 501 plate appearances. While he might not have been as consistent as some other backstops, his highs were so great for the position, and the fact he was as beneficial as he was to his team after age 40 is remarkable. While it is close between him and Rodriguez, I ultimately decided to go with Fisk at seventh place because of his hitting.

6. Yogi Berra: The man of many mythical and legendary sayings, Yogi was one of a kind. Before he had ever played an inning in the Bigs, he was a just-turned 19 year-old manning a gunner's nest on the USS Bayfield during D-Day, so a Bob Feller fastball was not something he was going to fear, even if the rest of baseball did. He signed with NYY in '43 but didn't debut until 1946, and 400 plate appearances in a season until 1948, so he had to wait a while to fully get up to speed. A hitter who was famously (or infamously, from a pitcher's perspective) difficult to strike out, Berra was probably the game's first superstar at the position (after Josh Gibson of course, though sadly he was barred from the national spotlight). He was a part of 14 pennant-winning teams (all the Yankees), winning 10 of those series and cementing himself as the Bill Russell of professional baseball. He was the main reason for the 1956 Bronx Bombers avenging their prior year defeat against the Dodgers in the Fall Classic, slugging an even .800 and hitting three home runs in a seven game series, including an epic Game 7 where he hit 2 home runs and was intentionally walked twice. And to think that unlike the previous entrant on the ranking, Berra was a pipsqueak of a ballplayer, measuring only 5'7". He packed a lot of talent in the small frame, however, and would end up hitting 358 home runs in his career, fourth-most for catchers, with his .482 SLG ranking seventh-best among his those at his position with at least 2,000 PAs. He won three MVPs (though I admittedly disagree with his being awarded them), and to go with his 10 championship rings and 15 All-Star selections (from 1959-1961, he was selected to both AS games, as during that time, MLB had two apiece, so I am only counting one for those three years), he is probably the most decorated player in the 154 years of professional baseball, no small feat. Still, what made him so special, and why do I rank him above guys like Pudge, Fisk, and Molina? Well, it has everything to do with Yogi's actual production (as well as a little of those sweet World Series victories), and as we will see, he had a lot of it. Let's dive into the greatest catcher of the sport's greatest franchise.

After Berra returned from military service for the 1946 season at the age of 21, he, quite literally, was a hit, smacking two home runs in only 23 PAs that year. He got 8 hits in 22 ABs, so in an almost nonexistent sample size, he had a 1.073 OPS and 192 wRC+. If you discount all of the above, I can't really blame you, since it was all done in seven games, but still, a small sample size of excellence is better than a small sample size of garbage, even if it's more or less meaningless. In 1947, he played in 83 games and came up to bat 306 times, finishing with a slash line of .280/.310/.464 and a wRC+ of 109, pretty good for a 22 YO rookie playing the most physically demanding position on the diamond. He earned 1.2 fWAR and would hit 11 home runs while only striking out 12 times. This would go on to be perhaps the on-field attribute Berra was most known for: limiting Ks while maintaining good power, not an easy feat to accomplish. In fact, by the end of the 1957 season, Yogi had more HRs (262) for his career than strikeouts (252). While avoiding Ks is not close to the most important thing in the world, it demonstrated his impressive bat-to-ball skills, so I'll give him that feather in his cap. '47 would also be his first World Series victory, with the Yankees defeating the Dodgers in 7 games, (although Berra played in only six of the contests). He didn't set the world aflame with his prowess, but he did hit a home run in Game 3, with eleven more to follow in his WS career. Finally, in 1948, he reaches the 400 PA threshold, 497 to be exact. Yogi was perfectly acceptable for a 23 year-old catcher, a 2.3 WAR, .508 waaWL% stint. While he failed at accomplishing anything noteworthy, he did have a 112 wRC+ and added 9.4 wRAA with the bat. All other parts of his game were a wash, so he ended the season with 0.9 WAA, yet somehow, this was good for first among all qualifying catchers in the majors that season. In what was probably the worst collective season ever for any position, only 4 catchers reached 400 plate appearances, and while Bob Scheffing matched Berra's bWAR at 2.4, he had 317 PAs, so he didn't qualify for my calculations. Scheffing was probably the best catcher that year, but it didn't really matter considering how terrible the competition was. For whatever it was worth, Berra made his first All-Star team and even placed in MVP voting, finishing 29th. To cap off his fourth season with the Yankees, Berra would kind of repeat his 1948 in 1949, finishing with 2.0 WAR and again a .508 waaWL%. He would most certainly not lead his position in those stats this year, though, as he finished fourth in both of them. His crosstown rival, Roy Campanella (spoiler alert, he will show up on the No. 5-1 Catchers article) would reach 400 PAs for the first time in his career and lead all catchers in those metrics, but again, when your catcher is providing any positive value with the bat, it's a good thing, and it's not like the fact that he wasn't Mickey Cochrane with the lumber was harming his team, as NYY won another WS, Yogi's second. On a positive note, this would be the first occasion that Berra hit 20 home runs, adding 3.3 wRAA from an .802 OPS. It's undeniable that he took a step back offensively from '48, but it wasn't bad at all. And starting in 1950, the Yankees backstop would go on a seven-season tear that would cement his status as one of the game's greatest at his position.

By the beginning of the 1950 season, Berra was 2/4 in winning championships, alternating between failure and success from '46-'49. Even while achieving team success that 99% of players will never attain, his own individual stats were not up to par. He wasn't bad, of course, as detailed above, but if he continued on this trajectory, he wouldn't sniff Cooperstown, let alone one of the greatest at his position that he is universally regarded as today. That changed in 1950, the first year that you could unequivocally say Berra was an elite catcher. He had a .915 OPS, slugged .533, and finished with a 129 wRC+, the latter third for his position, and he led everyone there in WAR with 6.0, the first time he had cracked even 3. What is most noteworthy about his 1950 season was the power and strikeouts: he hit 28 home runs and only struck out 12 times, with a minuscule percentage of 1.8%. While the prior two years had seen him add a combined 12.7 wRAA, he more than doubled that total to 26.7, and he was a fine defensive catcher, with 5 fielding runs saved. 1950 is also the first year we have accurate caught stealing data for catchers, and Yogi was proficient at that, throwing out +12.24% more baserunners than league average, a 127.0 CS%+ mark that was fifth in baseball that season and in the 80th percentile all-time. He threw out 7.2 more runners over average and to show how consistent he was, throughout his career, he was never below-average at throwing out base thieves for any season that he caught at least 500 IPs. Consistency was Yogi's game, not necessarily incredible highs, but even though I err more on the side of peaks over longevity, I have to give credit where it's due, and Berra epitomized consistency over a 19 year career. With that tangent out of the way, let's resume discussing his breakout season. He ended the year with 4.0 WAA and a waaWL% of .527, the former first for his position, the latter third. His aforementioned WAR of 6.0 also led all MLB catchers and placed him 8th in all of baseball. A great age 25 season, especially for a catcher, and one that would have him place third in MVP voting in an overall down year for the best players in the American League (he won a third WS that year as the Yanks repeated for the first time since 1939). He gave fans a glimpse of what was to come, and in the following year, would replicate his success for the most part. In 1951, Berra won his first MVP, with another catcher in the National League, Roy Campanella, doing the same. While I think the award was undeserved (I think Ted Williams should have won it for the AL, and Jackie Robinson the NL's), the Yankees catcher really did have an impressive season, with 5.3 WAR and a .526 waaWL% for second and third at his position, respectively. His .842 OPS was worth a 126 wRC+ and 17.9 runs with the bat and when paired with good defense, it resulted in 3.6 WAA. He was no Campy when it came to hitting, but for a catcher, he was in the upper tiers, and once again, he hit more homers than he took Ks, 27 to 20. He concluded this season with a 4th World Series title, a nice bow on a season full of accolades. Yogi turned 27 in 1952, and it would be his best year so far on a rate basis, with a 135 wRC+ and 5.7 WAR in only 605 PAs. He had an .835 OPS in a down year for offenses, but he managed to crack the 30 homer run mark for the first time and walked 42 more times than he K'd, 66 to 24. His waaWL% of .528, WAR, and wRC+ were all first in the league for qualifying catchers. His defense wasn't too shabby either, saving five runs in the field and catching +2.11% more runners trying to steal than average. He won an incredible fourth championship in a row, the fifth for his career, and with mantle not coming into his own until the mid-50s, was arguably the best player on the greatest dynasty in sports history.

With 1953 came Berra's peak offensive form, a 142 wRC+ and an .886 OPS in another low offensive environment in the American League. He added 25.6 wRAA and while his defense was not as good as past seasons, his superb hitting still gave him the silver medal for catchers in waaWL% (.530) and WAR (5.6), only behind Roy Campanella with the Dodgers (a common theme). It's not like he stunk it up, though, as he was +2 fielding runs saved and he had an adjusted CS% of 105.9, tenth for catchers. This has a good argument for his best season overall, either that or the 1956 year (we'll get to that one later), but it was undoubtedly the highest level of hitting he reached during his time in the game, and considering that we can most accurately measure batting prowess over any other aspect of the sport lends a lot of credence to that assertion. What is also relevant here is that '53 was the first instance in which he averaged more than 1 WAR per 100 plate appearances, 5.6 wins in 557 PAs. Yes, it's not the most valuable year ever, but it's helpful when we're ranking a player's own seasons against one another. To top it off, this was the fourth consecutive season that Berra superseded the 5 WAR threshold. And of course he won the World Series, what else is new? While not determinative in my methodology for ranking players, it's important to note that this was the first time that Yogi was great in the postseason, with an 1.158 OPS in the six game series victory over the Dodgers. In 1954, Berra "accomplished" something for the first time in 6 years: he did not win a World Series. I know, I know, tar and feather him in effigy, but in all seriousness, it wasn't his fault. He was once again productive with 5.8 WAR and had a 133 wRC+ over 652 plate appearances, again adding 25.6 wRAA, same as the previous year. His waaWL% reached .525 for the fifth straight year, and while his defense was subpar with -1 fielding runs saved, the fact he caught 1,271.1 innings meant that his positional adjustment was +9.2 runs, so tat helped to salvage his value. If an average defensive catcher is giving a team an .855 OPS and that 133 wRC+, that is a boon (for reference, Williams Contreras, the best hitting catcher in 2024, had a 135 wRC+ but "only" 5.2 WAR over 679 PAs). Berra was easily the best catcher in baseball in 1954, finishing first in waaWL%, WAR, and wRC+ for the position. He also set a career high in batting wins (wRAA divided by the average runs per win, computed using the Pythagorean Expectation) for a single season with 2.8. Add that to his +11.06% CS% over average and he earned his second MVP (again, I'd say undeserved, as Minnie Minoso or Ted Williams deserved it more in my estimation). 1955 also was a first for Berra: losing a World Series! (I know, I'm being mean, I'm sorry.) Between 1950-1956, this was easily the least impressive of Yogi's seasons, with his having a .519 waaWL% and 4.7 WAR with a 112 wRC+. His fielding value improved, though, to +3 runs saved, but because of his depressed offense, there's nothing much to talk about here except for the wild fact that he won MVP! I don't think he deserved it either in 1951 or 1954, but the writers straight up robbed far more deserving AL players in Mantle, Kaline, and Williams, each of whom had more WAA than Berra had WAR. It was just an awful decision all-around, nigh-indefensible from my view. Let's move on to 1956, because this is supposed to be a positive retrospective on his time in the Bigs. I do think '56 was his best season, as he accumulated 6.3 WAR and a 132 wRC+ over 597 PAs. He was worth 27.0 wRAA with his bat, but the real reason he was so great this year was because of the balanced nature of his production. Berra had been a good baserunner in the past and had never hit into a ton of DPs, and of course, his defense had been fine, but he had never before been good at all three of those categories in a single year. He was that season, adding 10 runs among the three metrics to add onto his hitting. Throw in the positional adjustment and Yogi produced a personal best of 45.1 runs above average to give him 4.5 WAA and a .532 winning percentage. He slashed .298/.378/.534 (the highest SLG for his career), hitting 30 home runs and striking out 29 times, the fifth time he accomplished that of more homers than strikeouts. He won his 7th WS this year, but I'm sure you aren't surprised.

Speedrun time: After the '56 season, Berra was done with his prime years. He turned 32 in May of 1927 and would finish with his lowest WAR total since 1949, 3.6 wins. His wRC+ was 106, also the worst since that year, and while he would reach 125 in 1959, lack of playing time made it insufficient to allow him to get to 4 WAR, though he was worth 3.9 wins. After averaging a .527 waaWL% from 1950-1956, Yogi would not surpass .519 over his last six seasons, though of course, he was on three championship teams, as NYY won in 1958 and repeated in '61 and '62. Berra ended his time in the majors with 63.7 fWAR and 59.5 bWAR, while my calcs have him at 62.4 WAR. He actually had a cup of coffee with the Mets in 1965, which was pretty funny considering he coached the Yankees to a pennant the previous year, after his original retirement. A wRC+ of 124 per FanGraphs for his career marks him as one of the greatest hitters to consistently man the position. If I had to cap off this segment for Berra with one word, it would be consistent. It's the best adjective I can use to describe his career. I would not consider him as having one of the top 7 primes from catchers in the game's history, but he was the pinnacle for prolonged, high-level production during a time when catchers were thrown out there without a care for long-term viability: from 1950-1957, Berra led all American League catchers in games caught each year, and led both leagues in games caught 5 of those seasons. While I would strongly push back on those who rank him above guys like Piazza, Carter, Bench, I can see the argument for him being #4, ahead of the fourth and fifth catchers on my rankings. However, that is for the next segment, which I will get to in the (early) new year. As always, thanks for reading.