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From: dpb@philabs.UUCP (Paul Benjamin)
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: NL catchers
Message-ID: <388@philabs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Jul-85 13:22:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: philabs.388
Posted: Mon Jul 15 13:22:18 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Jul-85 02:26:26 EDT
Distribution: na
Organization: Philips Labs, Briarcliff Manor, NY
Lines: 60

David Rubin writes:

>
>       c       Carter          NY       4
>       c       Pena            Pit      3
>
>Obviously a two horse race from the start, this ended much more
>closely then I expected.  I don't believe Pena's defense, at most
>marginally better than Carter's, makes up for what Carter has thus
>far done with the bat.  Good thing I didn't disqualify myself from
>voting.  Looks like Pena has enough support to expect to be inserted
>in the seventh inning.

     Of  course,  you  are  entitled  to  your  opinion,  as
incorrect  as  it is.  Pena's defense leaves Carter, and the
others, in the dust. Every time I  listen  to  a  game,  the
announcers  are  saying,  "...  so-and-so,  one  of the best
defensive catchers in the game." Just last weekend, I  heard
this  about Yeager, Pena, Carter, and Jody Davis. Not every-
body can be one of the best. In fact, Yeager and  Davis  are
good,  Carter is very good, and Pena is the best defensively
in the NL (I can't speak about the AL as I don't see them as
much.) I watch every Met game, nearly every Braves game, and
nearly all Cub games on Cable TV, so I see Carter, Davis and
Pena  a  lot.  Pena's  arm  is  by far the best. His overall
defense is better. The stops he makes  of  bad  pitches  are
amazing.

     In addition, his  offense  is  slighted.  He  hits  for
higher  percentage  than the others, and has good extra-base
power. His speed on the basepaths is much  better  than  the
others  -  perhaps  you  might have read that he scored from
first-base on a single a few games ago? How many catchers do
that?  He is a .300 hitter with 15 or so homers a year, bat-
ting in a terrible lineup. Over the last few years, he  usu-
ally batted sixth or seventh, often with only Dale Berra (!)
behind him. Don't ask me why he was batted there, ask  Chuck
Tanner.

     Two years ago, when Madlock, Thompson, etc. were  still
hitting  OK,  Pena  led the team in game-winning hits. Maybe
that is why he was left in that spot -  he  produces.  (Last
year,  they  didn't  win enough games for anyone to get many
game-winning hits.) The point is that  if  he  were  hitting
third or fourth, ahead of people like Strawberry and Foster,
his stats would obviously improve. (At  this  point  in  the
season,  Carter  has  a  some  extra HRs and a few more RBI,
while batting in a clearly better lineup. Big deal.)

     If you didn't expect it to be this close, it's  because
you  don't  really  perceive  Pena's ability. The Gold Glove
voters do, because they gave it to Pena, when it would  have
been easy to stick with the previous consensus winner - Car-
ter.

     Pena is the most entertaining player I've seen in quite
a  while.  His  all-out performance and obvious enjoyment of
the game are great to watch.  It's  too  bad  he  plays  for
Pittsburgh,  for  if  he played in a media center, he'd be a
much bigger star.