Cheating for Greinke

The upshot of this story is that Zack Greinke can only be successful if he has a catcher who can con umpires.

On Dec. 2, the Diamondbacks non-tendered Welington Castillo, the starting catcher who was most responsible for the Diamondbacks’ placing 26th in majors by framing runs saved last season. Castillo ranked 95th in framing runs saved last season, according to Baseball Prospectus.

And on Dec. 2, the Diamondbacks signed Jeff Mathis, the top-rated receiver available on the open market, to a two-year deal. In a part-time role with Miami, Mathis ranked 13th in framing runs last season. To date this season, he ranks eighth.

Dec. 2 was a busy day for the Diamondbacks, and some suspected it might also be an important day for Greinke, from whom the Diamondbacks needed a better season in 2017 to contend in the NL West and to justify his record contract.

Seven months later, Greinke is in the midst of a significant bounce-back season and by some measures — including strikeout rate, K-BB%, and swinging-strike rate — he’s never been more dominant.

Pitch framing is cheating. Whenever a pitch framing specialist is behind the plate, umpires should be told by the league office in no uncertain terms that they will be fined if they are found calling the catcher’s glove instead of the location of the pitch. Pitch framing is not fair whether a pitcher is gaining pitches through good glove work or losing pitches through poor glove work. The catch doesn’t matter, where the ball crosses the plate does. Bring on the robots!

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2saM3W1