Out of curiosity, did you run the numbers pitcher-by-pitcher? I’d be curious to see, at least for the starters, whether any of them have fared appreciably better with one or the other, or are they all just better with Mathis?

most likely even out quite a bit over the course of 162 games. I don’t argue that Mathis has the better arm and seems to be the better defensive catcher. But, I fully expect Napoli to out-perform Mathis with the bat by a pretty big margin. Mathis is going to hit in the low to mid 200’s w/o much power and few walks. Napoli will hit for similar average but will draw some walks and hit more bombs – by a lot.

I still think a 60/40 split in favor of Napoli is a good plan with Mathis coming in as a defensive replacement in late games/close games. But, then do the Halos carry a third catcher? Who is the emergency catcher? Figgy?

I think Mathis calls a better game, throws, is a better athlete, and handles the balls in the dirt better than Naps. From a defensive standpoint, Mathis is better and it plays out by the numbers.

I did not expect that wide of a disparity either. Naps must have caught the game Nick pitched! :(

The last two disasters included.

from Adenhart Hopes article on angel website

No player in the Major Leagues has a better home run ratio than Halos catcher Mike Napoli (seven in 62 at-bats), but Scioscia has no plans of using the designated-hitter option to find more plate appearances for him. Napoli and Jeff Mathis have shared the catching duties, each playing 17 games. “If you look at the long-term success of the club, we’re really going to need Gary Matthews, Vlad [Guerrero], Garret [Anderson] and Torii [Hunter] to be part of that,” Scioscia said. “You don’t rule anything out if the time comes, but we want to get those four guys going. We have a lot of guys to try to get at-bats for.” ... Adenhart is the youngest pitcher in the Majors. The only younger player in the game is Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton, who turns 21 on Aug. 25—one day after Adenhart turns 22.

This is strictly average runs per game grouped by starting pitcher.

If you throw out the #5 gas cans then you’ve got about a 1.5 run improvement for Naps when Garland and Weaver start and about a 2.2 run improvement for Mathis when Santana and Saunders start. I’d say that you can’t conclude that Mathis calls a better game. In fact, I find it interesting that Mathis is +1.74 in Weaver starts where his ability to throw out runners is nullified by Weaver’s slow move to the plate.

Pitcher    Mathis Salad Mathis-Differential
Adenhart   3      8     -5
Judy       3.5    2.2   +1.3
Gas can    4      4.3   -0.3
Magic      1.4    4     -2.6
Colonel    2.5    4.3   -1.8
WTY        3.75   2     +1.74

when Ervin is pitching. Conversely, Einstein himself couldn’t save our fifth starters and bottom feeders in the bullpen.

Butcher goes over the entire scouting report with all the pitchers before every series. From there, they develop a game plan for each batter. Pitch selection is discussed, as well as special situations. There should be very little left to chance – it’s not like they give Mathis certain information and not Napoli, or vice versa.

I admit that there is a certain instinct some catchers may have, and/or a “feel” for the right pitch to throw in some circumstances (much like an offensive coordinator in football). But the pitcher better have just as much of that instinct as the catcher! In the end, the best weapon is the pitcher executing his pitches.

Side note: Wasn’t Josh Paul working on a book about pitch selection etc?