This is the first of a nine-part series looking at the Angels 2013 season. This series looks at the Angels' offense position-by-position, compared to each of the other 14 teams within the American League. For the fourth straight year, the Halos failed to reach the playoffs. The 2013 Angels had the lowest win total in nine years, finishing 18 games behind the division winning Oakland A's. However, the failure of the 2013 Angels wasn't due to the club's hitting; it wasn't because they couldn't execute a "batter's box" offense, or they forgot how to play "little ball", nor under-performing high-priced free agents. The reason they are not playing meaningful games in October is due to its pitching and defense. So, why am spending time breaking down the one thing that's not broken? We gotta start somewhere.
For the first time since the 1984 season, the Angels started just two catchers for the entire season. Twenty-nine years ago, Bob Boone (133 games) and Jerry Narron (29 games) caught each game for the Halos, not matched until this season by Chris Iannetta and Hank Conger (Note: John Hester caught 1 inning in one game after pinch-hitting in the 8th inning).
G |
PA |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
CS |
BB |
SO |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
OPS |
|
108 |
390 |
318 |
39 |
72 |
15 |
0 |
10 |
38 |
0 |
1 |
66 |
96 |
.226 |
.359 |
.368 |
.727 |
|
64 |
225 |
206 |
22 |
52 |
13 |
1 |
6 |
17 |
0 |
1 |
15 |
54 |
.252 |
.311 |
.413 |
.724 |
|
Team Total |
615 |
524 |
61 |
124 |
28 |
1 |
16 |
55 |
0 |
2 |
81 |
150 |
.237 |
.341 |
.385 |
.727 |
According to Baseball-Reference, Iannetta's oWAR of 2.6 was the third highest on the team, while his dWAR (defensive WAR) of 0.1 was at least a positive for the season. Conger on the other hand had the highest dWAR (0.6) of any Angel while playing roughly high of a season. When querying FanGraphs' WAR data, the duo had the Angels' highest combined catcher's WAR since 1997 with a total of 3.1 (Iannetta = 2.1, Conger = 1.0).
When comparing the Angels' catchers to the rest of the league, the pair falls right around league average, with Iannetta providing the higher OBP, while Conger has the better SLG.
Catchers |
PA |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
CS |
BB |
SO |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
OPS |
Baltimore |
650 |
589 |
63 |
137 |
32 |
0 |
23 |
84 |
2 |
1 |
47 |
123 |
.233 |
.284 |
.404 |
.688 |
Boston |
652 |
589 |
87 |
159 |
51 |
0 |
19 |
89 |
5 |
1 |
55 |
192 |
.270 |
.334 |
.453 |
.787 |
Chicago |
590 |
550 |
48 |
108 |
23 |
0 |
16 |
58 |
2 |
1 |
26 |
162 |
.196 |
.238 |
.325 |
.564 |
Cleveland |
655 |
568 |
79 |
154 |
41 |
2 |
22 |
74 |
3 |
1 |
70 |
120 |
.271 |
.357 |
.467 |
.824 |
Detroit |
650 |
580 |
67 |
152 |
27 |
1 |
16 |
73 |
0 |
2 |
54 |
138 |
.262 |
.326 |
.395 |
.721 |
Houston |
667 |
596 |
78 |
153 |
38 |
1 |
23 |
68 |
2 |
1 |
55 |
172 |
.257 |
.326 |
.440 |
.766 |
Kansas City |
660 |
607 |
64 |
164 |
32 |
3 |
18 |
87 |
2 |
0 |
42 |
107 |
.270 |
.321 |
.422 |
.743 |
Los Angeles |
615 |
524 |
61 |
124 |
28 |
1 |
16 |
55 |
0 |
2 |
81 |
150 |
.237 |
.341 |
.385 |
.727 |
Minnesota |
707 |
620 |
81 |
187 |
41 |
1 |
22 |
76 |
1 |
2 |
82 |
140 |
.302 |
.382 |
.477 |
.860 |
New York |
566 |
497 |
57 |
106 |
18 |
0 |
8 |
43 |
5 |
0 |
47 |
101 |
.213 |
.289 |
.298 |
.587 |
Oakland |
636 |
552 |
81 |
147 |
34 |
1 |
14 |
63 |
6 |
2 |
69 |
125 |
.266 |
.351 |
.408 |
.759 |
Seattle |
627 |
563 |
54 |
110 |
16 |
1 |
16 |
53 |
1 |
1 |
49 |
153 |
.195 |
.266 |
.313 |
.579 |
Tampa Bay |
609 |
546 |
64 |
134 |
29 |
2 |
9 |
49 |
2 |
2 |
51 |
123 |
.245 |
.310 |
.355 |
.665 |
Texas |
665 |
618 |
65 |
160 |
31 |
1 |
23 |
85 |
2 |
3 |
32 |
130 |
.259 |
.301 |
.424 |
.725 |
Toronto |
636 |
598 |
57 |
116 |
24 |
1 |
22 |
61 |
0 |
2 |
30 |
169 |
.194 |
.235 |
.348 |
.583 |
A.L. Average |
639 |
573 |
67 |
141 |
31 |
1 |
18 |
68 |
2 |
1 |
53 |
140 |
.246 |
.312 |
.396 |
.708 |
I'm not nearly smart enough to go into any sort of advanced defensive metric analysis, but after a quick look at some basic numbers, the pair were tied with three other teams with the second highest errors (12, Iannetta = 7, Conger = 5), while also having the second worst caught stealing percentage (21%, league average = 26%), allowing the highest total of steals of second base in the A.L. Iannetta was the worse of the two, throwing out 19% of those runners attempting to steal. However, that 19% mark is the worst as a starter in Iannetta's career, so it might be safe to assume some of those stolen bases in 2013 were not entirely his fault. Catching the ball was somewhat of a good-news/bad-news situation, as "Congannetta" had the second-lowest number of passed balls, but had the most wild pitches thrown by them.
When comparing the Angels catchers to the rest of the league, the two are pretty much league-average. Iannetta will be entering his 31 year-old season in 2014, and is signed through the 2015 season. Although he caught the most games of his career last season, we can probably expect to see less of Iannetta in the line-up next year as Conger continues to improve with the bat and gain more notice for his defense. Conger will be 26 years-old next year and won't be eligible for free agency until 2018.