Welcome to the blog, good to see you commenting, I enjoy FRJ.

Would there be any reason to believe that Steve Holm has anything to do Cain mixing up his pitches and/or his recent success? Cain pitches better when Holm catches (.219/.303/.344 against) than when Molina catches (.240/.315/.390 against), but the sample sizes are so small that the numbers probably don’t mean much.

You pretty much answered my answer (does that sound right?) with the last sentence in your paragraph about sample sizes. It’s such a small sample size that I don’t think you can determine anything from the 4 games that Holm caught for Cain, other than Cain has pitched well. The question of whether or not Holm has any future ability to make Cain pitch better isn’t likely, in my opinion.

Studies have shown that catchers with the label of “pitchers catchers” — like Mike Matheny used to have — really don’t matter much. After all, if Matheny, or Holm in this case, had any power to make pitchers better, it should be apparent for all pitchers. That is, seeing a noticeable difference in pitchers when they work with a “pitchers catcher” and when they work with a “non-pitchers catcher”. Studies have shown that it’s random. One year a pitcher will pitch great to a PC (pitchers catcher) and the next year, he won’t. One year he’ll throw really well with a NPC (non-pitcher catcher) and the next year he won’t.

Game calling isn’t a skill that’s been proven in any study, not to say that it doesn’t exist but if it does, it’s so small that it’s undetectable. Catchers help their pitchers the most by doing tangible things, ie: catching the ball, throwing out baserunners, etc.

Now, you could use PFX data and see if Molina calls a game a certain way, which he very well might. But I’m not sure how much it matters in the long run of how a catcher calls a game. My reasoning is that Molina isn’t going to have Cain throwing his 4th best pitcher 70% of the time in a game. Catchers will call the pitches that pitchers throw the best.

First time poster, but I’ve been reading your blog for a while and I love your work.

Would there be any reason to believe that Steve Holm has anything to do Cain mixing up his pitches and/or his recent success? Cain pitches better when Holm catches (.219/.303/.344 against) than when Molina catches (.240/.315/.390 against), but the sample sizes are so small that the numbers probably don’t mean much.

Molina has done a good job with the pitchers. The only problem I’ve noticed is that he sometimes tends to call for one pitch too often until the pitcher gets beaten up. Whereas Molina will stay with a pitch, Holm seems cognizant of what pitches work for the pitcher that game, and mix it up from there.

The percentages from Fangraphs suggest that Cain’s incorporation of his other pitches to reduce his reliance on the fastball has been his goal for a while and not just because of Holm’s catching style. I guess that we see Cain’s improvement when Holm catches because Holm’s style is geared to highlight such improvement.

Thanks for the first hand account, watching Cain do well in starts like his last against Atlanta is one of the few bright spots in this season. I think people tend to forget how young he his and the fact that he’s putting up 120-ish ERA+ seasons in his age 22 and 23 years is a good sign.

Haha, thanks for the Miller anecdote. I love Jon but the CLOSERS role in baseball is one of the weirdest things ever. The new Jim Caple article on ESPN is a decent look at the absurdness of the save stat and closer usage.

Did you hear Miller pronounces OPS (oh pee es) on Sunday Night baseball a month or so ago? He called it “OPS” like “Special OPS”. It was pretty funny and I think FJM riffed on it.

Thanks for the thought, I’m glad my SABR ramblings has at least made a few people think about baseball differently.

We were at the game last night, and Matt really looked out of sorts in the first coupla innings. His control looked rough, and he wasn’t able to spot his off-speed stuff at all. He was out there with only the fastball, and he wasn’t even spotting that very well. (Again, this is only in the first inning or two.)

His growth as a pitcher really showed in how he fought through his early wildness to spot his off-speed pitches his second time through the order. (Hey, maybe this was all by design? Maybe…) Anyway, once he got in the groove, weren’t no one gonna get him out of it. He even hit 95 once on the stadium gun late in the game! What a great outing.

Oh, also, in the wrap, Jon Miller was talking about SABR guys and their disdain for Brian Wilson and his peripherals. “These SABR types must not be watching the games,” he said, “because Wilson is getting the job done!” (Way to totally miss the point, Jon. I still love you, though.)

Anyway, that little aside made me think of you, Doc.