VORP: Catchers

Alright, for those of you who have no idea what VORP stands for it stands for Value Over Replacement Player. What it basically boils down to is how many runs did a player help create over what a replacement player would have created. There is a somewhat detailed process on how to figure it out but you basically figure out what the average player at the position did offensively and then you multiply it by whatever the replacement level is. I like to use equivalent runs but you could use runs created as well.

So what is considered "replacement level?" Well generally a replacement is a guy who you can find at little to no cost to your team to play. Either its a minor league call up, a guy off the waiver wire, or a trade with another team that does not cost your team legit prospects. So for Catchers the replacement level is 75% as its harder to get a decent catcher defensively. 1st baseman and designated hitters are normally at 85% because its easier to find guys who don't have to play defense. For the sake of HBD I moved corner outfielders into this category as well. Center fielders, 2nd and 3rd baseman and shortstops are in the last category and their replacement level is 80%. You could make the argument that CF and SS should be at 75% as its harder to get an average defender at those positions, but for now they are at 80%.

There are more in depth articles on it elsewhere if you just Google it. Also I'm not entirely sure I am doing the calculations right, but I'm 90% sure I am. So here is VORP for catchers. If you don't see a guy on here that you think should be let me know. Chances are he appeared in more games at a different position.

So what does this that number say? Well it says that Art Beamon was the most valuable catcher, even though he only played in 113 games on the season. It also says that Richmond and Portland's catchers performed worse than what probably could have been picked up from AAA or off the waiver wire for little to no cost to them. This is pretty remarkable considering that Portland still won 101 games on the season.

Player	Team	Vorp
Art Beamon	NY2	64.8
Troy Palmer	LA	52.0
Matt West	SWB	47.2
Max Gabriel	AUG	43.4
Malcolm Myers	TAC	39.8
Richard Matthews	PHI	38.1
C.C. Maduro	CHA	35.6
Harold Ward	NO	31.7
Izzy Perez	BOS	30.1
Kent Miles	JAX	28.5
Dean Livingstone	TOL	24.6
Yamid Rodriguez	NY2	24.6
Thomas Berra	ATL	23.4
Chad Patterson	CHA	21.5
Luis Oropesa	MIL	20.3
Parker White	CH1	20.1
Ralph Pose	JAX	19.1
Archie Hodges	HEL	18.7
Benji Fernandez	BUF	18.6
Raul Prieto	MIL	18.4
Rich Simpson	CHY	18.0
Blake Washington	BOS	16.4
Geoffery Houston	CH1	15.6
Larry Charleston	CHR	15.5
David Paniagua	LAA	14.6
P.J. Burke	HEL	13.5
Hamish Lemke	BUF	12.9
Al Flores	HON	12.3
Dan Winn	SFE	11.9
Henry Merrick	ATL	11.0
Orlando Diaz	SWB	10.9
Walt Judd	DET	9.8
Benito Alvarado	RIC	9.4
Juan James	HUN	8.9
Bob Ausmus	LV	5.6
Ivan Romano	NO	4.6
Hipolito Hernandez	TOL	3.8
Hector Castro	CHR	3.7
Red Hines	SF	3.3
Dave Smoltz	TAC	2.6
Sergio Snyder	LA	1.8
Bruce Cepeda	NB	1.7
Al Holmes	PHI	1.5
Brian Waters	SF	1.4
Mark Perez	NB	0.2
Anthony Swann	CLE	-4.8
Carmine Griffin	DUR	-5.0
Moises Mesa	LV	-5.8
Jeffrey Henley	WAS	-6.0
Angel Segui	AUG	-6.6
Kid Fisher	CLE	-8.9
Brian Byrd	DET	-9.4
Pat Montgomery	HUN	-14.2
Orlando Liriano	MIN	-18.2
Gill Mitchell	LAA	-21.6
Buzz Caufield	RIC	-24.0
Armando Valentin	POR	-31.3