Wilson Ramos, C
Player Data: Age: 33, B/T: R/R
Primary Stats: 45 G, 155 PA, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 0 SB, 10 BB, 31 SO, .239 BA, .297 OBP, .387 SLG, .684 OPS Advanced Stats: .271 BABIP, .297 wOBA, 89 wRC+, 88 OPS+, 0.2 fWAR, 0.2 bWAR, -1 DRS, 44.8% strike rate, -0.7 Fangraphs framing, 28 SB, 6 CS, 17.6% CS, 4 PB, 16 WP
Free Agent: 2021 if $10M club option declined ($1.5M buyout)
2020 Salary: $9.25M
Grade: D-
2020 Review
A lot of words have been spent on the catcher position for the New York Mets, both for 2020 and looking forward to 2021. In 2020 it turned out to be the team’s weakest position, both offensively and defensively, and the future looks uncertain.
The only certainty is that Wilson Ramos (long-ago Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star) will not be coming back, unless the ownership transition causes some kind of break in the time-space continuum.
Offensively, Ramos slipped in all categories, going from a good hitter in 2019 to a poor one in 2020. There were no categories in which Ramos was acceptable, even as a catcher.
Wilson Ramos ranked 20 out of 32 catchers in wRC+ (minimum 100+ PAs). And unlike in 2019, he hit worse as the situation provided more opportunities to score. His wRC+ with the bases empty was 130, wRC+ with runners on was 33, and wRC+ with runners in scoring position was a frightful -12.
He hit fewer ground balls than usual (52.7% compared to 62.4% in 2019), and when he hit a grounder it was almost an automatic out (an almost incomprehensible -18 wRC+), if not a double play. In 24 high leverage at bats, he hit into a remarkable four ground ball double plays. Somehow, four of his five GDPs were in those situations. Talk about a rally killer.
As the leverage of the situation went from low to high, his grounder rate went up drastically: low leverage 43.9%, medium leverage 56.8%, high leverage 72.2%. This goes a long way to explaining his poor performance with runners on base and in scoring position.
His fly ball rate was 29.5% including a whopping 15.2% infield popups. His slugging percentage on fly balls was only .758, way below his career .955. In other words, he performed way worse than usual on grounders and fly balls, and the more important the situation, the worse he did.
When you are an offense-first catcher, you are expected to hit. And even if you do hit, your defense needs to be at least adequate. Your pitchers need to want to have you behind the plate. Your fielders need to have confidence that if they throw the ball to you, you will catch it and tag the runner.
Unfortunately, in 2020, Wilson Ramos did not hit or field well at all. In every measure of a catcher’s contribution to winning baseball games, Ramos did poorly. His poor defense was expected, but his rapid offensive decline caught some people by surprise, although the signs were there.
Ramos is an injury-prone, thickly-built, aging catcher with limited mobility and flexibility. This is most obvious on getting low pitches called strikes, blocking pitches, and making tag plays.
These physical characteristics do not age well, under the best of circumstances. 2020 was anything but the best of circumstances. Missing his family took a big toll on Ramos this season. With the distraction of the COVID-19 pandemic and being apart from his family, it’s understandable how Ramos would not be at his best. He looked like he was pressing and not handling it well.
Mets pitchers are not know for holding runners on particularly well, giving their catchers a disadvantage in suppressing the running game. Stealing bases and throwing runners out are both becoming lost arts in today’s game, but there are still statistics such as caught stealing percentage by catcher to compare. This year’s league average CS% was 24% while Ramos sat at 17.6%, well-below average.
Still valued for catchers is the art of blocking pitches in the dirt or way off the plate, as measured by passed balls and wild pitches (even though they are technically charged to the pitcher, the catcher contributes). For a catcher, wild pitches are like the low catch probability plays for an outfielder.
Ramos was tied for 6th most passed balls, behind Luis Torrens, Travis d’Arnaud, Gary Sanchez, Mike Zunino, and Pedro Severino, and tied for 4th most wild pitches, behind Gary Sanchez, Tony Wolters, and Chance Sisco.
Valued by defensive analysts (at least until the robot umps come marching in) even more than blocking pitches is getting called strikes on borderline pitches. Ramos finished 58 out of 62 qualified catchers in strike percentage with 44.8%. His Fangraphs framing rating was -0.7. With all the strikeouts for the Mets staff, they missed so many more due to Ramos, putting even more pressure on their less-than-adequate team defense.
As poor as his defensive statistics were, the worst part of his season was not even measured by the available defensive analytics. Anyone who watched the team play knows that I’m talking about tag plays at home. This is something that happens very rarely and yet when it does, it is literally the difference between an out and a run and often more.
Time after time, a fielder (usually Michael Conforto for some reason) would launch a throw to the plate, expecting a reasonable chance at an out, only to see Ramos miss the ball or make a late tag. His limited mobility was readily apparent on all of these plays as he seemed unable to move and turn his body quickly enough to react to the ball and runner. In addition to lack of mobility, he seemed unprepared for the play, often in bad position to receive the throw.
His one bright note was his second half improvement on offense (wRC+ first half 63, wRC+ second half 116), which I attribute to getting more rest after the acquisition of Robinson Chirinos to share the catching load. Ramos played 28 games out of 35 before Chirinos arrived and 17 games out of 25 after.
I considered giving Ramos an F for the season, but I have to give him credit for staying healthy and continuing to show up and take responsibility no matter how bad his season was going. Add in his second half improvement and he had to be better than an F. Just better.
2021 Outlook
Ramos can look forward to selling himself to the highest non-Mets bidder if he wants to keep playing. An opportunity to be the DH and/or backup catcher on a minor league contract is my expectation.
As for the catching position for the Mets, it’s the improving Tomas Nido, plus Ali Sanchez, Patrick Mazeika, and a deep breath waiting for Francisco Alvarez, plus a lot of free agent discussion about JT Realmuto, James McCann, and any other catcher out there.
