New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen gave starting backstop Wilson Ramos a vote of confidence from the GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona last week, insisting that the Mets “have a starting catcher in [Ramos]”, adding, “We expect to go into the season with [Ramos] as our guy.”
While handing out Thanksgiving turkeys with the Mets in Elmhurst, Queens on Thursday, the 32-year-old Venezuelan product spoke about the motivation Van Wagenen’s comments provided him and gave a glimpse of where his head is at this winter (video via Anthony DiComo, MLB.com).
“I’m very happy for what [Van Wagenen] said. It gives me more confidence to keep working hard this offseason and come back for [Spring Training] strong and in better shape,” he said. “I’m just trying to get stronger and better and be able to be behind the plate for a lot of games next year.”
Ramos caught in 124 games last season (113 starts), his most appearances behind the dish since 2016 (128 games, 122 starts). Van Wagenen accurately pegged him for 110 to 115 starts ahead of last season.
His 2018 offensive production levels (132 wRC+, 2.2 fWAR with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia) didn’t quite carry over into his first season in Flushing (105 wRC+, 1.4 fWAR), but Ramos’ bat was the least of his concerns.
Ramos’ defensive metrics are not great. Per FanGraphs, among qualified MLB catchers last season, Ramos’ -13 defensive runs saved ranked last and his -7.6 framing runs above average were third-to-last (Tony Wolters, Colorado, -8.2 FRM; James McCann, White Sox, -9.0 FRM).
Wilson Ramos’ overall framing skills (48.6% total strike rate, 14th-worst in MLB) are notoriously poor but were surprisingly adequate on the corners last year.
According to Baseball Savant, his 63.3% and 67.3% strike rates on the corners (left and right from the catcher’s perspective, respectively) and 58.2 percent mark at the top of the zone were all close to average.
It’s the low pitch that’s been his undoing. His 33.1% strike rate on pitches over the plate but low was worst in the majors and his low-corners metrics were even uglier (22.6% bottom-left, catcher’s perspective, 16.5% bottom-right; both worst in MLB).
Things need to improve, plain and simple. And it appears that Ramos will indeed be the lead guy behind the plate in 2020.
The best defensive catcher on the free-agent market, Yasmani Grandal, signed a four-year, $73 million deal with the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, extinguishing any hopes Mets fans had for Brodie pulling the old backstop switcheroo this offseason.
Robinson Chirinos, who’s been linked to the Mets in recent days, has been floated as a candidate to share duties with Ramos next season. His defense (+3 DRS, -5.6 FRM) is only slightly more appealing than Ramos’, but his framing skills are actually worse (47.6% strike rate, second-worst in MLB).
According to DiComo’s tweet (link above), Ramos has taken action to improve his receiving skills this offseason. With an upper-echelon pitching staff here in Queens, any improvements on Ramos’ end would be a major plus.
