John Buck

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 25, 2008 1:13 PM EDT

I'm amazed this guy is still a catcher in the majors, not because of his offense, which stacks up okay, if not great overall, with other backstop. Buck has a .243 GPA which is just below the average .244 GPA for catchers. The problem is Buck is only a catcher in the sense that he does indeed sit behind the plate for the 27 outs his team makes and isn't the umpire.

You see, it's his actual catching game that has me distraught, not his iffy bat. Through more than 600 innings catching Buck has a 7.7% caught stealing percentage. I did a quick scan over the past few seasons (using THT's database) and only a few catchers have accomplished such a feat as catching over 600 innings and having a CS% sub-10%. In fact only two since 2004: Johnny Estrada and Josh Bard, both from the 2007 season.

Buck's CS% has been dropping since 2005 when he hosed 31%. From there it dropped slightly to around 28%, then 17%, and now 7.7%. My first instinct (since the SBA/G haven't increased) was to look for a record of disabled list time for a shoulder or arm injury, but no such luck, I then thought perhaps he had off-season surgery. No luck, again.

For you Royals readers, am I missing something with my Google searches, or has Buck went from making good throws to awful throws consistently within four years?

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If the question is,

could the Royals definitely improve on Buck? The answer is yes. He’s not so good that he’s worth extending beyond his arb years.

However, right now I think he’s okay. The CS% this year is an outlier compared the rest of his career. In the department of “oddities that I don’t know if they mean anything” every single time someone has tried to steal a base on the battery of Buck and a Royals reliever, they’ve been successful. I can’t really explain why.

Anyways, Buck’s likely to continue to be a league average catcher until his bat speed goes, which should be right around the time his arb years are up. He’s a dead average player, and so he probably won’t last long after 30.

A mind without purpose will walk in dark places.

by NHZ on Jul 28, 2008 4:28 PM EDT reply actions

Not to mention, we have plenty of other things to complain

about. Even if Buck is a below average catcher, he is not the worst in the league. We spent much of the beginning of the year bemoaning the fact that we have Possibly the 3 worst at their respective positions in the league (Tony Pena, Jr. – SS, Ross Gload – 1B and Joey Gathright – CF).

My mother's basement is better than YOUR mother's basement!!

by Royal Kingdom on Jul 28, 2008 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions