What can Statcast tell us about the St. Louis Cardinals' catching situation?

Catcher Poptime

Catcher Poptime measures the time from the moment the pitch hits the catcher's mitt to the moment reaches the fielder's projected receiving point at the center of the base. It's a combination of exchange time and arm strength. (PT) Poptime is measured in seconds, and the league average to second base is considered 2 seconds.

In 2023, the leader in baseball is J.T. Realmuto with a 1.81 (PT). Out of the 54 catchers listed, Sean Murphy comes in at 6 with a 1.89 (PT). In this metric, Contreras comes in at 13th with a decent Poptime of 1.93. Meanwhile, Knizner comes in at 35th with a 1.99 (PT).

Molina was still one the best in baseball in 2021, with a PT of 1.90, 6th out of 82.

Catcher Throwing

Catcher Throwing is a new metric added for 2023 which is designed to express the skill of catchers throwing out runners on steal attempts, given the opportunities they are presented with. (CSAA).

In this measurement, Elias Diaz leads baseball with a CSAA of 5. Out of the 56 catchers listed, Sean Murphy comes in at 10th with a 2(CSAA), Contreras comes in at 12th with a 1(CSAA), and Knizner comes in at 14 with a 1 (CSAA). Not bad for any of the Cardinal receivers.

In 2021, Molina showed he still had a strong arm with a CSAA of 6, 2nd of 50 catchers in the metric.