Look, we’ve put it off lengthy sufficient. It’s time to dig in and reply as soon as and for all of the query that everybody has been asking: We’re going to find out conclusively which catcher squishes himself into the tiniest little ball when he will get into his crouch. As chances are you’ll know, catchers as of late typically go down on one knee or stick their complete leg out to the facet with the intention to get decrease to the bottom, as a result of getting decrease helps them earn known as strikes on the backside of the zone. These known as strikes are vital. What’s much more vital, although, is how lovable it appears to be like when a grown man in a swimsuit of armor crouches down and will get all tucked right into a teensy little ball like a five-year-old about to do a somersault. In the end, we’re going to do the one factor that is smart and discover out who’s greatest at turning their human physique right into a bony little sphere.
100 totally different gamers hung out at catcher in 2024, far too large a pattern for me to analyze, so I ranked them by the variety of pitches caught and seemed on the prime 40. I watched catchers organising for sinkers and gentle stuff on the backside of the strike zone, the place they’d be angling for a known as strike and due to this fact making an attempt to get themselves as little as attainable. One-knee down stances had been nice, however I threw out stances just like the one beneath, the place Adley Rutschman is not crouched in a ball. That’s the entire level of this train. If you happen to’re not in somewhat ball, what are we even doing right here?
As a result of we’re doing this within the title of science, I attempted to maintain the pattern circumstances as related as attainable. With one exception, I solely watched pitches from video games in Baltimore and Atlanta, as these parks function glorious and really related digital camera angles. For every catcher, I watched a number of pitches, paused the clips in the mean time after they seemed most like they’d been stuffed into an invisible trash can, then picked the one wherein they bought the smallest. The frames needed to be from earlier than the pitcher launched the ball, and when attainable, I selected frames wherein the catcher was presenting a goal. What we’re actually curious about is how teeny-tiny the catchers could make themselves throughout their regular crouch, reasonably than how small they occur to get whereas they’re getting ready to catch the ball. Ideally, they’d be so compact and dense that their very own mass threatens to break down in on them like a black gap:
As soon as I had all my screengrabs, I arrange a 32-player March Insanity-style bracket in order that I might make the catchers face off one-on-one. I seeded the catchers by their peak, as the larger you might be, the more durable it’s to crumple your self right into a tiny sphere of humanity. When two catchers had been the identical peak, I gave the upper seed to the catcher whose title had fewer characters, as a result of it’s vital to credit score compactness in all types. Lastly, as a result of a shocking variety of catchers had been the identical peak and had the identical variety of characters of their names (Pedro Páges, Jake Rogers, and Connor Wong), I used swing size as a closing tiebreaker, because it was the one different measure of compactness I might consider. The 24 shortest catchers made it into the principle bracket robotically, whereas the 16 über-catchers needed to do undergo a play-in spherical for the 2 closing spots in every area:
Proper off the bat, our play-in spherical eradicated Rutschman, Carson Kelly, Cal Raleigh, Patrick Bailey, Jonah Heim (pictured above), Austin Wells, Yasmani Grandal, and Tyler Stephenson. In an enormous upset, the massive Salvador Perez made it previous Bailey, as a result of Bailey is a devoted member of Crew Stick Your Knee Means Out to the Facet. Positive, it helped him grow to be the most effective defender in baseball, however it additionally bought him bounced from this competitors, as a result of spheres aren’t imagined to have legs protruding of them, Patrick. Of these first eight eradicated, Grandal stood out because the catcher who made the weakest try at remodeling himself right into a sphere. The 6-foot-5, Jacob Stallings is the tallest catcher on our record, however look how a lot smaller he makes himself than Grandal:
Critically, Grandal may as effectively have been standing up. It’s virtually as if he had no concept that he would someday be judged on his skill to look as if he’d been vacuum-sealed with the intention to retain most freshness. Stallings, however, did an unimaginable impression of a purple praying mantis. With the play-in spherical performed, the 32-player bracket was lastly prepared:
The most important upset of the primary spherical was that Stallings saved proper on rolling. Because the tallest catcher within the area, he pulled the last word upset, taking down the 5-foot-8 Alejandro Kirk. Kirk’s crouch wasn’t even that unhealthy. It’s simply that Stallings was extremely good at turtling. On the opposite finish of the spectrum, Elias Díaz merely didn’t perceive the task:
He’s on the left, and I swear that’s essentially the most compact shot I used to be capable of get of him. I’m not even positive you may name what he’s doing crouching. He’s simply taking a knee like an old-timey quarterback about to attract the game-winning play within the grime together with his finger. His head is towering above the strike zone. In no way coincidentally, Statcast says he was the second-worst framer in all of baseball on low pitches. He actually must get on the ball (by turning himself right into a ball).
Over on the proper, Perez actually did strive his greatest, however he’s simply such a big human being. He appears to be like like he’s in that scene from the children’ film the place the principle character’s large robotic pal is about to be found, so the large robotic bends over and the principle character throws a checkered blanket over him and pretends that he’s a desk.
The opposite large upset was Jose Trevino getting knocked out within the first spherical. Not solely is Trevino one of many smaller catchers within the sport at 5-foot-10, however he’s top-of-the-line framers round. He does get himself small, typically angling his physique barely each to current a smaller goal and provides the umpire a greater view of the pitch. Nonetheless, it additionally makes him a lot much less symmetrical:
At this level, possibly I ought to point out that though I’m the decide of this all-important competitors, I’m unable to stay in a catcher’s crouch for various seconds. Due to soccer accidents, I’ve had 5 knee surgical procedures. I nonetheless jog and play softball, however I do know that I might get damage once more and that even when I don’t, I’m the world’s most certainly candidate to want a knee alternative or two at a really younger age. I fear about it on a regular basis, and I fear concerning the knees of all these catchers. I might kill to have the ability to do what they do, in order I sit right here, I’m doing my greatest to evaluate them with compassion. However someone’s bought to win, and meaning all people else has bought to lose:
Stallings saved rolling within the Candy 16. It didn’t damage that his competitors, Páges, didn’t even get right into a crouch in any of the clips I might discover. He roughly simply sat on his again leg together with his hand on his hip:
As soon as we bought to the Elite Eight, nearly everybody who bought eradicated was a baller (actually). On the left, James McCann, who began out by eliminating his teammate Rutschman within the play-in spherical, lastly bowed out. Within the center, Logan O’Hoppe bought extraordinarily small, however was finally betrayed by his wayward left leg. He’s principally formed like an uppercase Q. The actual shock for me was Will Smith. He’s the explanation this text exists within the first place. Sooner or later throughout the World Sequence, I observed how tiny he made himself when he bought into his crouch. As soon as I did, it was arduous to note the rest. He’s one of many shortest catchers in baseball and I actually thought he’d make all of it the best way, however Freddy Fermin took him down:
That brings us to the Remaining 4, the place Stallings’ charmed run lastly ended by the hands of J.T. Realmuto. On the opposite facet of the bracket, Fermin handed Ryan Jeffers to make it into the ultimate. Jeffers is 6-foot-4, very tall for a catcher (and a human), however he actually did handle to get very tiny. There he’s on the proper doing his greatest impression of a man who isn’t the identical peak as Anthony Edwards. Nonetheless, it’s not simply sufficient to compete with Fermin on the left. Fermin is possibly the most effective framer in baseball on the backside of the zone, and when he actually will get down there, he appears to be like like he’s making an attempt to cover his complete physique behind his catcher’s mitt:
If not for the truth that his left leg was splayed out a bit too removed from his physique, Fermin would’ve taken the entire ball of wax. As a substitute, he bumped into a superbly proportioned buzzsaw within the type of our champion of champions — Realmuto:
Look how completely symmetrical he’s. His knees are pulled in tight. His proper hand is tucked in near his physique. He’s even tucking his chin into his chest. Realmuto is an ideal little sphere of a catcher. I prefer to suppose that when the Phillies go on highway journeys, he will get down into his crouch and the clubhouse attendants simply roll him onto the staff airplane. The one query left is whether or not Realmuto will be capable of defend his title subsequent season:
