World Series Catcher Survey

Matheny is an excellent catcher, I would consider him the best at what he does. He blocks the ball better than any other catcher in the league and is fundamentally sound. He may not have as strong as an arm as maybe a Pudge, or even his teammate Molina, but he saves more bases than they do with his textbook blocking.

I do a camp each year with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mike Matheny is there every year. He is an inspirational speaker and he NEVER LEAVES AFTER HIS SPEACH. He stays around and goes throughout the camp meeting all of the kids. I've come to really admire him as a person. Just thought I would add that to the discussion.

Can't imagine too many people (including Varitek, quite frankly) would try to say that Varitek is a better defensive catcher than Matheny. He is one of the best in the game.

I see a lot more kids catching like Veritek then Matheny.

My personal opinion is that Matheny saves a lot more bases and hits for his team then Veritek. I noticed in the last ACS game the Yankees stole a base down 8 runs off of Veritek who was sitting on his butt behind the plate. He was in no position to throw let alone block with a runner on.

Its interesting that you started this thread. Just yesterday I was telling my catchers to watch the series just so they could watch Matheny. He is textbook in my opinion. My youngest son is a catcher 08. Everything about Mathenys game behind the dish is impressive to say the least.

I like Varitek offensively much better than Matheny.

That brings up a very interesting decision, how much "bat" are you willing to give up at the catching position for solid defensive play? Veritek hit .296 and Matheny hit .247. Veritek gave up 77 stolen bases, Matheny 38.

I think there are alot "knowdgable" baseball people that can't tell the difference between a well caught game and a poorly caught game.

At the High School level I go with defense because I can dh for the catcher. At the pro level it depends on my team. If we have alot of offense already in the lineup I go with the defense. And if we are weak offensively I go with the better hitting catcher. But I will always contend that you have to be strong up the middle to contend. Catcher ss 2b cf have to be strong defensively.

Coach May-
I agree completely. I DH for my catcher at times, but I won't have an average defensive player at that position...might very well be the most important position IN High School baseball. Tough to find a kid who LOVES catching and takes every aspect of the job seriously....not so tough to find a kid who loves the limelight of being on the hill.

In addition, a quality catcher will enhance your pitching staff. If your pitchers don't trust their catcher to catch as well as block their best stuff, they won't throw it or won't throw it well.

If you've got a weaker-hitting catcher in hs with skills behind the plate, I would ask the coaches to offer that player additional help with hitting rather tha DH for him. Nobody works harder than a good catcher (he deserves a little extra attention!), and his future as a college catcher will be severely handicapped if he can't handle a bat at all.