Since molina’s rookie season, the cardinals have allowed the fewest stolen bases in the MLB by 400. There is a bigger gap between 1st and 2nd than there is between 2nd and 25th.
I was reading Wally Schang's Wikipedia page and found this crazy nugget: "In the early 20th century, when players with facial hair became a rarity in baseball, Wally Schang became the last major leaguer to sport a moustache, in 1914. After that, is reported that the first players to sport moustaches during the regular season were Dick Allen (St. Louis Cardinals) and Felipe Alou (Oakland Athletics), both in 1970".
why do we not refer to baseball eras as 'old timey stache era', the 'no fun era', and the 'porn stache era. The 90's wasn't the steroid era it was the goatee era.
In March 2005 Tony Larussa was asked about benching Yadi due to a hitting slump. Larussa said “Even if he goes hitless the rest of the season, he’s our catcher.” That’s how important Yadi is on defense.
Honestly still blows me away that all 3 brothers won World Series rings all while all playing the same position. Feel like there can't be too many families with multiple World Series winners
There's another aspect that doesn't often get mentioned. Molina has always had a unique way of being on the same mental wavelength as his pitchers. He so often calls the exact pitch they're wanting to throw... not a lot of shaking off. This gets the pitcher into a rhythm and keeps the defense on their toes because the pitcher is working faster. It's a very underrated intangible, but it goes a long way and has a hand in why the Cardinals consistently have put out some of the best pitching staff numbers in the league over the last 2 decades.
@@bobkochera3447 Could be the pitchers trust Molina to call the right pitch... could be that Molina is good at predicting the types of pitches the pitcher wants to throw. Could be a combination of the two.
@@FoolishBaseball I'm fairly new to baseball and I remember watching your video on Jeff Mathis and pop time as a measurement for catchers. It really helped me appreciate how insanely good Yadi is!
I'd like to see what those numbers look like on a "per baserunner allowed" basis - obviously the graph shows a pretty striking pattern, but the number of stolen bases a team allows is also going to depend on how many players the other team gets on base. A team with a crummy catcher could still have a lower number of steals if they don't allow many walks and mostly give up Home Runs (or triples for that matter) when they do allow hits.
@@jared8538 Not sure why the laughs - I'm not expecting it to have much impact on the Cardinals standing out, especially when looking at such a long timeframe ("number of runners with opportunity to steal" might be pretty similar across teams when averaged over such a period). But could be an interesting way to look at shorter timeframes and specific catchers, where a low number of steals against could be a mix of catcher contributions and other factors - caught stealing is easy to count, but you can really only attribute the "threat" of a catcher's arm to _suppressing steal attempts_ if we know how many runners had a chance to steal against that catcher in the first place.
Very very happy you brought up his arm. I'm not even a Cardinals fan, but that stolen bases allowed since 2005 stat is one of my favorites in baseball.
I love watching videos of Yadi picking out fools running on him (or even just, you know, absent mindedly wandering off base a little too far), and I'm a Giants fan. I love Posey, but Yadi is my favourite catcher in baseball.
@@DrQuak Wow, I'm gonna have to mark this down on the calendar! A Giants fan finally admitting that Yadi is a better catcher than Posey! (Buster is, of course, a much better hitter.)
One of the more interesting things growing up as a catcher and Yadi being my idol was the idea of framing fatigue. If you try to frame absolutely everything, particularly when you have a reputation of getting umpires to make bad calls, you can actually make the strike zone smaller just because they get in their head you’re trying to trick them. Yadier Molina though really doesn’t try to frame much outside of high leverage pitches to try and increase his chances of stealing a strikeout or getting back ahead in the count against a dangerous hitter. One of the most useful things I learned.
Speaking of "count" stats: his Caught Stealings (putouts, pickoffs and anything derived from those) has been lowered due to his great defense. If players had run against him at league rates, he'd have what? Another two or three hundred putouts against runners, and anything related to that?
Exactly! I was just about to post that "No one runs on him!" Then the piece was shown on SBs by team and Andrew McCutchen (which surprised me about him, but it just shows he's smart not to try).
Yadi is also the new owner of the Vaqueros de Bayamon, a professional basketball team in Puerto Rico. They are currently 15-0 in the new season and are miles above everyone in the league. THE MOLINA EFFECT
As a yankee fan and Yadier Molina believer, I’m going to stop watching now that I’m 7 minutes in so I can convince myself that Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner are both hall of famers. Thanks Bailey!
I grew up playing catcher and will tell you that to be able to perform at a high level for 20 years of MLB play is alone a great testament to him. Over the years, great catchers have come and gone, but Molina's longevity and the value it has had to the pitching staff in St Louis must be his greatest accomplishment. That alone is HOF material.
Yes, time played is a seriously underappreciated stat for figuring out the value of a player over their career. As us soccer enjoyers like to say, "the greatest ability is availability".
I think my favorite Molina stat is that, despite his well-deserved reputation for being one of the slowest players in the MLB, he is more successful at stealing bases than the collective rest of the MLB is at stealing bases against him (65.09% v 59.63%).
That's like that chart of Bob Lemon hitting vs Bob Lemon pitching where he for most of his career never hit for average, but he DID hit better than his opposition
@@senorpepper3405 That word is the definition of Molina's game "smart", it's just insane how a pitcher can have a difference between being mediocre to having a barely Hof career like Wainwright, just by having Molina calling his pitches. And a lot of what Molina does can't be quantified by metrics.
@@FoolishBaseball The only catcher today who could maybe come close to what Jason Kendall did is J.T. Realmuto. He stole 12 in 2016, and he is on pace to hit double digits this year. People rave about J.T.'s defense and game-changing power, but people also forget the dude has wheels!
I’ll be the first to admit that compared to what I was 20-25 years ago, I’m a pretty casual fan. But I seriously had no idea this was even a debate. I thought it was pretty much universally accepted that Molina was one of the greatest catchers ever, and a shoo-in first ballot hall of famer.
It's mostly a debate with sports writers trying to get an angle for a column. Or troll Cardinals fans. His offensive numbers not being Piazza's is the ding. But, yeah, most people recognize that this small ding won't keep him out. Probably not even for a year. Nor should it. (Hmm. Number one reason to hope Pujols plays one more year. To see him and Yadi go into the HOF together.)
@@josephfeldmann1025 I’m a Texas Rangers fan for more than 40 years, so I hate the cardinals lol. But I easily recognize the brilliance of Yadi behind the plate. It’s asinine to me to think anybody would dream of keeping him out. The catcher position has never been about huge offense. Their value to the team is immeasurable in other ways. And nobody has given more value than yadi, except maybe Pudge Rodriguez.
@@josephfeldmann1025 you know writers are trolling when they pretend Piazza was actually a catcher and not a first baseman who got lost and ended up behind the plate.
And the reds will continue to try to cause some more😊 (at least this season. The division is usually wild, or a lopsided blowout at the top) Edit: Ultimate pain
Small correction, Johnny Bench is NOT the all-time leader for Gold Glove awards with 10. It's Iván Rodríguez with 13. Molina made a bit of fuss last year about MLB not letting him catch Bench, but I guess that was just for the National League lead, not the all-time lead.
Why do you say he is the best defender of all time when you don't have good data for most of that time? Will you also say Nick Ahmed is the greatest shortstop of all time because he leads in outs above average?
@@michaellhoover94 You can keep in mind that I technically said that ~in character~, but that's a bit of a cop out. I would point out that framing data goes both ways. Who is to say that Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, or Bill Dickey weren't negative framers? If they were, it would actually hurt their metrics. And that's certainly a possibility. Look at the reputation Salvador Perez has cultivated for himself despite being statistically a very poor framer throughout his career. And of course, this is a criticism that can really only apply to catchers. Other positions have Total Zone or UZR/DRS to cover their metrics for all of MLB history. So the Molina vs Ozzie Smith and Brooks Robinson comparisons don't need as much justification.
@@FoolishBaseball hey its about time! I was watching this video hoping to hear a reference to my great grand dad Bill Dickey. Low and behold I had to come to the comments for it Edit: unless I just missed it in the video ; )
@@FoolishBaseball but do you really think that it is likely most of the great defensive catchers have been bellow average framers? Given Yadier Molina's contemporaries that seems unlikely to me. He has not clearly separated himself from other great framers of the era. He is worse than Martin and McCann in terms of total framing runs and ahead and of Posey by the same amount he is behind those two. Molina is not doing anything we have not seen in terms of framing value over the short time we have had it. He's just an elite catcher nothing transcendent as far as I can tell. Edit: also I can appreciate the in character point to an extent but that argument does not get walked back in the same way the other arguments you set up as flawed do during the rest of the video. Also I can admit that Yadi is probably (there is still debate about how we calculate framing after all) a better defender than Ozzie but all that is really telling me is that catcher is historically underrated in terms of Defense. We really do not know from that if he unprecedented in terms of catchers. The other great catchers of the era suggest he's probably not.
I love baseball and I’m a Dodgers fan..this man’s teams always broke our spirits in the postseason but I can say this..dude is one of the best catchers in MLB History..his game and everything he does backs it up..he is a well deserving future hall of famer 💯🙏🏼
Also forgot how good he is at calling games and sequences. IMO he’s a genius at that and how most of the times brings out the best out of any pitcher. That’s why for me that is the main reason he’s the greatest catcher of all time. The other things are extra points.
Idk if that intro "How good was Yadier Molina REALLY" was a False Swipe Gaming reference, but if so, this channel is even cooler than I thought. Oh ya, and amazing video!
I’m a big advocate that the HoF should lean harder into the “fame” part and what players have contributed to the growth of the sport. Molina, regardless of his bona fide stats that already put him into the HoF, should get in on the sheer fact that he is a legend in the sport and the perfect example of what a catcher should strive to be.
Agreed. ‘Fame’ should definitely be a factor and Molina is a rockstar. Considering ‘fame’ as a factor, Roger Maris IS Hall of Fame worthy (a pet peeve of mine).
For me, what's amazing about his career is his offensive stats given his role. From day one it was apparent he was a defensive genius. That was a given. To me what was amazing is his offensive stats. He made himself into a really damn good hitter and a lot of his hitting stats rank really well among offensive minded catchers.
I'm 44. been a Cards fan since I was 8... Yadi Is my all time favourite player. So when a fan of divisional rival gives high praise like this, my heart is warmed.
I'm relieved to know what a bunch of morons sabermetricians are. For statistical analysis to have any real world utility, it has to account for changes in total observations that result from cause and effect. This is called survivorship bias and has inspired some clever internet memes. Now I have seen and heard people say some damning things about Yadier Molina. ("He's not even as good as Bengie!") But if it is true that sabermetricians do not even account for the ancillary effect of Yady's arm, that's just pathetic! Baseball stat geeks are the sort of fans that could never wrap their head around American Football. They would never understand that the best cornerbacks in the NFL have fewer tackles and interceptions than other cornerbacks on their team, simply because their receiver never gets open. They would never get that running back productivity is more often the result of good O-Line play than the back being especially talented. I am ashamed of baseball fans. I've said it!
as someone from St Louis I can't tell you how extreme he's loved in this city, his face might as well be the Cardinal's logo, if he drove through town and choose a random house, walked in the front door without knocking he'd almost for sure be asked if he wanted something to drink and if he wanted to stay for dinner
No, and it's not particularly close. He was a very good player for a long time, but his peak was far too brief. The Dave Parker of catchers. Yadi is in the Darrell Porter-Jason Kendal tier. Close, but not 'maybe' close. Just not good enough.
Bengie Molina was also instrumental to Buster Posey’s MLB transition. Combined with Jose Molina and you have easily the best catching family ever and likely for all time.
As a cardinal fan for 60 years, I can tell you the best thing about Yadier Molina is not his arm. (Even though it's best I've ever seen) The best attribute about Yadi is his leadership. If you're an opposing player, you don't talk bad about other players or teams in the media. Brandon Phillips did that and Yadi was the one who confronted him about it. Brandon learned his lesson that day. Yadi makes everyone around him better. He is THE General on the field. What he says, goes. Managers listen and do what Yadi says nearly all of the time. When there is a meeting on the mound amongst players, it's Yadi talking and everyone else listening. ... His leadership is why he is the greatest catcher ever to wear a baseball uniform.
One of my favorite Yadi stories is that the one time in spring training a pitcher didn’t listen to his call and gave up a HR, and he never questioned Yadis calls after that
Since I’m a Mets fan, yadi always has been an enemy in my eyes, especially with THAT home run. But to say that he isn’t one of the best catchers in the sport is an understatement. He’s one of the most talented defensive catchers and constantly helps his teams pitching. You know what makes the cardinals rotation go? Molina. He’s such a smart man even if he isn’t the one behind the plate every day.
"Yadier Molina is a baseball player." Foolish Bailey just spittin out facts like he always does (can't wait to see your video on why Tyler Wade deserves to win the MVP)
I got a game ball from Yadi when he was warming up a pitcher between innings while Mattheny put on his gear, and after that game got it signed by Albert Pujols and Dan Haren.
This video was perfectly timed. The day after it was uploaded, Yadier Molina announced that next season will be his last. Feels good to know I could learn how great he was before he hung em up for good.
His framing is SO Clean. Best I’ve ever seen. Sooo smooth & that’s what matters. Doesn’t even look like he’s moving his glove. Most catchers look like they’re snatching it even Gold Glovers Not Yadi Dadi
I think they are the best family in all of sports. Sure the Manning brothers in football have two championships each. There are three Molina brothers and all three have two rings.
I grew up a Cubs fan. I booed McGwire, Pujols, Edmonds, Carpenter, Smith, and Coleman. Molina won my respect, period. He's the best I've ever seen as a catcher, and only Pudge Rodriguez is even close.
This was an incredibly well researched and put together video. People like you are a big part of the reason why I love baseball and its world of statistics. This is awesome.
Also as a cardinals fan, we do respectably need that part two though. It can be dangerous to truly believe that a living person is also an actual God. lol. Seriously, it is true that we St. Louisans overexaggerate his offense because of both "numbers from longevity (with this same fan base)" and also because of the ever-so-magical "clutch offense" that is obviously real as one-off examples, but also... kind of made up. LOL. But yes, I loved the segue where the video explained that though Yadi has only "above average" offense for a catcher or as a player in some/many respects... it still doesn't really matter regarding conversation to do with "best defensive player", "best catcher", or "hall of farmer" when he simply has/had so much more/else going on.
Every force has an equal opposite force in physics. We had Ricky Henderson for offense and smart base running. Years later, Molina is the defensive equivalent of Ricky's genius. Great video.
Anyone who’s seen Yadi play knows that he’s a HOFamer. It’s not just his production and numbers, but how he plays the game. The Lythe motions, quick, flexible arm, the ease of movement behind the plate, leadership on the field. It’s the presence of raw talent and charisma.
I've been a very big Cardinals fan since 1996. I've probably watched 90 percent of the games Yadi has played in. What he does for pitchers is what is "under the radar" special. He's taken every pitcher he's worked with and made them better than what they would have been otherwise. Oh, and I had a dog named Yadi.
I have seen him enough to know how great he is. I think a lot of people only have stats to go by and say well his abc and xyz was low. He is one of those guys you just had to see play.
One of those unquantifiables on a stat sheet but absolutely important. He’s even doing it today JA Happ has a lower ERA since being trading to the Cardinals (under 2) than Max Scherzer since being traded to the Dodgers.
An important note, at approx. the @10:00 min mark, you describe pitch framing as "lying to umpires to steal stikes" that's a VERY reductive view of the skill. A good pitch framer is able to steal strikes, BUT it's also getting the RIGHT call too. A bad pitch framer can get a legit borderline strike called a ball instead. A more ACCURATE description of the skill is maximizing the optimum call on borderline pitches. That means getting strikes when they're out of the zone, and keeping strikes when they are in the zone.
I’ve always liked Yadi, even as a non Cards fan. He’s the heart and soul of the team - I remember watching a post season game where he got injured whilst hitting and was like “well, that’s the cards screwed….” (which they ended up being)
I know, Right? Rest assured, Yadi's a legend no matter if/when sports writers agree. His statue will be outside Busch Stadium, the only part we don't know is what date is the unveiling.
What I gathered from this video: People who don't know and who do know advanced stats: "Yadi's a hall of famer!" People who THINK they know advanced stats: "NO HES BAD!"
Beyond the stats, he's also one of the best clubhouse leaders ever. No one else I've watched could ease a pitcher's yips like Yadi, and you'd be hard-pressed to find many players more widely beloved by teammates than him. The stats are pretty great too. I hope he and Albert go to Cooperstown together in a few years.
Yadi is probably my favorite player of all time. Seems to get the big hit whenever his team needs it the most . The 2017 Puerto Rico team does not make the wbc final without him
I remember yesterday I watched this video on a channel called "Foolish Bailey" that was like "SABRmetrics bad because they make my favourites look worse" and the guy was like, "No I try to focus on positives instead of cutting people down." hmmmmm
hall of fame or not, here in st louis we will raise a statue of him right next to stan musials. and im glad you mentioned yogi berra. when he passed a couple years ago everybody over on The Hill drove by his moms old place, where yogis sister still lives. we lined up for hours in our cars to pay our respects. The Hill is the name of the italian neighborhood here in stl. i was working just down the street at the time and my boss gave us extra time for our break to head by and say a few words. yeah, there's a reason yadi stayed here. some things cant be bought.
What about Rogers Hornsby and Lou Brock? Also, the numbers Pujols put up in just his 11 years in St. Louis still compare nicely with Molina's career offensive numbers, and Prince Albert was no slouch on defense during that time, either.
On my list I still put Musial, Gibson, Hornsby, and Albert at the top. Albert went from being one of the greatest ever during his Cardinals years to being more like a .260 hitter who could hit homers with the Angels. He would not be a hall of famer based on his numbers with the Angels. I can only say Musial is their best hitter ever based on longevity and Gibson as their best pitcher ever. My opinion.
If the criteria is heavily weighted almost specifically on him staying with the team, then yes, but if you want to look at what Pujols did as a Cardinal....no.
Great video as always! Something I'd really like to know about Yadier, though. I wonder what his batting stats look like in games where he gave up a stolen base and/or caught someone stealing. He has always been a player who plays with a lot of emotion and it'd be noteworthy to see if people trying to run on him helped/hurt him at the plate. Thanks again!
We lived in Arlington, Texas when the Rangers brought up Rodriguez and knew several of them from going to Bobby Valentine’s restaurant. I always thought that Pudge was the best until I started watching the Cardinals. Molina is a beast. He has played 1st base a few times, too.
I was always told you know a hall of famer when you see them play. That goes for any sport. I'm a White Sox fan, grew up seeing Harold Baines play and never once thought that. I don't think any Sox fan thought that. We all thought he was an All Star caliber player from time to time but that doesn't make him a hall of famer. Yadi is one of those players you know is a hall of famer. You can see it in the way he plays and the way he carries himself on the field.
I think the aspects of your brilliant storytelling goes unnoticed each video. The way you broke this down into the old average fan, the new hotshot, and the person who digs a little deeper. Amazing perspective and one of your best videos. Keep it up!
Thanks for that final stat. I heard a similar stat (I think the stat I heard was stolen base attempts against by team since 2005, which was also eye opening) from John Smoltz on MLB Network or Sunday Night Baseball. I haven’t been able to find that stat since. Anyway, the difference between 29th in baseball and Yadi was almost unbelievable. Factor in all the snap throw pickoffs and smothered balls in the dirt and he is, by far, the best defensive catcher I remember seeing. Sorry, Pudge. (I saw Bench catch a game in StL but was too young to remember it).
You gotta make a series where you make a convincing HOF case video for any player -who pays you- who is of a similar legend status to Jeff Mathis and Tim Locastro.
I like how a theme when you’re analyzing players based on the 3 groups of no, some, and all analytics is that the no analytics and all analytics groups strangely align.
