Sabermetrics says Twins’ Jason Castro has big impact

Minnesota Twins catcher Jason Castro went hitless in Sunday’s game against the White Sox. However, he was likely the most important player on the field.

Looking at the box score from Sunday’s White Sox-Twins game, you would think that Twins catcher Jason Castro had a bad game. At the plate, Castro went hitless in his four a- bats and struck out three times. However, the box score does not tell the whole story.

Taking a sample of 59 pitches from yesterday’s game the plot below depicts called balls and strikes.

Looking at this, it’s evident that Castro had a tremendous influence on the game. Being able to frame pitches and get calls is a pillar of the job that catchers are tasked with. Castro helped Hector Santiago go seven scoreless innings giving up six hits and striking out a half-dozen.

This finding has sparked debate among the sabermetric community over the use of a technological ball/strikes system. Their argument is to take the discretion away from the umpires when it comes to calls and let technology do the work.

The technology for this is already there for use. In fact, it has been around for over 15 years. Sportsvision technology, more commonly known as PITCHf/x, is widely used by broadcasting networks like ESPN and MLB Network.

Further, one of the major knocks on baseball in the modern age is that the game is to slow. Well, what better way to make the game faster than to have instantaneous calls from behind home plate? The home pate umpire would remain, just without the burden of calling strikes.

The opposing camp argues that it is an acquired skill to be able to frame pitches. Additionally, they argue that baseball has always been a game that has relied on human error. The third base umpire deciding whether a batter went around on a check swing. The heterogeneity of the strike zone from game to game. Taking away human error from baseball to some is ruining the game.

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The question remains at what point do we draw the line in the use of technology? While getting the call right is important so is the human element of the game. Also, so is the pace of play. While calling balls and strikes using technology may speed up the game, the ever-expanding use of technology is bound to slow it down.