Compare and Contrast

The As and White Sox split four games at home this week, which gave me a chance to compare catchers, the cast-aside Josh Phegley and the kept (why?) Tyler Flowers.  In 225 at-bats, Phegley is hitting .249 with 9 homers and 34 rbi’s.  That projects to over 70 rbi’s in 500 at-bats.  Phegley also has a .996 fielding average and has thrown out 18 of 56 would-be base stealers.  That’s 39 percent vs. the league average of 31.

In 303 at-bats, Flowers is hitting .231 with 9 homers and 38 rbi’s; in other words, he’s managed 4 more rbi’s than Phegley in 78 more at-bats.  Defensively, Flowers has a .995 fielding average while throwing out just 16 of 63 attempted base stealers, that good for a 25 percent success rate, six points below the league average.  Catching 264 fewer innings (541 to 805), Phegley has thrown out more runners—18 to 16—than Flowers.  I should also mention that Phegley is two years younger.

Yes, the As stink this year, but not because they traded for Josh Phegley.  Getting rid of Josh Donaldson, the odds-on favorite for AL MVP, is the chief cause for a likely last-place finish in the AL West.  Trading away a good young catcher is just one of many reasons why the White Sox could finish in the Central Division cellar.