We're four months and one day from getting to see the Yasmani Grandal Difference™ in action for the White Sox, but I've discovered his presence provides one benefit Sox fans can cash in today:
Finally, we can (mostly) stop complaining about the non-tendering of Tyler Flowers.
If you didn't know or didn't care about framing, then you might've stopped thinking about Flowers shortly after the Sox let him go for no good reason and no return after the 2015 season, because he wasn't much fun to watch on a game-to-game basis. But hell, even if you cared enough about framing to first-guess the non-tender as a terrible move, Flowers' flaws were pronounced enough that the Sox should have been able to find some way to reduce the significance of his absence, given the number of options they cycled through. Instead, the Sox somehow legitimized the grousing for four full seasons.
Rick Hahn seemed hellbent on proving a theory he stated at least once in 2017 ...
“It is a skill you can teach,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “It’s something a player can improve upon. I don’t think you necessarily have to be born that way, whereas other traits you might have to be born with it."
“In my opinion it’s harder to find a good hitting catcher than it is to teach a guy to be a better framer."
Both times Hahn cited the strides Flowers made with the same catching infrastructure, and he probably figured another guy would be able to raise his game within the White Sox's system. That guy never materialized, and not for a lack of awareness. They hoped Castillo's one-year gains in Baltimore would carry over with the Sox, but they didn't. The Sox tried to mold Omar Narvaez into something more than one of the worst catchers in the league, but they couldn't.
(The White Sox are not alone in that department. After the Mariners acquired Narvaez from the Sox, the Athletic's Seattle writer went into detail about all the plans, data and drills the Mariners had to make Narvaez a passable backstop. It didn't take. Narvaez was pretty much as bad in 2019 as he was in 2018.)
As a result, not only did the White Sox take a major hit in catcher defense after non-tendering Flowers after the 2015 season, but by Baseball Prospectus' measure, they've been worse every year since. Here's how the Sox have fared in terms of BP's Framing Runs and Fielding Runs Above Average over the last five years:
| Year | Framing Runs | Rank | FRAA | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 19.4 | 6 | 13.5 | 11 |
| 2016 | -20.9 | 30 | -11.1 | 25 |
| 2017 | -8.0 | 22 | -19.2 | 28 |
| 2018 | -15.1 | 27 | -24.9 | 30 |
| 2019 | -20.1 | 29 | -26.9 | 28 |
If you don't trust Baseball Prospectus' metrics alone, or if you simply want a second source to verify, you can check out Statcast's framing metrics, which assess how well catchers do in trying to shape the eight zones around the strike zone to their advantage. Grandal is very good, as opposed to any of the six regular catchers the Sox have deployed since dropping Flowers.
| Catcher | Season | Runs | Strike% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yasmani Grandal | 2019 | 13 | 51.1 |
| James McCann | 2019 | -16 | 44.7 |
| Welington Castillo | 2019 | -8 | 42.8 |
| Omar Narvaez | 2018 | -13 | 43.1 |
| Kevan Smith | 2018 | -2 | 45.7 |
| Welington Castillo | 2018 | -5 | 43.1 |
| Omar Narvaez | 2017 | -2 | 45.4 |
| Kevan Smith | 2017 | 0 | 46.5 |
| Dioner Navarro | 2016 | -10 | 43.3 |
| Alex Avila | 2016 | -5 | 41.6 |
| Omar Narvaez | 2016 | -1 | 43.4 |
Average out all the qualifying White Sox catchers since they booted Flowers and extrapolate them to Grandal's 2019 workload, and they're cumulatively about as bad (12 runs below average) as Grandal was good. That should help, especially when comparing the maps for Grandal and McCann, which show that Grandal should be able to restore the low strike to White Sox pitchers who haven't seen it in years.
In the five zones that are middle and higher, Grandal and McCann fought each other to the draw, or at least the scorers' decision. In the bottom three zones, Grandal scores a first-round knockout. Classifying the zones as they'd register to right-handed hitters, Grandal has the superior strike percentage by double digits:
| Catcher | Low inside | Low middle | Low outside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grandal | 32.1 | 56.2 | 31.4 |
| McCann | 20.5 | 44.2 | 13.2 |
James Fegan already mentioned the Sox pitchers Grandal's skills stand to help:
Lucas Giolito (0.9 runs) was the 12th-most negatively affected pitcher by framing, despite being a high four-seamer reliant pitcher who went and had a breakout year anyway, and McCann being a bit better than average at grabbing strikes just above the zone according to Statcast’ zone breakdowns. Given that he only covered 73 innings, it’s worrisome that Dylan Cease was in the top-50 of 827 major league pitchers for runs lost to framing, but also seems like a good match with McCann due to his high fastball predilections as well. [...]
Cutter-dependent relievers Alex Colomé, Josh Osich and Jace Fry were heavily harmed, as were sinkerballers Nova, Aaron Bummer, Kelvin Herrera, Dylan Covey and Ross Detwiler. At large, the Sox were heavy on pitchers who needed to command the bottom of the zone to succeed, and could use all the help they could get doing so.
Granted, the addition of Grandal doesn't guarantee that the White Sox's framing issues are over. There's a chance his skills could hit the wall as he advances into his 30's like Jonathan Lucroy and Yadier Molina experienced. Still, unlike any of the last six regular catchers the Sox have used, Grandal has a documented history of above-average framing to lean on.
That's good, because the Sox's documented history shows they don't possess the secret to helping catchers improve, and I didn't care to see the Sox try to convince themselves one more time with Zack Collins. I'm guessing Flowers' drastic jump in receiving was more nature than nurture, but Flowers is so maniacally obsessive about the craft that he makes it difficult to tell.
At any rate, if you've been sick of hearing about Flowers more than I've been sick of watching Sox catchers hemorrhage strikes, the days of whining/pining should finally be over. The Sox signed Grandal for $73 million because they can use his help in multiple facets, but regarding the subject of this post, the White Sox have finally acknowledged that they don't have the answers for framing deficits in their actions, if not in words.
