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Rob Johnson, Professional Catcher

Be you warned, for here there be .gif(s).

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It's like a little dance.
No wonder the staff loves him!

The first one also doubles as a missed strike-three called.
Who frames well now, bitch?

The position is called 'catcher'
The next Dan Wilson!
You mean he will be our starter for the better part of a decade?

And actually bat .250?

We scoff at such talk.

Why dont they let him call the games from the bench?
I was wondering this as well

all the ‘intangibles’ that he has. Can’t we get those if he works with the pitcher before the game, talks to the pitcher and Kenji between innings, and calls most (all?) of the game from the bench?

All sarcasm aside, 'intangibles' just mean 'the pitchers like throwing into his glove'.

 All other ‘intangibles’ seem like bull.

I was watching with my dad...

We were both irate, but disagreed on why Johnson sucks so much at catching pitches. He is convinced it’s lack of concentration and not watching the ball into the glove. I say it has to be skill because he constantly does it and if it’s a concentration issue you’d figure it would get better over time not worse. Then again, he’s from Butte so he’s probably not super bright.

Thoughts?

Concentrating is a skill
When you do something as mechanical as catching for that long, you get good at it. It MUST be a concentration thing.

Give him some adderall?

He just doesn't move his feet enough. He stays crouched and tries to catch everything from that position.
I dont think that's the problem with either of those. Just looks like lazy glove work to me.
That, and his eyes are closed.
Less than 3 seconds sums up exactly what I don't like about Rob Johnson, excellent gif
He made a pretty savage throw to third, though
That was a terrific play and I'm beginning to come around on him

He does however seem to have great trouble catching a baseball.

But Kenji's done that as well.

Well, he’s come close to doing it.

Which I guess is the best problem to have. You would think he'd be able to correct that flaw

pretty easily.

Felix must be thrilled that Wak annointed Johnson as his personal catcher..
If Felix didn't want Rob he could tell Wak and make it so.
I don't Felix would do that
Of course he would. He did just that with Johjima.
Or do you think it's purely accidental that Johjima is only catching the "new guys" now?

Felix, Bedard, Washburn, RRS…none of them seem to want much of anything to do with Johjima behind the plate, and the first three were veteran enough to call their own shots.

Is there any evidence RRS has ever had a problem with Joh?
The empirical evidence that Kenji never seems to catch him?

I admit he’s a dodgier example to cite, since I just don’t have a strong memory of his starts. Whereas Johnson was ALWAYS behind the plate for Washburn and Bedard, and remains so for Felix.

RRS could be comfortable with Rob having been in the minors together.
There was that whole Johjima not catching because hurt issue, as well.
I just watch Felix's leg over and over.
Yeah, he kinda sucks at blocking wild ones...

But don’t disregard that throw out at third. Kinda saved the game.

Sorry.

Really sucks at blocking wild ones.

I know you like Rob Johnson, and I do too.

But do you think we could sneak into his house tonight and threaten his manhood. So he blocks a damn pitch?

Guilty pleasure

I love it when Rob Johnson loses the ball when it rolls behind/to the side of him. He looks like a dog after you’ve faked throwing something, and it takes him several seconds to realize where it went.

The Kelley one was hilarious. He was totally clueless
I was disappointed when Kelley pointed at the ball

I was hoping Rob Johnson would go into a frenzied panic and start accusing the umpire of stealing the baseball

Then I have good news!

Needs to be long enough to capture the Rob Johnson frantic searching
These two don't quite illustrate the 'frantic searching'
I don't find the frantic searching to be as hilarious as the simple missing of pitches in and around the plate
*Sigh*
God how the fuck did he miss the pitch in the second gif
There are numerous others from Felix starts that just hit his stationary glove and pop out.
Right as the ball deflects off his glove, watch his head

There’s a little hitch, I think he’s peaking at the runner just as the pitch arrives

All I can say is... bring on Moore ASAP.
Well...

I’m Moore’s biggest fanboy outside of the organization and even I recognize that he’s had his issues, too…

But he projects to be a bigger contributor than Rob Johnson for mid-2010 and beyond, right?
Despite all the talk about Moore being the future starter

I just don’t see Rob Johnson getting less than 300 PA a year for the foreseeable future. He’s going to be a part of this team for a long time.

I wonder how bad Clement must have been, if we are tolerating this type of defensive effort

Anybody know how Moore compares to Johnson defensively?

Lot better, only thing he needs help on is calling the game and relationships with pitchers. Which I imagine Moore will learn from Johnson.
Clement was so bad that he couldn't even get in a catchers stance.
He did in my bed.
I immediately hate myself for this mental image.
MY PRINT SCREEN ISN'T WORKING, AND IM GOING TO CRY.
I like you.
Can you do me a favor, implicate yourself, and print screen that for me?
Sorry - I cannot bring myself to look at my comment.
They had different problems

This makes me sad.
Okay, I think we all get this...

But, really, catcher has to be the toughest position on the field to play. It’s easy to make fun of them, sure.

Finding a reasonably good one is really really really hard. They take longer to develop in the system, traditionally. It had to be one reason Fontaine picked Clement over, say, Tulo. While Clement’s catching skills were even considered rough back then, the sum of the parts was possibly considered by Fontaine and company to be equal to T2, and what pushed them over the edge was the position.

So, yeah, hahaha Rob Johnson can’t catch the ball. He’s not good. He’s overrated by some and under-appreciated by others.

Where the hell are we going to get a better catcher? Kenji’s not better. Adam Moore might become better, but even being the Moore fanboy I am, I’d still take Robby in the bigs over Adam right now.

Adam can’t finish his development fast enough for me…

"Kenji's not better."

He hits better. He catches better. He throws runners out better.

I’m not Rob Johnson hater. But, tonight was painful, he easily could have cost us the game. And it isn’t like we don’t have options. We have a catcher on the bench who is measurably better at much of the game.

I am no longer of the opinion that Kenji's a better hitter
But

the last thing I remember Kenji doing was hitting a game winning home run. Langerhans and he are the teams best hitters right?

Still, that’s interesting.

The ugly truth is that the pitchers don't want to throw to Kenji for whatever reason.

I’m not saying it’s fair, I’m not saying it’s rational, all I’m saying is that it’s bleedin’ obvious by now. Both the endless media reports, some which come right out and say it (remember Washburn “throwing him under the bus?”) and others which dance around it (see Drayer’s recent Rob Johnson post for strong hints). And when it comes to two otherwise roughly similar catchers, the pitchers are going to get what they want. It’s not like Kenji is Jorge Posada (another catcher reputedly unpopular as a gamecaller with many of his batterymates) here.

Also, I don’t necessarily think Kenji is a better hitter anymore.

Jeff beat me to the last part.
Like I said

I’m not trying to hate on Rob Johnson. But when we watch passed ball after passed ball we shouldn’t pretend we don’t have options that are worthy of discussion.

I think the discussion begins and ends pretty quickly with "what do the pitchers prefer?"

Because as I said we’re not dealing with two players with significantly different capabilities. Johnson is a slightly better hitter, Johjima’s a slightly better defender, they probably cancel one another out. But given that they’re basically tied, the tiebreaker goes to soothing the pitcher’s nerves. Whether it’s irrational or not (it probably is), you just don’t want to get inside your pitcher’s head by forcing him to work with a catcher that, for whatever reason, he feels drags his game down. Psychological bullshit? Probably. But psychological bullshit can still have a real effect on the field, so tie goes to Johnson.

Again: notice that Kenji’s caught French and Snell and Fister. Not an accident: they’re the new guys without any accumulated “veteran” prejudice.

Kenji caught all three because Johnson was resting a sore elbow.

Hard to say how it would have shaken out if both catchers were feeling good.

I get the sense that the "sore elbow" thing is a story for outside consumption.
I don't know what to tell you.
I suppose I should take this opportunity to state my position again

I have come around on Rob Johnson and do not loathe him anymore. I do, however, think it’s funny that he can’t catch a baseball.

I think you just USSMminged
This game has made me loathe him again.

Fuck Rob Johnson.

The problem with him is that he never lets you make the easy decision.

Sure you have all the passed balls.

But then you have the game-saving pickoff, and as much as we’d love to just credit Beltre exclusively, let’s be honest: that was really all Johnson.

And then there’s stuff like the line-drive double play, where you want to hate him but he did everything he could have been asked to do and just got terribly unlucky.

Unless you believe in karma, that is. In which case, fucker’s getting what he deserves.

Fuck it, I blame Wak.

This game actually started souring my opinion on Wak- I’ve liked him for the most part this year, but his well-known flaws really came out. Not having Sweeney bunt in such a close game in the 7th, letting Rob Johnson bat past the 9th…. these things really wore me down today. It came out okay in the end, but I think this game could have been managed better.

Meh.

He’s got his flaws, but he’s a damned good manager who miraculously has a team that just last season had no chemistry all following him.
He’s going to make mistakes. He may be stubborn, but we should be so lucky these guys seem to love playing for him.

Yeah. But Mike Fucking Sweeney.
See my post in the game notes thread.

I was pretty pissed he kept coming up to bat.

Mike Sweeney is a nice man. And nice men need at bats.
I'm nice, and I would never start me. Ever.
But I'm nice and it .400
Ehhh

The passed balls didn’t hurt us that bad, he made an awesome snap throw, and he was a dash of luck away from a game-winning hit.

"

I couldn’t care less about the passed balls. Just imagine how boring this game would’ve been without them.

I mean, seriously.

I still loathe him, personally
At least Rob was able to catch an Ichiro throw for once.

Improvement!

yeah

when he reached to pick up his mask after the tag I was sure that he was picking up the ball I assumed he had just dropped.

I was scared the ump would say safe because there was no block and it looked close.
Yeah, he would have lost all the good will he's gained if he had dropped that.

It’s taken me months to get over that first drop.

Almost for not due to poor positioning.
I wish I could say he did a good job blocking the plate, but you're right, baby steps...
New York Vinnie is talking about how Rob Johnson should always be behind the plate

He called him a “defensive gem”!

"He's the man, he calls a good game, he's a defensive gem"
By the way, does anyone know what happened to Jack Wilson? I missed what he was pulled out of the game for.

Irredeemable ugliness?

Hamstring
How serious?
Probably not very.
Just tightness, I believe.
Blood was everywhere.

People were wailing and throwing up in the stands.

Awesome.
I know how to paint a picture.
Hamstring aggrivation
In the first three gifs,

there is a runner on second. I wonder if he is paying too much attention to what the runner is doing, as in he just takes his eye off the ball as the runner takes his steps down the base path. Now the last one, he just didn’t get in front of the ball…..

You know who you remind me of?

The kinds of people who used to make excuses for Hitler or Stalin. That’s who.

I was yelling "catch the ball" far too much at the catcher tonight
So I've been lurking for a while,

and tonight I finally realized why everyone hates Rob Johnson so much.

I don't hate Rob Johnson.
I hate Rob Johnson and everyone who doesn't hate Rob Johnson.
Same here. I can't stand a catcher who can't catch the fucking ball.

I don’t care how much of a suckup he is to the coaches and pitchers, his defense is almost unbelievably terrible.

If I was Clement, I’d sure be PO’d watching Rob Johnson “catch”.

It also sucks that Felix and other pitchers get charged with wild pitches for fuckups like that.
They shouldn't.

Usually if the catcher fails to catch a ball that doesn’t bounce and he did get a glove on, that’s a passed ball.

The pitcher normally only gets credited with a wild pitch if the pitch bounces or it the catcher completely whiffs at it.

But he's a defensive gem
If I was Clement, I'd be more PO'd at my own damn knees than Rob Johnson/Adam Moore/Jamie Burke.
I don't hate Rob Johnson

Rob is a rookie playing one of the tougher positions to deal with. The staff likes him… and they pitch better. Is he a great hitter? Take away the top 5 in the league and you have mediocre bats running amok. He plays a position that is historically bad at hitting. Rookies need development time

If the staff is overachieving and believes it is because Rob Johnson is a lucky bunny foot and continues to believe so… then he gets to stay until he dies or they find someone better. Yes Kenji’s defense is better. But pitchers hate him. Yes Clement has a better bat. But he can’t catch or call a game. Moore isn’t ready for the bigs. Pissing off an overachieving staff with a bad offense seems like a bad idea

ROB JOHNSON ALSO CANNOT CATCH
"The staff likes him… and they pitch better."

How do you prove that?

You say it louder

THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER!!!!!!!!
Like that, maybe more exclamation points? I wasn’t sure exactly how many to use to I decided to error on the conservative side.

OOOH OOOOH! Bold print!!

THE STAFF LIKE HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER

And then there's repetition

THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER
THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER
THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER
THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER
THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER
THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER
THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER
THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER THE STAFF LIKES HIM AND THEY PITCH BETTER

Got a GIF of Johnson's pick-off throw?

Just for comparison’s sake?

Butte High Fight Chant

"We’re the boys from Butte,
the land of rocks and ditches.
We bang our cocks off the rocks;
we’re dirty sons a bitches."

No, not a joke. The football team used to chant it before every game – probably still do. IMHO, Rob Johnson needs to bring that tradition to the Mariner clubhouse.

Wow....that's

something. “We bang our cocks off the rocks” doesn’t sound intimidating, it doesn’t ‘dirty,’ it just sounds painful and retarded.
“Rock-fucking crazy” has now supplanted “Pants-on-arms crazy” for me…..

Rocks is a euphemism for mountain goat.
Butte, where men are men

and mountain goats are fucking nervous.

Catcher Defense Rate

Seems like there’s a defensive metric floating around here – some function of mishandled pitches, throw release times and accuracy.

I like the way Felix showed his socks yesterday.
Hey you're right!

I love the high socks. More players should wear them like that.

Any particular reason or occasion?

Or has Felix decided to just become even more awesome for the hell of it?

So I've noticed that pretty much all the pitchers have switched to high socks lately.
Rob Johnson needs a swift kick to his intangibles
No! Thats the source to all his power!

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