John Buck has been money this season with runners on base.
Baseball Reference offers specific base running analysis within team data (click batting+, then detailed stats). And surprisingly enough, Jays catcher John Buck ranks at or near the top in every power, run producer category.
Every stat as is. Some include outs, situations, etc and some do not.
Baserunners Scored Percentage
(bases runners on base while at-bat, the number that scored and then the percentage)
I’ll leave it up to you to count or disregard Wise. Bautista leads full-time players at 21%, Buck clocks in at #2.
GIDP Percentage
(number of times up with runner on first, less than 2 outs, the number of GIDP and then the percentage)
Buck makes an appearance in the top #5. It’s nice to see Hill & Snider near the top. I included Vernon the list, although he is below the team average of 11%.
Productive Out
(advancing any runner with none out and/or knocking in a runner with two out, number of times, then percentage)
This time around Buck ranks near the bottom. Team average is 26%. On a related note the majority of the players in the top half (Wise, Yunel, McDonald, Molina) are slap style hitters, while the bottom half includes HR producers such as Wells, EE, Bautista, Buck, Gonzalez & Hill.
Moving Runners Over
(none out with runner on second, number of times runner advanced, percentage)
Small sample alert. Buck clocks in at #6, both Wells & Bautista are near the bottom. It’s nice to see front of the order hitters Lewis & Yunel at the top of the rankings, as this is another ‘slap hitter’ stat.
Scoring runners from Third
(PA with runner on third, less than 2 outs, number, percentage)
Another smaller sample in this category, many of the clubs big boppers are present in the top 6.
I could see him getting a 3yr/$12-15MM deal.
I like John Buck. Is he a long term solution here in Toronto? Probably not, my guess is that next year Molina comes back and teaches Arencibia. I do however thing Buck has produced more than enough to warrant a contending team offering him a 2 or 3 year deal.
Is Buck going to be a Type A at season’s end?
So far, he’s projected as Type B, It looks like a solid marking and he needs to have a jose bautista september to even come close to Type A