CN Approval Ratings: Yadier Molina

75, but this year I believe 100. Gold Glove defense to go along with that improved batting average makes him a 100 score. He always seems to be playing his hardest (even though when it may look like he isn’t running a grounder out, he really is – can’t fault him for being given the Molina legs).

only because he isnt pujols

He was every bit the winner in game one of the world series as Reyes. The way he talked him through that game was great. He was my MVP of the series. That said I have to leave a little room for improvement so I can’t give a 100.

70% for his great defense and ability to work well with the pitching staff

5% for his increase in offense last year

and 20% for this:

My favorite Cardinal. I’m always biased towards catchers (especially defensive), and none work harder than Yadi. Plus he protects his pitchers, and calls a game better than anyone.

Love his defense, his bat is improving, love his ability to pout the ball in play. The only thing he lacks is speed but he compensates it with his push. Any more reasons as to why I love Yadi? See my sig ;)

I doubt today’s numbers are going to have the same split as yesterday’s did. But going with the VEB result I was off by 1.41309027%.

As for Yadi, there’s very little not to like, but if you want to find a fault ask his WBC Coach.

Desperate for action, Molina sidled up to Oquendo the other day and announced he was ready to pinch run for veteran Carlos Delgado.

“Run?” asked Oquendo, who has seen Molina on the bases before.

“Yadi’s one of the best at getting that jump,” Oquendo said. “But the problem is after that. He’s been great getting to third. It’s just when he passes me, it’s tough for him to get home.”

Well at least Yadi thought he was faster then Delgado, which may or may not be true but you’ve got to like the enthusiasm. 94.3547926%

to plug your own blog?

92% for Yadi. I was sad to see Matheny leave, but I think that worked out pretty well for us. I would love to see our two cannons play catch (i.e. back and forth from CF to catcher).
I also liked Bengie and Jose, and followed them when they were both with the Angels. I can’t believe that there is such a thing as a catcher’s gene. I’ll have to check with the human genome project.

Great defensively (we all know that). Cannon for an arm. Bat is borderline awesome for a Major League backstop.

Only drawback? He’s slow afoot. EVEN FOR A CATCHER! You could time his home-to-first running speed with a sundial.

plays great defense, shows a little offensive ability, and one of the leaders in the clubhouse.

oh yeah, and this.

I named my dog after him, for crying out loud.

A solid player with a lot of intangibles that make him an easy fan favorite.

I have been trying to resist expressing what I know will be a hugely unpopular opinion, but I just can’t subscribe to the Yadi love. I like him fine and he certainly is a very good defensive catcher. He throws better than Matheney, but I think Matheney was a better receiver and certainly blocked balls better.

I think a lot hinges on whether we are witnessing a trend with his offense or if we have seen his peak. In what so far ranks as his career year he was still basically an average hitter. If he could generate a little more pop I guess I could get a little more excited, but last year he was last in doubles, next to last in HRs, and tied for second in GIDP in spite of being 10th in PAs (among catchers with >= 450 PAs). I am very concerned at how well he will age.

I love all the intangibles, but I am only in like, not in love. I’ll give him a 75.

Pure poetry. But I’m still watching to see if he’s adjusted into a body type, both in conditioning and in action. Hard to fight genetics and Mama’s home cooking.

Love the guy, for all the reasons listed above. But no one mentioned my favorite, which is his sweet, sweet pickoff move to 1st. I barely blink and Yadi’s on his feet and the ball’s halfway to Pujols already. Risky as hell but sure is fun to watch.

And my wife thinks he’s adorable.

I wish he was my mom.

I took three points off because Yadi has the speed of a glacier running the bases. But he’s got a lot going for him:

-Excellent fielding (gold glove calibre)
-Hits for good average
-Young and affordable
-By all indications, a good teammate

He may never be “the” premier catcher in MLB, but I think St. Louis has one of the 3-5 best all-around catchers, and they will likely have him for at least ten more years. A very, very good thing.

Because his arm made me see Jesus. Although I wonder what our rating would have been had he had another 2006 last year.

Have ya’ll ever noticed that Yadi doesn’t get nearly as much love from the rest of the league as he does from Cards fans? I always kinda wonder which side’s got the blinders on. I mean, every time I see him play I like him a little bit more, but I mean — he just won his first GG, for god’s sake. Is it simply that hard to get noticed playing in the midwest, albeit for an almost-perennial playoff contender? Or are his lack of speed and pop, and his tendency to possibly lose focus and let some passed balls slip by more important than we’re willing to admit? I read an article here the other day, or possibly one from a link — don’t remember — that said that a catcher with a cannon actually loses value… something about how when teams stop running on him, we’re losing potential outs. To me, that sounds ridiculous — we’re also preventing RISP situations and keeping double plays in order: both huge when playing with that pitch-to-contact philosophy. I don’t know… I’m a little confused on his league-wide perception, but there’s no catcher in the league I’d rather have back there.

Side note: while checking to make sure that it was in fact Yadi’s 1st GG (just started commenting — I’d hate to sound like a jackass), I realized that Cardinal backstops have picked up 7 of the last 18 Gold Gloves. How about that? Any thoughts on our relative dominance at that position?

I like him a lot but I think we over-rate him generally. Still, he’s probably one of my 3 or 4 favourite players. I just wish he could hit a little bit more – I was hoping about 2 years back we’d see a bit of a power uptick from him and he’d be a 15HR/yr guy, but now it really looks like he’s pretty long odds to hit more than about 8 in any given year.

He’s great to watch behind home sack though.

the only reason I gave him a 90 was the past couple years he’s seemed to get rather fragile. But with a very above average arm, rising batting average, and very low strike out rate-the time spent on the DL is my only real complaint.

Yadi didn’t quite catch Pujols, but still managed a 93.37669% approval rating.

He’s so slow that he’s hard to place in a lineup. But his defense is so golden that if he hits OK, he’s a star.