Having a veteran gives you peace of mind he knows what he is doing back there, even if he doesn’t seem an attractive in other ways i.e. has weak bat and/or cannot run worth a lick.

Often the catcher is the quarterback of the field and if catcher is some young, nearly ‘know nothing’ guy, then it is assumed he’ll have too much on his plate to deal with as well as lack the bravado to take charge of something like a pitching staff [particularly ones with veterans].

Perhaps with more and more pitch data, we’ll eventually see something … Or not.

Seems like C is one position where teams still value a “veteran” much more that sabermaticians.

Perhaps that’s an indication that we, as of yet, still don’t have a really good way of quantifying what a C influences when he’s behind the plate. In this regard, I’m not specifically referring to ‘calling pitches’, but ‘receiving skills’. I mention this because I attending a “catching clinic” not so long ago and was just amazed at all the different skills involved in catching different types of pitching in varying locations. These guys are like the offensive linemen of MLB. I do know that having a poor catcher is very frustrating from a managing standpoint.

It might be interesting to read TEX pitchers’ comments of Molina in the upcoming weeks and see what they report.