The defensive argument comes in to play when people start using his name in the GOAT conversation, as the counter-argument against him being included with that group is usually "He fucking sucked behind the plate".I don’t disagree with him possibly just being okay. I just think he’s better than people generally give him credit for.
It looks like during his years with the dodgers the backup catcher started 20-30 games a year and they played in 40-50. Not sure how many of those appearances were pinch hits though.
He certainly wasn't anything special back there. He allowed 1400 stolen bases in 15 years, throwing out only 23% of attempted steals.
The Mets tried him at 1st base in 2004 but he was even worse at that so they moved him back to catcher in 2005.
Piazza was the easiest catcher to run against for most of his career.
NL season leaders for steals allowed by a catcher during Piazza's career:
In 1997 he was 3rd worst and gave up 112 steals.
In 2003 he was hurt and only played in 64 games (still finished 6th worst - haha)
In 2004 he was a DH for Oakland
In 2005 he was 2nd worst. He threw out only 13 guys on 95 steal attempts.
If he played in the AL, he likely would have been a DH his entire career.
If he plays his entire career as a DH, is he still a slam dunk HOFer?
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