The Most Valuable Defender in Baseball (It's Not Close)

Comments · 603

• JA

  @jakob8845 · 4 months ago

  Cleveland welcome button

  120

• MI

  @Mickens. · 11 months ago

  Extending Bailey might be one of the most important things Posey could do early in his GM tenure. Having Bailey long term will for sure attract free agent pitchers since throwing to him is such an advantage.

  530

• TR

  @Triplecrownjmo · 11 months ago (edited)

  To be honest, I would actually expect Bailey’s performance in the batter’s box to improve. Because of COVID and Joey Bart’s lackluster tenure with the Giants, Bailey has less than 700 career ABs in the minors. For reference, Mike Trout, who’s considered to have breezed through the minors, has over 1100 minor league ABs in his career. Bailey has said before that he feels some of his struggles at the big league level are a result of inexperience at the lower levels. At 26, I would expect his glove to remain elite and his offensive production to see a slight uptick in the next few seasons

  231

• AL

  @AllSportsCollectibles · 11 months ago

  Buster Posey was regarded a a really good defender for the Giants and Bailey has a rating more than double that of Posey - Insane. Thrilled to have him!

  170

• MA

  @matthewbrault5666 · 11 months ago

  .814 OPS in September with 21 hits and 4 home runs; marking one of the best month of his career. I hope he can find some consistency there!

  74

• GH

  @Ghostcharm · 11 months ago

  great breakdown dude. as a hardcore giants fan and enthusiast of the catcher position watching bailey work has been the highlight of the last few seasons

  156

• WO

  @Wolfeson28 · 11 months ago

  It&apos;s so funny seeing Bailey&apos;s hitting mentioned in a positive light. So much of the (poorly informed) conversation surrounding him is about how &quot;terrible&quot; a hitter he is, and whether he&apos;s even still playable when the bat is so bad. But his fielding really is <b>that</b> good, and like you said, his hitting is actually pretty solid in the context of other elite defenders. Another factor there is that Bailey, while not a great hitter overall, does seem to have something of a clutch gene. Also, the Giants have been very unsuccessful in trying to find a good backup catcher who&apos;s a better hitter, so Bailey doesn&apos;t lose much playing time there.

  70

• CA

  @catchingmadesimple · 10 months ago

  WOW. A few thoughts:<br>1) this was one of the best videos I’ve seen. And accurate. Well done. <br>2) this must have taken so long to compile those clips. Thank you for sacrificing a week of your life or more to put this together <br>3) the Bailey to Curry comparison is crazy but accurate <br>4) I made a video analyzing statcast catcher numbers in a different format, and this format was a brilliant way to present the info<br>5) I’m still just amazed at how well you put this together. Excellent work!!

  6

• RE

  @reese-hopper · 11 months ago

  As a Giants fan who watches Bailey nightly, I am amazed at his pitch framing. It&apos;s not just the glove movement on pitch frames. It&apos;s his entire body language on every pitch, even the big miss balls (which he doesn&apos;t even try to frame, and honestly sometimes makes look worse on purpose, in order to make his framing more convincing). I recommend catching a Giants game sometime to anybody who&apos;s really interested in this, because you&apos;ll see how invested he is in every pitch in multiple ways.

  16

• ZA

  @zacharyfast7346 · 11 months ago

  If bailey becomes a 100 OPS+ hitter he’s literally an MVP caliber player lol

  127

• JO

  @jonmuniz809 · 11 months ago

  Excellent overview. Stoked to see people recognize what a freak of nature Bailey is defensively and also putting into perspective his offense compared to other elite defenders

  15

• SF

  @SFGiants · 11 months ago

  Love the breakdown! Subbed 👌

  12