Kansas City Royals: All-Time Worst Defenders

Catcher: John Buck

Total TZ: -17 over 4,723.1 innings

TZ per 1,500 innings: -5.4

John Buck‘s best attribute for the Royals was his bat, and even that wasn’t too hot sometimes. He batted .235 in his time with the Kansas City Royals which is less than stellar. Among catchers for the Royals he is second all-time in both home runs and doubles, but Salvador Perez will probably catch him in both of those categories soon.

Buck played with the Royals from 2004-2009 and he was one of the Royals better players during that time. That’s not saying much considering 2005 was probably the worst year in franchise history.

While his bat provided plenty of pop for the Royals, he was less than spectacular behind the plate. Buck was in the negative in defensive runs saved (DRS) in all of his seasons with the Royals. It probably doesn’t help anything that the pitching was so bad.

In his first three seasons, John Buck was one of the better catchers in the league when it came to throwing out would be base-stealers. Starting in 2007 however, his numbers in that area started to decline. In 2009, his caught stealing percentage fell to just 16 percent which was a full ten percent below the league average. Again, some of the has to do with the quality of the pitching staff.

While Buck is statistically the worst defensive catcher the Royals ever had, he was well regarded for his defensive prowess and for how well he handled the pitchers.

The Royals are spoiled with a good defensive catcher these days in Salvador Perez who has never had a negative year in defensive runs saved. His caught stealing percentage is also above the league average during his career. He had a little bit of a down year in that area last season but some of that had to do with Chris Young pitching. Some pitchers just give up steals. That’s hard to pin entirely on the catcher.

Next: One Hit Wonder