New D-backs catcher Jeff Mathis explains his ‘quiet hands’
Dec 6, 2016, 5:50 PM | Updated: 5:53 pm
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Pitch-framing is the buzzword that the Diamondbacks can throw about when explaining the reasoning behind their two-year deal with catcher Jeff Mathis.
To Mathis, buzzwords aren’t needed.
The 11-year MLB veteran learned what makes him a great pitch-framer inherently. To him, it’s just called doing his job.
“I take a lot of pride in it,” he said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM’s Burns and Gambo show. “Obviously, you want to contribute offensively and that’s always great when that’s happening. I think the most important thing on the baseball field is the pitcher-catcher relationship.”
Mathis said he took the biggest steps forward in his craft while he a member of the Angeles from 2005-2011. There, he learned from Angels manager and former catcher Mike Scioscia.
Scouts may say Mathis has “quiet hands,” a reference to his ability to make borderline balls look like strikes. He doesn’t exactly know how to explain it, but the numbers support his strength in that regard. He had the third-highest percentage of pitches caught outside the strike zones that were called strikes (oStr%), per StatCorner.
“I don’t really know,” he said. “It’s something that just kind of came natural to me. I let the ball travel the best I can, I try not to snag or jerk the pitch. I can’t give you the definition of ‘quiet hands’ but those are the things I think about when I’m back there trying to get a strike.
“One thing you see nowadays is a lot of guys that yank the ball back to the strike zone,” Mathis added. “To me, that’s not a way to get strikes called, cause you’re moving so much, your mitts are moving so much.”
The Diamondbacks have said Mathis, who will be 34 by the start of the season, should expect to catch around 60 games this coming season.
Arizona could pair him with Chris Herrmann, but there’s also the possibility they make another acquisition at the position.