Brian Schneider: An Upgrade?

When first hearing that Omar Minaya’s replacement for Paul Lo Duca would be Brian Schneider, I was disappointed. We had had the opportunity to sign Yorvit Torrealba of the Rockies, who had come off a great playoff run. There was talk of trading for Gerald Laird of the Rangers, who is a young, exciting prospect, who probably wouldn’t cost very much. I did consider the fact that Schneider (31) is 4 years younger than Lo Duca (35), but Lo Duca also has 4 more All-star appearances. But I have faith in Omar and knew he would not let our catching unit decline from last year.
On the offensive side, Lo Duca is regarded around the league for rarely striking out, and for keeping a walks-to-strikeout ratio close to one. Lo Duca struck out only 33 times in 2007, while he walked 24 times. However, in what is supposedly Lo Duca’s strongest offensive category, it seems Schneider is equal, if not better. His BB to K ratio is 1 on the dot, as he struck out and walked 56 times apiece. Similarly, the knock on Schneider is his low batting average of .235 compared to Lo Duca’s .272. However, offensively, Schneider really does have the upper-hand. Neither is a homerun hitter (Lo Duca had 9, Schneider had 6) or an RBI machine (both had 54). Both had 28 extra base hits, which is not impressive. So it seems there is only one more significant category, that being on-base percentage. Here is where the numbers are most astonishing. Although Lo Duca hit nearly 40 points higher than Schneider, his OBP is 15 points lower than Schneider’s .326. Although there is the major discrepancy between the batting averages, Schneider really makes up for it with his OBP, and every other stat is nearly the same or better than Lo Duca.
Defensively, Schneider seems to be the clear-cut choice. While 72 of the 94 runners that ran against Lo Duca were successful (a CS% of just 23%), only 53 of 77 were successful against Schneider (a CS% of 31). Furthermore, Schneider is coming off a year of tremendously important experience, as he caught a plethora of young pitchers for the Nationals. If the Mets are to keep both Phillip Humber and Mike Pelfrey, they will both certainly have extended time in the big leagues, and Schneider will be a great calming influence. Schneider could also help Joe Smith out of the bullpen, who really fell apart in the second half of 2007. With Ramon Castro adding a strong bat off the bench and Brian Schneider’s command and knowledge of the game, the Mets’ catching unit in 2008 should be equal, if not an upgrade over the 2007 model.