Here are the overall totals, by position:

Position	INN	PO	A	E	PB	CS	SBA	CS%	FLD%	Error %	PB/9	SBA/9
1B Total	112.0	86	3	0	29	0	59	0.00%	1.000	0.000	2.33	4.74
OF Total	1224.7	771	15	17	248	3	604	0.50%	0.979	0.021	1.82	4.44
DH Total	310.0	245	7	9	80	3	194	1.55%	0.966	0.034	2.32	5.63
3B Total	1187.3	781	24	5	254	6	642	0.93%	0.994	0.006	1.93	4.87
2B Total	1718.0	1210	28	7	354	7	973	0.72%	0.994	0.006	1.85	5.10
SS Total	2801.7	2131	65	17	599	12	1434	0.84%	0.992	0.008	1.92	4.61
Overall Non-Moore Total	7353.7	5224	142	55	1564	31	3906	0.79%	0.990	0.010	1.91	4.78
Moore Total	530.7	371	16	2	3	11	80	13.75%	0.995	0.005	0.05	1.36

My tentative conclusions:
-- Don't use any player out of position at catcher (duh)
-- Definitely don't use a DH at catcher (duh)
-- It doesn't really matter if you use a 2B, 3B, or SS at catcher. They are pretty much equally bad. OF are not that much worse, except for the number of errors.
-- The big penalties for playing someone out of position at catcher are in PB, number of SB attempted, and CS%. Yes, they will make more errors, but that difference is comparatively small compared to the others.

I will provide another update when the season is over.

I may - if I can get around to it and if I can figure out the right way to do the analysis - take a look at how individual fielding and range ratings seem to affect the results. I am using 1985 Ozzie (A/A+) and I will note that he has made 0 errors and has one of the lowest PB rates (still an execrable 1.53/9). I don't see any evidence that fewer SB are being attempted against him.

Thank for posting all the data! I'm curious have you seen evidence in the PBPs of passed balls on strike 3s resulting in runners reaching 1st?

We're now through 120 games in the no-catcher league and have much larger sample sizes. The data is interesting to say the least. First, here's our control group. Recall that every team has to roster 1965 Jackie Moore (61 PA, C+/A/D). He is the only player in the league who has a defensive rating at catcher. Three owners have not used Moore at all. The other 21 Moores have combined to produce the following stats:

G	INN	PO	A	E	PB	CS	SBA	CS%	FLD%	Error %	PB/9	SBA/9
691	1888.7	1276	66	7	9	51	326	15.64%	0.995	0.005	0.04	1.55

The important things to note are the 5 columns on the right: 15.64 CS%, .995 Fld Pct (or I prefer to look at the error rate, which is 1-FldPct or 0.005), .09 passed balls per 9 innings, and 1.55 SB attempts allowed per 9 innings.

Owners have used a diverse mix of players at catcher. The table below shows the stats of these players, aggregated by their primary position:

Position	INN	PO	A	E	PB	CS	SBA	CS%	FLD%	Error %	PB/9	SBA/9
1B Total	855.0	865	15	6	206	2	458	0.44%	0.993	0.007	2.17	4.82
OF Total	4280.3	2724	79	53	970	20	2216	0.90%	0.981	0.019	2.04	4.66
DH Total	973.7	811	15	23	228	4	542	0.74%	0.973	0.027	2.11	5.01
3B Total	3610.7	2278	67	17	834	15	2030	0.74%	0.993	0.007	2.08	5.06
2B Total	5580.7	3998	101	26	1249	26	3074	0.85%	0.994	0.006	2.01	4.96
SS Total	8433.0	6079	182	34	1847	39	4293	0.91%	0.995	0.005	1.97	4.58
Overall Non-Moore Total	23736.3	16755	459	159	5334	106	12613	0.84%	0.991	0.009	2.02	4.78
Moore Total	1888.7	1276	66	7	9	51	326	15.64%	0.995	0.005	0.04	1.55

Compared to Moore, the out-of-position catchers have allowed:
3x the number of stolen base attempts per 9 innings
50x the number of passed balls per 9 innings
Roughly 2x the number of errors
And have about a 95% worse rate of throwing out the runners (it's actually worse than that...most of the CS by the non-catchers have actually been pickoffs by the pitcher, which apparently are still credited as a CS for the catcher)
Combining the worse CS rate with the increased number of SBs attempted, the non-catchers allow roughly 3.6x more SB per 9 innings

But here's what I think is most interesting...looking at the other positions individually, I don't see much difference in the stats. PB/9 rangers from 1.97 (the shortstops) to 2.17 (for 1B). It's been years since I took stats, but I'm not even sure that difference is statistically significant. I think a t-test is the appropriate tool here, if anyone feels like checking the math. There are some differences, for sure (1B have the lowest CS% by far; OF and DH make more errors), but all in all, it seems that if you are going to play someone out of position at catcher, it really doesn't matter who it is. Even the DH (1995 Paul Molitor) isn't THAT much worse than the others, and given how well he (or any pure DH) hits for the salary cost, maybe the DH is actually the best play here.

To be clear, it's clearly a TERRIBLE idea not to use an actual catcher at the position. But if for whatever reason you HAVE to do so, it's not clear to me that it makes much difference what position you draw from.

At the end of the season, if I have time, I may try to look at how individual FLD/RNG ratings performed. We'll see if that tells us anything more interesting.

Posted by contrarian23 on 2/13/2024 8:07:00 PM (view original):

Posted by Lennybruce26 on 1/21/2024 1:24:00 PM (view original):

Posted by fatguyrd on 1/20/2024 10:15:00 PM (view original):
If you are interested, I’m now recruiting for a No Catchers League, in the classified. We can see if A/A Inf & Of can be catchers.

Over an entire season you will get over 100 PB
CS % of 10% if that and lots of errors.

Based on the results I posted today, it's going to be more like 300 passed balls, a CS% of less than 1%, and not all that many errors.

Once I was forced to use a position player at catcher for part time use. It was hellacious no matter who I put there although it was slightly better using a first baseman and I’m curious as to how an A+/A+ first baseman would do.
Extrapolating there would be maybe 30 errors - I’ll double check that but PB - could be way more then 500. Almost every game there was 2-4 PB. Often 5. I never saw zero and one was the loneliest number.