I've always been a defensive and pitch calling first, but a recent prospect has caught my eye...

He projects as an only average defender with a 77 PC, but his offensive stats are:
70 contact
100 power
87 vL
61 vR
98 eye

I feel like that more than makes up for any defensive runs he gives up right?

That looks to me like about .280/.380/.550, raise it by about 15 across the board if you rest him 40 games a year with a defensive catcher who can hit RHP and be his defensive replacement. If he can throw at all-- 60/60 or better-- he's well worth the lack of glove. If he can't throw a lick I'd DH him, and use him as a backup catcher every now and then.

A lot to like about that bat, I'd probably gamble on him and would take the .285 / 45+ HR. Definitely agreed about the DH with him as a backup if you can go that route, but even if with a 77 PC; I'd likely be fine with it. Sure it's on the lower end, and even if he allows a few passed balls; he'll more than make up for it at the plate.

Closest comp in Cobbfather is Bennie Serra, and he's a 65, 97, 81/70, 77.

This guy is a stud.. 77 PC is good enough..

Yeah, I'd take that guy in a heartbeat. I throw C's out there all the time with PC in the 30's and 40's. My C, DH, and RF spots are almost always fielded by catchers with huge bats since everyone else seems to pass them up for all those mediocre 3B's with high OVR but meh hitting ratings. I just don't see much value in defensive C's unless they've got a large bat to go with it.

I'm not gonna say Pitch Calling is overrated... But. Take a look at player generation. The game generates a True STUD C maybe once every 20 seasons. Look through any set of draft prospects or IFAs and you'll see Glove guys who can't hit (Defensive Catcher), Hitters whose PC maxes out in the 60s, and the occasional unicorn with super low Durability who can only play 50 games a season.
Bottom line, you have to compromise somewhere. Especially in the National League where you can't DH a bad C, and if you don't have a hitting shortstop then you've basically got three lineup Mendozas.

When I started, I was a big pitch calling guy. But there have been some threads in this forum that PC doesn't mean as much as you think to a team's ERA. I try to get higher PC guys in the minors for pitcher development, but not as much in the majors.

I'm not necessarily going to endorse the "PC is fake" theory, though I've definitely started guys with PC in the 40s or 50s (and sometimes the low 30s) before. But I've never considered 77 to be "too low" by any means, especially for a bat-first type. Generally my floor to consider a guy a bona fide catcher is around 60-65 PC--lower than that is a DH who can catch in a pinch.

the offensive projections immediately made me think of Player Profile: Eddie Jensen - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports, though Jensen had about half the pitch calling rating. 2 MVPs later and a CERA of around 4.00 when he was on a team with an above average pitching staff - he may be my all-time favorite draft pick.

I am a firm believer that the PC rating is a small modifier on a pitcher's individual pitch ratings, but has little to no impact on anything else.

Posted by loudawg10 on 4/30/2024 5:25:00 PM (view original):
the offensive projections immediately made me think of Player Profile: Eddie Jensen - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports, though Jensen had about half the pitch calling rating. 2 MVPs later and a CERA of around 4.00 when he was on a team with an above average pitching staff - he may be my all-time favorite draft pick.

I am a firm believer that the PC rating is a small modifier on a pitcher's individual pitch ratings, but has little to no impact on anything else.

I must have been doing something wrong, when I ran a high PC the first half of the season and a low PC but high defensive rating SS the second half; so same pitching staff, I saw a 1.50+ CERA difference, and obviously a lot less stone bases caught stealing - though crazy enough still just as many attempts against the shortstop. Difference was a 4 PC and a 77 PC. VERY SMALL SAMPLE SIZE says every 10 PC is about 0.25 CERA. Perhaps that shakes out to your comment if weighing options between a 75 and an 85 PC catcher. To put that into perspective, that's ~50 runs over 162 games = 4 runs every 12 games. .