It wouldn’t surprise me, after reading this Jeff Passan column on Kenji Johjima, that the Mariners catcher knows more about his pitchers then his pitchers know about himself. It looks like when it comes to catchers, Johjima doesn’t cut any corners when it comes to getting ready to call a game.
It’s also nice that the catcher can rake. He hit .297/.343/.468 which would normally be a very good season but it was overshadowed by guys like Brian McCann and Joe Mauer. Regardless, PECOTA expects his homers to dip a bit but his batting average should stay up close to where it was this year. His weighted mean average is .296/.350/.441 and they expect his VORP to be right where it was in 2006.