OMG! Young Is Starting Again! Fire Farrell!

[iayork]

This raises an interesting question (at least I think it's interesting): is there any correlation between framing skill and ability to catch the knuckler, and if so, is it a positive or a negative correlation? I often read about how what sets great framers apart is how quiet their bodies are and how they can receive the ball with minimal apparent movement. And I also read that catching the knuckler requires a very flexible approach that doesn't commit prematurely to an expected trajectory for the ball. It occurs to me that these two requirements could be incompatible. Or it might be that both involve similar skills, just used differently. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

I don't have any data, but I suspect it would be a poor-ish match. The reason I think this is that Vazquez has 10 passed balls in his career. Why does Vazquez have passed balls? I don't think it's because he can't handle a pitch, I think it's because it's part of his framing. I think that one way he frames pitches is to have the bulk of his mitt in the strike zone, and then catch the pitch with the very tip of the mitt. This doesn't seem like a good idea for a knuckleball, so maybe he'd either have to reduce his framing, or concede even more passed balls.