Carlos Santana Named Most Powerful Catcher in Baseball

Carlos Santana was the most powerful catcher in baseball, according to a study released Thursday at Beyond the Box Score.

I ranked all qualified MLB hitters from 2011 by Power Factor, the measure of how many extra bases a batter gets per hit (or, slugging percentage minus batting average divided by batting average).

Out of the 145 qualified hitters, Santana ranked 13th with a .909 Power Factor. No other catcher cracked the Top 25.

Because of his low batting average (Power Factor adjusts for the bias towards contact hitters that is inherent in slugging percentage and isolated power), Santana ranks higher in this than he does in more common power stats: his .457 SLG and .217 ISO, while very good, were not quite as impressive. He also hit 27 homers with 79 RBI.

Only two other Indians had enough plate appearances to qualify for MLB leaderboards: Asdrubal Cabrera ranked 61st with a .685 Power Factor, while Kosuke Fukudome came in at .410, good for 126th place.

Jhonny Peralta was the highest-ranked former Indians player with a .599 PF, good for 81st place. Brandon Phillips (.525 PF) finished 96th, Coco Crisp (.436 PF) placed 117th, and Victor Martinez (.427 PF) ranked 121st.

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