Leaderboarding: Best hitting catchers in baseball history

Global News

Related: Looking at Mike Piazza's Hall of Fame case

Given everything he accomplished in his career, it's hard to believe Mike Piazza was not inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, his first year of eligibility. The suspicion of performance-enhancing drug use kept him out.

Piazza has long been considered the best hitting catcher in history, mostly because of his prodigious power output. No catcher has ever hit for as much power as him and it's not particularly close either. In the spirit of contextualizing Piazza's offensive dominance, our latest leaderboarding post looks at the best backstops in a variety of offensive catchers. Just to be clear, these are stats that have compiled strictly as a catcher. If Piazza hit a home run as a first baseman or DH, it won't be counted here.

Plate Appearances

  • Ivan Rodriguez -- 9,916
  • Carlton Fisk -- 8,801
  • Jason Kendall -- 8,531
  • Gary Carter -- 8,172
  • Benito Santiago -- 7,352

    • Batting Average (min. 500 games caught)

  • Joe Mauer -- .328
  • Piazza -- .313
  • Brian Harper -- .306
  • Manny Sanguillen -- .300
  • Joe Torre -- .300

    • On-Base Percentage (min. 500 games caught)

  • Mauer -- .408
  • Gene Tenace -- .396
  • Dick Dietz -- .385
  • Piazza -- .382
  • Jorge Posada -- .380

    • Slugging Percentage (min. 500 games caught)

  • Piazza -- .560
  • Mike Napoli -- .516
  • Javy Lopez -- .504
  • Roy Campanella -- .499
  • Posada -- .487

    • OPS (min. 500 games caught)

  • Piazza -- .942
  • Mauer -- .889
  • Napoli -- .879
  • Posada -- .868
  • Campanella -- .858

    • Hits

  • Rodriguez -- 2,749
  • Kendall -- 2,160
  • Fisk -- 2,145
  • Ted Simmons -- 1,908
  • Carter -- 1,907

    • Doubles

  • Rodriguez -- 551
  • Kendall -- 390
  • Fisk -- 372
  • Simmons -- 364
  • A.J. Pierzynski -- 345

    • Triples

  • Tim McCarver -- 52
  • Rodriguez -- 51
  • Sanguillen -- 45
  • Fisk -- 43
  • Santiago -- 41

    • Home Runs

  • Piazza -- 390
  • Fisk -- 351
  • Johnny Bench -- 327
  • Rodriguez -- 304
  • Carter -- 298

    • Total Bases

  • Rodriguez -- 4,314
  • Fisk -- 3,656
  • Piazza -- 3,404
  • Carter -- 3,201
  • Bench -- 2,976

    • Runs Batted In

  • Rodriguez -- 1,290
  • Piazza -- 1,205
  • Fisk -- 1,197
  • Bench -- 1,148
  • Carter -- 1,110

    • Stolen Bases

  • Kendall -- 176
  • Rodriguez -- 123
  • Fisk -- 121
  • Santiago -- 85
  • Russell Martin -- 85

    • Walks

  • Posada -- 818
  • Fisk -- 775
  • Carter -- 751
  • Bench -- 728
  • Kendall -- 709

    • Hit By Pitches

  • Kendall -- 250
  • Fisk -- 129
  • Pierzynski -- 113
  • Sherm Lollar -- 110
  • Bill Freeham -- 109

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