Chicago Cubs fans started a movement to get Cubs catcher David Ross, voted into the All Star game in his final season. While Ross wasn’t in the top five in his position after the first round of votes were released, he was the top write-in player.
With Ross earning the most write-in votes, the “vote for Ross” movement has gained some steam, and a couple more have jumped on the bandwagon.
Y'all, please write-in Rossy on your All-Star ballots and let's get the most underrated catcher to SD where he belongs! #VoteRossy #VoteCubs
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) June 2, 2016
Agreed. He needs to go yell at some other pitchers other than us. #heusesgrandpavoiceifwestink https://t.co/2GoOKC9dKg
— Jason Hammel (@HammelTime39) June 2, 2016
Top is Ross, bottom is current leader in All Star voting for catcher #VoteRoss pic.twitter.com/YIMsRRk5Lx
— Brittany Wood (@bwz428) June 2, 2016
Even Boston Red Sox fans are jumping onboard, if you recall Ross was a big part of their clubhouse when they won the World Series in 2013.
I hope Red Sox Nation & baseball fans take a minute and help vote David Ross into the All-Star Game! #VoteRossy pic.twitter.com/E1U39zqsdc
— Blackie (@BostonsBlackie) June 2, 2016
Now while this has started out as a tip of the cap to one of baseball player’s most beloved players, and Ross himself had said he doesn’t want to go if he doesn’t deserve it. David went as far as to say he’s just a backup catcher. But Brittany Wood, wife of Cubs reliever Travis Wood, pointed out the offensive similarities between Ross and vote leader, Yadier Molina.
Now a lot of traditionalists, and Ross himself, will say, defense and the ability to manage a pitching staff is the most important asset a catcher can bring to the game. Molina over the past 10 plus years has been the standard in those regards, and why he’s been considered the best catcher in the game over that ten plus year span. While I will not tell you Ross is a better catcher than Molina, he has been in 2016. In fact he’s been better than every catcher in the game in 2016.
Catcher’s ERA, or CERA, is the measure of all pitcher’s ERA while a particular catcher is behind the plate. This might be the single most significant stat when judging the impact of a catcher’s ability to measure a pitching staff. As you may already know, the lower the ERA, the better the chance of a team being successful. This year’s leader – and it’s not even close – is David Ross with a 2.05 CERA. The next closest catcher, Washington Nationals Wilson Ramos, is more than a run worse than Ross, at 3.06 CERA.
While yes, part of this equation is how good are the pitchers that are throwing to you, and the Cubs have some pretty excellent pitchers, the other part is how a catcher manages those pitchers. Ross just might be the best game manager in baseball.
Keeping to the defensive side, Fangraphs lists David Ross as the second best defensive catcher in baseball, only behind the Kansas City Royals Salvador Perez.
So David, if you read this, you do deserve to be there in 2016. Cubs fans need to vote for David in 2016. If David is in the game in San Diego, the National League has a better chance of winning that game, and that could potentially mean home field advantage for a certain team from Chicago in the World Series.
Sure writing in Ross will give the Cubs another possible representative for the All Star game, one which features the entire Cubs infield, but it wouldn’t be like he doesn’t deserve it. While it is tough to pick between the likes of Jonathan Lucroy and even the standard, Molina – Ross deserves to be apart of this conversation just as much as they do in 2016.
Vote early and vote often Chicagoans.
VOTE HERE!!!
