Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis taking pitch framing to the next level.

A.J. Ellis

Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis is working to improve how he receives pitches around the bottom of the strike zone. (Getty Images)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — A.J. Ellis answered a lot of questions about pitch framing when spring training commenced last year. He’d lost 111 calls on balls that “should have been” strikes in 2014, according to Pitch F/X data on the website StatCorner.com. Now, Ellis had a general manager who had heard of StatCorner.com.

So Ellis spent his off-season working with a coach in Milwaukee to improve his framing. It helped, a little. After losing 1.41 calls per game in 2014, Ellis only lost 1.40 calls per game (66 total) in 2015.

Ellis said he isn’t doing anything new framing-wise this year but he did work with same coach over the winter, “trying to improve, make better angles.”

“The bottom of the strike zone has always been the area where I tend to lose more calls than the elite guys,” Ellis said. “That’s obviously an area we’re trying to focus on. That’s where you want your pitchers to focus the ball.”

Ellis has the benefit of framing data provided to him by the Dodgers’ coaching staff. This is proprietary data belonging to the team — not anything you can look up on the internet, at least not exactly — but I think I know what he’s talking about. If you watch Ellis receive a low pitch, he has a nasty habit of “stabbing” at the baseball with his glove; that’s how it’s been described to me in the past. When a catcher stabs at the baseball, he’s less likely to get that pitch called a strike if it’s on the borderline.

Ellis is trying to get rid of this habit, so he welcomes the data.

“They’re able to not just give you framing metrics, but which pitch, what type of pitch, who the pitcher is,” he said. “It’s encouraging that according to them I did get better last year. I’m still not where I need to be.”

This entry was posted in JP on the Dodgers and tagged by J.P. Hoornstra. Bookmark the permalink.

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.