Bryant Salgado - 14th Round Pick by the Houston Astros

9 PBs.  3 in conference play. 

Jake Rodriguez had 13 in 2013 and 10 in 2012 in 38 starts at catcher.  Rodriguez' backup, Ryan Gorton had 9 in 21 starts at catcher.

Andrew Susac had 9 in 2010.

Ryan Ortiz had 14 PBs in 2008.

Mitchy Slick himself had 18 PBs in 2006 and 22 PBs in 2005.

Defensively, we have been spoiled with Logan Ice and Rutschman from 2014-2019.

Claunch's nine PBs led to four runs:

BYU's first in game 2, which tied the game at one in the second inning.  (Troy Claunch drove in the first run to put Oregon State up 1-0 in the first.)  Oregon State won 5-3.

Irvine's fourth in game 1, which put the Anteaters up 4-1 in the sixth.  Oregon State came back to take a 5-4 lead into the ninth, but Mully blew the save.  The Beavers ultimately won 7-5 in 11 innings.

Arizona State's ninth in game 1, which put the Devils up 9-1 in the fourth.  (Troy Claunch accounted for the sole run up until that time, on an RBI base hit to drive in Joe Casey in the top half of the fourth.)  Arizona State ran it up to an 11-2 lead before Oregon State scored three to make it a more-respectable 11-5.

McNeese State's fifth, which tied the game at five in the seventh.  Oregon State scored five in the eighth to win 10-5.  (Troy Claunch scored run number two to tie the game 2-2 in the fourth--before Kyle Dernedde's bases-clearing double.  Claunch then scored run number six to put Oregon State up 6-5 in the eighth.  Dernedde cleared the bases a second time two batters later.)

The passed balls never led to a loss.  (Unless that ninth run against Arizona State was the backbreaker?)  And Claunch accounted for just as many runs in those four games as Oregon State allowed because of the passed balls.

There are passed balls and then there are pitches not blocked that go in the books as a wp. A really good catcher will stop most of those.

First, Claunch had 11 extra-base hits with four dingers.

Second, Claunch actually played less than Ice in the regular season.  The only reason that Claunch "played more" was because Oregon State went to the Fort Worth Regional.  The 2016 Beavers were cheated out of the postseason.

But, sure, let's compare.

After 14 games (11 starts and came on in the 5th, 6th and 7th in three other games), Logan Ice was hitting .474 with 3 2Bs, 4 3Bs, 4 HRs, 7 BBs and 1 K.
Over the next 40 games (38 starts and came on in the 4th and 7th in two other games), Logan Ice hit .256 with 10 2Bs, 1 3B, 3 HRs, 30 BBs and 24 Ks.

After 14 games (13 starts), Troy Claunch was hitting .286 with 1 HR, 7 BBs and 11 Ks.
Over the next 42 games (34 starts and came on in the 7th, 8th and 9th in three other games), Troy Claunch hit .333 with 7 2Bs, 3 HRs, 14 BBs and 25 Ks.

After the first 14 warm-up games, Ice has a slugging percentage of .527 and Claunch has a slugging percentage of .526.  Ice has an OBP of .396 and Claunch has an OBP of .396.

If you filter out the 12 non-conference games after the first 14 in 2016, Ice winds up with a .235 batting average, 7 2Bs, 1 3B and 3 HRs, 25 BBs and 19 Ks.
If you filter out the 14 non-conference games after the first 14 in 2021, Claunch winds up with a .370 batting average, 7 2Bs, 3 HRs, 11 BBs and 20 Ks.

In conference, Claunch has a slugging percentage of .519, and Ice has a slugging percentage of .418.  Claunch has an OBP of .430, and Ice has an OBP of .398.  Claunch's OPS was .949 and Ice's 2016 OPS was .816.

I believe that the difference is that Ice feasted on bad pitching at the beginning of 2016.  Most people noted that Ice was an average D-1 hitter before 2016 and then his power numbers came out of nowhere.  That led him to be talked about as a first-round-talent before better pitching cooled his crazy hot start.  Baseball America and several other services had Ice as as surefire second-rounder, but he was pick #72, six picks away from slipping to the third round.  The analytics guys liked Ice, because he was able to draw walks and rarely grounded out and rarely struck out.  However, his 2016 power disappeared thereafter never to return.  And his BB/K ratio disappeared.  He was a .206 hitter in his four years in the minors, striking out more than twice as often as he walked.  Great defense, but not enough offense to warrant him advancing beyond AA ball.  

Claunch was streaky but righted himself at the right time of year, finishing the regular season on a 17-game hitting streak: .431, 5 2Bs and 3 HRs.  Ice finished the final 17 games of 2016: .238, 5 2Bs and 1 HR.

Defensively, Ice is head and shoulders better than Claunch.  Offensively, I will take Claunch's offensive numbers in 2021 over Ice's in 2016.  Claunch feasted on great pitching (Arizona, Stanford, UCLA and USC).  Ice withered.

I’m not sure Wilky even watches the games. He just looks at stats and pulls the ones that he likes to try and make his point. Watch the games and you will realize that Claunch is decent, but we’ve had a lot better catchers over the last several years. But, I will agree that Jake Rodriguez was not one of them.

Dude seems to have a lot of free time…..

Nope. I never watch the games; it ruins the statistics.

I have seen Claunch play.  I saw Adley play.  I saw Ice play.  I saw JRod play.  I saw Susac play.  I saw Canham play.  Hell, I saw Ammon play.  Defensively, I would rate him behind Adley, Ice and Susac but those are the only three that really stand out defensively.  

Offensively, look at the Fort Worth Regional.  Kyle Dernedde and Ryan Ober went off, but Claunch scored three runs and drove in another three, having a hand in more than 20% of the runs scored in the five games.  

Adley was clearly better both defensively and offensively than Claunch.

Offensively, Oregon State did not go to a Regional in 2016.  Ice only played games 1 and 3 at the Dallas Regional in 2015.  Ice played all five games in 2014, scoring two runs and driving in one.  Gorton and JRod split time in 2012 and 2013, but neither put up anything approaching Claunch's numbers.

Ice, to me, was clearly a better defensive catcher than Claunch.  However, Claunch, to me, was better able to produce offensively in conference and in the postseason than Ice, and, this year, I would argue that the delta in offense more than makes up for whatever deficiencies Claunch had defensively.

In my mind, outside of Adley, Claunch is the best catcher that Oregon State has had since Susac in 2011.  The whole ragging on Claunch all year long was annoying and the continued bagging now that the season is over continues to annoy me.