Detroit Tigers: Alex Avila has been baseball’s best offensive catcher in 2017, should be All-Star

Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila has enjoyed a strong season in his return to the Motor City. To put it simply, the veteran has been baseball’s best offensive catcher in 2017.

Detroit Tigers fans have seen Alex Avila thrive at the plate before.

There was the 2011 season when he notched a 4.6 WAR to go along with a 140 wRC+, a .211 ISO, a .384 wOBA, a .295 batting average, a 13.2 walk percentage and a .895 OPS.

Those were stellar numbers for a player who also added 82 RBI, 63 runs scored, 33 doubles, 19 home runs, four triples and three stolen bases.

However, the catcher struggled to find the same form in the years that followed.

His wRC+ never eclipsed 104, while he turned in a combined .699 OPS from 2012 to 2016 in four seasons with the Tigers and one with the Chicago White Sox.

However, this season, Avila is blowing all of his previous career-best numbers out of the water.

Through 34 games in his return to Detroit, the backstop has turned in a 178 wRC+, and a .266 ISO. Additionally, he’s chipped in with a .435 wOBA, a .319 batting average and a 1.029 OPS.

Sure, some of Avila’s production can be chalked up to a .453 BABIP, but the catcher is getting on base via the walk at an excellent rate.

His 18.3 walk percentage would tie a personal best if it holds.

What’s more, the catcher’s number percentage in the category leads all Major League catchers with at least 110 plate appearances. The next closest is Russell Martin with 16.4 percent.

Walk percentage isn’t the only stat that Avila sits atop or near the top of in terms of the statistical leaderboard among catchers.

Leading the way

Among catchers with 110 plate appearances (Avila has 115), the Detroit Tigers player is third in both on-base percentage and on-base percentage.

He also ranks first in slugging percentage, ISO, wOBA, OPS and wRC+.

In fact, Avila is the only catcher with an OPS over 1.000 at this point in the season. Elsewhere, his 178 wRC+ checks in 11 points above the next backstop, Buster Posey.

To find the next best American League catcher in terms of wRC+, you have to go all the way down to Russell Martin, who ranks fifth.

Martin’s wRC+ is currently sitting at 123.

With a number of standout offensive numbers, it is surprising that Avila isn’t in the All-Star consideration.

Of course, he would have had to have been voted for as a write-in candidate given James McCann’s presence on the ballot, but the fact remains that Avila should be in the All-Star mix.

Major League Baseball’s official public relations Twitter account showed the current balloting for American League All-Stars as of May 31 in a tweet on Wednesday.

The top five in voting for American League catcher were as follows: Salvador Perez (Kansas City), Welington Castillo (Baltimore), Brian McCann (Houston), Gary Sanchez (New York) and Yan Gomes (Cleveland).