Pop time, also known as POP, is a baseball statistic that measures the time it takes for a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

to make a throw from home plate to second base during a

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

attempt. The measure combines catcher's footwork (the time to get into throwing position), exchange time (the transfer from glove to throwing hand to release), and arm strength (velocity of throw). The effectiveness of measuring pop time has been discussed. The primary criticism of the statistic is that it values speed over accuracy, as it does not account for whether the throw reached its destination. MLB.com's Mike Petriello said, "pop time does matter in preventing stolen bases, though it's also unsurprisingly a pretty noisy relationship". The MLB average pop time is 2.01 seconds. A pop time of less than 2.0 seconds affords the pitcher 1.3 seconds to throw the ball to the catcher.

Salvador Perez Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

's 1.74 pop time during a 2017 throw was considered "stretch ngthe boundaries of the position".

Austin Hedges Austin Charles Hedges (born August 18, 1992) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the San Diego Padres in 2015 and has also played for the Cleveland I ...

led MLB in pop time in the 2017 season, with a 1.86 second average. In 2018,

J. T. Realmuto Jacob Tyler Realmuto ( ; born March 18, 1991) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Between 2014 and 2018, he played in MLB for the Miami Marlins. Realmuto was born in Del Ci ...

led the league with a 1.90-second time.

References

Baseball statistics {{baseball-stub