List of Major League Baseball career assists as a catcher leaders

Deacon McGuire, the all-time leader in assists by a catcher

In baseball, an assist (denoted by A) is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is credited to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball (after it has been hit by the batter) prior to the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional. For example, if a ball strikes a player's leg and bounces off him to another fielder, who tags the baserunner, the first player is credited with an assist. A fielder can receive a maximum of one assist per out recorded. An assist is also credited if a putout would have occurred, had another fielder not committed an error. For example, a shortstop might field a ground ball cleanly, but the first baseman might drop his throw. In this case, an error would be charged to the first baseman, and the shortstop would be credited with an assist. The catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his/her turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to these primary duties, the catcher is also called upon to master many other skills in order to field the position well. The role of the catcher is similar to that of the wicket-keeper in cricket. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the catcher is assigned the number 2.

Catchers are most frequently credited with an assist when they throw out a runner attempting a stolen base, but other situations leading to an assist include bunts where the catcher fields the batted ball near home plate and throws out the batter at first base (or another runner), an uncaught third strike after which the catcher throws out the batter trying to reach first base, rundown plays in which a runner is stranded between bases, and throwing out runners who fail to tag up after a fly ball out. As the frequency of strikeouts has risen in baseball, the number of other fielding outs has declined; the rise of power hitting has also led to a decline in more daring baserunning. Consequently, the list of career assist leaders is dominated by catchers from the dead-ball era prior to 1920, when runners made more aggressive attempts to advance around the bases in risky situations; none of the top 20 players were active after 1931, and only three players since 1950 have reached even 60% of the record. None of the top 65 single-season totals were recorded after 1920, and none of the top 340 were recorded after 1928; only 13 seasons of 100 assists have been recorded since 1945, peaking at 108, far short of the record of 238. As a result, both the career and single-season records are likely among Major League Baseball's most unbreakable records.

Deacon McGuire is the all-time leader with 1,860 career assists. Only 48 catchers have recorded 1,000 or more career assists.

Key

Rank	Rank amongst leaders in career assists. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player (2024 As)	Number of recorded assists during the 2024 Major League Baseball season
MLB	Total career assists as a catcher in Major League Baseball
*	Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame
Bold	Denotes active player.

List

Salvador Pérez, the active leader in assists by a catcher and is 120th all-time.

Ray Schalk, holder of the American League career record

Red Dooin, holder of the National League career record

Bill Rariden posted the two highest assist totals in history in the short-lived Federal League.

Iván Rodríguez has the most assists of any catcher since 1950.

Jim Sundberg led the American League in assists a record six times.

• Stats updated as of July 22, 2024.

Rank	Player (2024 As)	Assists as catcher			Other leagues, notes
		MLB	American League	National League
1	Deacon McGuire	1,860	370	1,176	Includes 314 in American Association
2	Ray Schalk*	1,811	1,811	0
3	Steve O'Neill	1,698	1,698	0
4	Red Dooin	1,590	0	1,590
5	Charles Zimmer	1,580	0	1,439	Includes 141 in American Association; held NL record, 1898-1911; held single-season record, 1890-1903
6	Johnny Kling	1,554	0	1,554	Held National League record, 1912-1915
7	Ivey Wingo	1,487	0	1,487
8	Wilbert Robinson*	1,454	136	629	Includes 689 in American Association
9	Bill Bergen	1,444	0	1,444	Held National League record, 1911-1912
	Pop Snyder	1,444	0	566	Includes 713 in American Association, 149 in National Association, 16 in Players' League; held major league record, 1877-1901; held NL record, 1876-1883; held single-season record, 1876-1886
11	Wally Schang	1,420	1,420	0
12	Duke Farrell	1,418	97	1,120	Includes 132 in Players' League, 69 in American Association
13	George Gibson	1,386	0	1,386
14	Oscar Stanage	1,381	1,381	0	Held American League record, 1918-1922; holds AL single-season record
15	Malachi Kittridge	1,363	306	1,057
16	Lou Criger	1,342	1,004	338	Held American League record, 1903-1907, 1908-1909; held AL single-season record, 1903-1908
17	Frank Snyder	1,332	0	1,332
18	Bill Killefer	1,319	145	1,174
19	Billy Sullivan	1,314	1,217	97	Held American League record, 1909–1918
20	Jack Warner	1,309	359	950
21	Gabby Hartnett*	1,254	0	1,254
22	Bill Rariden	1,231	0	778	Includes 453 in Federal League; holds the single-season record of 238 (set in 1915)
23	Iván Rodríguez*	1,227	1,066	161
24	Gary Carter*	1,203	0	1,203
25	Roger Bresnahan*	1,195	85	1,110
26	Bob Boone	1,174	601	573
27	Muddy Ruel	1,136	1,136	0
28	Rick Ferrell*	1,127	1,127	0
29	Al López*	1,115	28	1,087
30	Hank Severeid	1,112	1,086	26
31	Heinie Peitz	1,095	0	1,095
32	Eddie Ainsmith	1,088	914	174
33	Luke Sewell	1,084	1,084	0
34	Jack Clements	1,082	0	1,050	Includes 32 in Union Association
35	Frank Bowerman	1,077	0	1,077
36	Silver Flint	1,071	0	1,052	Includes 19 in National Association; held National League record, 1883-1898
37	Yadier Molina	1,062	0	1,062
38	Otto Miller	1,053	0	1,053
39	Charlie Bennett	1,048	0	1,048
	Carlton Fisk*	1,048	1,048	0
41	Tony Peña	1,045	332	713
42	Cy Perkins	1,037	1,037	0
43	Ed McFarland	1,024	338	686
44	Buck Ewing*	1,017	0	910	Includes 107 in Players' League
45	Bill Holbert	1,013	588	425
46	Jim Sundberg	1,007	966	41
47	Doc Bushong	1,001	0	506	Includes 495 in American Association
48	Hank Gowdy	1,000	0	1,000
49	Chief Meyers	996	0	996
50	Pat Moran	990	0	990	Held single-season record, 1903-1914; holds NL single-season record
51	Jason Kendall	989	207	782
52	Jack O'Connor	987	160	503	Includes 324 in American Association
53	Bob O'Farrell	980	0	980
	Lance Parrish	980	826	154
55	Jimmy Archer	979	16	963
56	Ossee Schreckengost	969	858	111	Held American League record, 1907-1908
57	Benito Santiago	960	60	900
58	Brad Ausmus	956	159	797
59	Bill Dickey*	954	954	0
60	Russell Martin	941	361	580
61	Jimmie Wilson	931	0	931
62	Ted Simmons*	915	144	771
63	Larry McLean	905	0	905
64	Rollie Hemsley	897	634	263
65	Connie Mack*	864	0	724	Includes 140 in Players' League; held NL single-season record, 1888-1890
66	Joe Sugden	861	401	460
67	Walter Schmidt	858	0	858
68	King Kelly*	857	0	692	Includes 105 in American Association, 60 in the Players' League
69	Bill Carrigan	854	854	0
70	Ed Sweeney	852	835	17
71	Johnny Bench*	850	0	850
72	Ernie Lombardi*	845	0	845
73	Mickey Cochrane*	840	840	0
74	Mike González	838	0	838
75	John Henry	826	38	788
76	Jocko Milligan	825	0	154	Includes 605 in American Association, 66 in the Players' League
77	A. J. Pierzynski	823	694	129
78	Boileryard Clarke	806	337	469
79	Gus Mancuso	803	0	803
80	Yogi Berra*	798	797	1
81	Art Wilson	796	1	487	Includes 308 in Federal League
82	Admiral Schlei	792	0	792
83	Sam Agnew	773	773	0
84	Rick Dempsey	768	677	91
85	Pop Schriver	764	0	760	Includes 4 in American Association
86	Del Crandall	759	15	744
87	Darrell Porter	754	505	249
88	Zack Taylor	752	2	750
89	Les Nunamaker	745	745	0
90	Gabby Street	744	673	71	Held AL single-season record, 1909-1911
91	Thurman Munson	742	742	0
92	Mike Scioscia	737	0	737
93	Mike Piazza*	733	0	733
94	Val Picinich	732	496	236
95	Brian McCann	729	242	487
96	Doc Powers	724	668	56	Held American League record, 1901-1903; held AL single-season record, 1901-1903
97	Bill Freehan	721	721	0
98	Johnny Bassler	708	708	0
99	Johnny Edwards	703	0	703
100	John Grim	696	0	658	Includes 38 in American Association
	Jorge Posada	696	696	0

Other Hall of Famers

Player	Assists as catcher			Other leagues, notes
	MLB	American League	National League
Roy Campanella*	605	0	550	Includes 55 in Negro National League (second) (incomplete)
Deacon White*	502	0	297	Includes 205 in National Association
Biz Mackey*	467	0	0	Includes 160 in Negro National League (first), 146 in Negro National League (second), 128 in Eastern Colored League, 33 in American Negro League (incomplete)
Joe Torre*	428	0	428
Joe Mauer*	323	323	0
Josh Gibson*	319	0	0	Includes 319 in Negro National League (incomplete)
Jim O'Rourke*	312	0	300	Includes 12 in National Association
Craig Biggio*	202	0	202
Jimmie Foxx*	60	60	0
Louis Santop*	25	0	0	Includes 25 in Eastern Colored League (incomplete)

External links

• "Career Leaders & Records for Assists as C". Baseball-Reference.com.