Individual Leaders at the All-Star Break - National League
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We have reached the All-Star Break, and everyone wants to know how everyone is doing.
What follows will be various rankings with minimal explanation – so you can have the data without my jabbering on and on about my opinion which you really aren’t that interested in.
The ratings are all based on playing time, park-adjusted, position-adjusted above average, and within league only, although the stats include interleague games.
I use Extrapolated Runs for offense (XR), and it is a routinely calculated “Runs above average at position” that you see with so many other statistics, and my calculations for Defensive Runs Saved (RS) using ZR as the basis. Explanations for the defensive methodology can be found here. “pt” stands for “playing time”.
Yes, you’ve read all that before.
First here are the Overall NL Defensive Leaders:
Pos NAME Last Team INN RSpt RS/150
SS Adam Everett HOU 685.0 15 30
LF Ryan Langerhans ATL 474.7 11 30
CF Juan Pierre CHC 767.7 10 17
OF Endy Chavez NYM 401.3 9 32
3B Corey Koskie MIL 603.3 8 18
3B Pedro Feliz SFG 787.3 8 13
RF Brian Giles SDP 786.7 7 11
CF Carlos Beltran NYM 657.3 7 14
SS David Eckstein STL 726.0 7 12
CF Eric Byrnes ARI 568.3 6 15
LF Cliff Floyd NYM 491.0 6 17
CF Reggie Abercrombie FLA 482.0 6 17
1B Lance Niekro SFG 391.7 6 20
SS Jose Reyes NYM 760.3 6 10
LF Dave Roberts SDP 435.3 6 18
2B Craig Biggio HOU 598.7 6 13
1B Scott Hatteberg CIN 604.0 6 13
3B Vinny Castilla SDP 560.0 6 13
LF So Taguchi STL 255.3 5 27
Here’s the first explanation: The precision of the methodology is a handful of runs – not a single run or anything. In general, players with five runs of one another are approximately equal.
Here you can see the Mets are very strong in the outfield. Endy Chavez has split time at all three positions, and he’s been outstanding. Last year’s best defender was Adam Everett. He is still the best. Ryan Langerhans scored very high defensively last season in splitting time, and he’s really doing well again this year. I think he’s going to be a star more so than his right field counterpart. There are also a few Padres on the list - each a known solid defensive player. Vinny Castilla may not be able to hit, but he can still flash the leather.
Jose Reyes for the Mets is playing much better defensively this season - he looks better and the numbers reflect that. Seeing Craig Biggio in this list at his age is surprising. I guess he’s fully recovered from his knee injury and has his lateral movement back.
The trailers on defense in the National League:
Pos NAME Last Team INN RSpt RS/150
SS Jack Wilson PIT 644.7 -5 -10
CF Matt Kemp LAD 131.7 -5 -47
SS Rafael Furcal LAD 732.0 -5 -9
SS Hanley Ramirez FLA 681.0 -5 -10
SS Edgar Renteria ATL 681.0 -5 -11
3B Edwin Encarnacion CIN 434.3 -6 -18
RF Jeromy Burnitz PIT 520.7 -7 -18
CF Ken Griffey CIN 465.3 -7 -21
C Mike Piazza SDP 387.0 -7 -25
CF Chris Burke HOU 149.3 -8 -68
RF Jason Lane HOU 551.3 -8 -19
2B Rickie Weeks MIL 720.0 -8 -15
LF Josh Willingham FLA 529.0 -9 -22
2B Jose Castillo PIT 728.0 -9 -16
LF Adam Dunn CIN 721.7 -9 -17
SS Felipe Lopez CIN 736.7 -10 -19
3B David Wright NYM 786.3 -11 -19
3B Miguel Cabrera FLA 720.7 -12 -22
LF Preston Wilson HOU 683.0 -18 -35
Regular shortstops in the NL are struggling. Furcal, Renteria, Ramirez and Lopez are all struggling. Mike Piazza makes an appearance, and with limited chances, it is hard for a catcher to get that far below average. David Wright and Miguel Cabrera appear to be clones, with the bat and the glove. If these future greats want to unseat Scott Rolen as the premier third baseman in the NL, they are going to have to play better defense. Houston is having a tough time in the outfield. Lane was poor last season, and Mike Emeigh said the Crawford Boxes cause “Green Monster problems” in left field. I am very surprised to see Preston Wilson that far below average at this point in the season. There’s more than just a park effect going on with him. Chris Burke should never have been put in centerfield. Rickie Weeks isn’t improving significantly. Ken Griffey still has no range, and the Reds spell him out there quite a bit. In FLA, playing a catcher in LF hasn’t been a good idea.
Adam Dunn is big and slow. His overall value is brought way down with his weak fielding. Coupled with Griffey, that is costing the Reds some games.
The offensive leaders in the NL:
Pos Name Last Team G XRpt XR/150
1B Albert Pujols STL 70 32 74
CF Carlos Beltran NYM 78 31 63
3B Miguel Cabrera FLA 86 26 49
1B Lance Berkman HOU 83 24 47
RF Bobby Abreu PHI 85 22 45
1B Nomar Garciaparra LAD 68 22 51
SS Jose Reyes NYM 86 21 35
3B David Wright NYM 87 21 37
LF Barry Bonds SFG 69 21 61
3B Scott Rolen STL 76 20 43
2B Dan Uggla FLA 79 19 37
2B Chase Utley PHI 86 19 33
C Josh Bard SDP 44 17 103
LF Jason Bay PIT 90 16 28
C Brian McCann ATL 64 16 47
SS Edgar Renteria ATL 79 16 30
1B Nick Johnson WAS 85 16 31
C Michael Barrett CHC 66 15 40
LF Carlos Lee MIL 90 15 25
C David Ross CIN 45 15 72
Pujols won the MVP in 2005, and was off to a rip-roaring start this season when he suffered a rib cage /oblique injury. He missed three weeks, but still hasn’t fallen out of the lead for the most prolific offensive performer. Carlos Beltran is rebounding from a miserable 2005 to challenge Pujols for the title. Nomar Garciaparra is having an outstanding resurgence. David Wright and Miguel Cabrera are right here and Jose Reyes is the top shortstop. Barry Bonds cracks the top 10 still. Rookie of the Year seems to be nearly wrapped up for Dan Uggla. What a great season for him. However, Chase Utley is lurking close by to surpass Uggla as the top 2B, as he was last season.
It is surprising to see four catchers here. Brian McCann may win a batting title before his career is over - if he can get healthy. Incredibly, there are 13 of the 16 NL teams represented here. That’s an even spread of talent throughout the league.
the NL’s “Mike Napoli Award” goes to David Ross.
Who are the trailers in offense in the NL? Who cannot hit this season? Let’s take a look:
Pos Name Last Team G XRpt XR/150
CF Juan Pierre CHC 88 -10 -15
CF Reggie Abercrombie FLA 74 -10 -26
1B Tony Clark ARI 63 -10 -49
1B Adrian Gonzalez SDP 84 -11 -20
LF Matt Murton CHC 80 -12 -26
RF Jeromy Burnitz PIT 74 -12 -26
C Brad Ausmus HOU 76 -12 -26
2B Kazui Matsui NYM 38 -12 -48
RF Jose Guillen WAS 64 -13 -29
SS Jack Wilson PIT 81 -13 -22
SS Adam Everett HOU 80 -13 -26
RF Jeff Francoeur ATL 89 -14 -21
LF Preston Wilson HOU 84 -14 -24
3B David Bell PHI 79 -14 -28
1B Lance Niekro SFG 52 -14 -44
CF Willy Taveras HOU 85 -16 -30
C Yadier Molina STL 70 -16 -34
LF Cory Sullivan COL 73 -17 -34
SS Ronny Cedeno CHC 84 -17 -29
3B Abrah. Nunez PHI 55 -19 -89
3B Vinny Castilla SDP 69 -20 -44
SS Clint Barmes COL 77 -21 -37
Last year, Clint Barmes was enjoying a great season and got injured. This year, he is just struggling. There are the usual suspects here: Castilla, Bell, Wilson, Taveras. Jeff Francoeur is being praised as the Braves’ David Wright - er, I don’t think so, and his bat is doing more damage in the games the Braves aren’t winning than it is helping in the games the Braves are winning. Preston Wilson showed up as the worst fielder, and here he is on the list of worst hitters. He may need to be DFA’d.
There are thirteen different team shere as well, however, the Mets have dumped Matsui. You can see serious trouble for the Phillies at third base, as Bell and Nunez are here. It doesn’t help them to play in a division where the other third basemen are Wright, Cabrera, Chipper and Ryan Zimmerman.
Now who are the best overall players?
Pos Name Last Team XRpt RSpt Total
CF Carlos Beltran NYM 31 7 38
1B Albert Pujols STL 32 3 35
SS Jose Reyes NYM 21 6 27
LF Barry Bonds SFG 21 4 24
1B Nomar Garciaparra LAD 22 3 24
3B Scott Rolen STL 20 4 24
1B Lance Berkman HOU 24 0 24
2B Dan Uggla FLA 19 2 21
RF Bobby Abreu PHI 22 -2 20
2B Chase Utley PHI 19 1 20
C Brian McCann ATL 16 2 18
LF Jason Bay PIT 16 1 17
C Josh Bard SDP 17 -1 17
C David Ross CIN 15 1 16
3B Morgan Ensberg HOU 13 3 15
LF Carlos Lee MIL 15 0 15
SS Omar Vizquel SFG 10 5 15
RF Brian Giles SDP 8 7 15
Great defense from Carlos Beltran has him with a small lead thus far. That is likely brought on by Pujols’ missed time, especially with teh way Albert was outpacing the rest of the league’s first basemen. Beltran is playing a key defensive position, is right at the top in offense and is playing top notch defense. The Mets are also getting that type of performance from Jose Reyes at shortstop. There is Barry Bonds as the fourth best player in the league. The top third baseman? It is still Scott Rolen, and Wright and Cabrera presently don’t hit enough to knock him off the mountain.
Carlos Lee isn’t getting the press out of Milwaukee like Prince Fielder and Bill Hall, but he’s having a great season.
I don’t see this list as very surprising with the exception of Uggla, and a few of the names below him. The list is comprised of the best players in the league on the best teams in the league.
Now what teams are playing well defensively? I thought it would be interesting to sum each position to see where the defensive weaknesses were for each team, and to evaluate who the good defensive teams are.
Tm/Pos C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF Arms Total
ARI 4 -2 -6 2 0 3 8 -3 -2 6
ATL 1 1 -3 -4 -8 16 -4 -1 0 -2
CHC -2 2 8 5 -2 3 10 2 -3 26
CIN 5 2 6 -2 -12 -9 -7 4 1 -13
COL 1 0 2 -3 5 3 -2 3 3 8
FLA 5 -4 1 -12 -4 -13 3 1 0 -24
HOU -1 1 6 2 14 -19 -7 -10 -1 -14
LAD -4 -2 -3 -3 -5 3 -7 3 -1 -17
MIL 1 -4 -9 9 -4 -1 -1 -2 -1 -10
NYM -2 0 4 -10 6 8 10 -2 4 14
PHI -1 -3 2 -8 -1 -2 -1 0 1 -14
PIT 2 0 -9 -3 -4 1 -4 -8 0 -25
SDP -9 2 2 10 5 6 4 5 -1 25
SFG 2 7 -1 8 4 2 4 2 0 28
STL 5 1 2 6 8 4 0 1 -1 26
WAS -6 0 -2 4 -3 -5 -7 6 2 -13
The Cardinals are an extremely sound defensive team. The surprise for me here was the Cubs defense. The Mets defensive lead on the rest of the NL East is significant. The Padres only struggle with Piazza behind the plate defensively. They have Brian Giles and Mike Cameron in the outfield and solid defense everywhere else. The Giants are also playing solid defense. The Reds are turning four wins over to the Cardinals with their weak defense.
Given these numbers, I don’t see the Cardinals being caught by the Reds or Astros and the Mets aren’t likely to fall back either. In the NL West, the Padres have decent play all around, but the Dodgers have recently changed out their more struggling players and inserted players like Andre Ethier into the lineup. The Giants have Alou back and are just a few games out of first. The chase for the West will be exciting.
The rest of the data will be sorted and posted - format to be determined.
Chris Dial
Posted: July 11, 2006 at 05:37 PM |
43 comment(s)
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As for Wright, you mentioned the guy earlier who is the template Mets' fans can hope for: Boggs. Hard work can turn a problematic glove at that position into an acceptable one.
And how about that Dan Uggla, huh? You have to love a Rule 5 story like that, don't you? Best second baseman in the NL in the first half. Who'd have ever guessed that!
Weeks had put a cork in the errors in early June until making one the other day. And I can testify to his anticipation/range/footwork improving over the course of the season. I will be interested to see the numbers at the end of the season.
Koskie is a fascinating player in that he looks so incredibly AWKWARD. He seems to stab at the ball and when he throws it's sort of a slingshot. Just not fluid at all. But everyone agrees that the guy is getting it done at third base.
I am legitimately surprised that Dunn's number isn't worse then it is. He is positively dreadful, exerts no effort, and has seriously regressed despite still being young. This is the one red flag in Narron's tenure as manager as Dunn has clearly decided to say "F*ck it" with respect to defense. This isn't a Greg Luzinski situation where Greg was honestly afraid of having the ball hit to him so he's tenative. Dunn really just meanders around out there. He's like a bull grazing who every so often lifts his head to watch a passing car.
Getting back to the Brewers as a team that defensive evaluation is being kind. While the pitchers haven't helped themselves the shoddy defense has definitely contributed to the overall abysmal run prevention.
Rats...........
Amazing is more like it. That guy has an incredible amount of mileage on him, when you add (per bb-ref) 427 games at catcher to 1,746 games at 2nd (a favorite collision-prone spot in the infield) to 525+ stolen base attempts to 275+ HBP (and no, they don't all land on his elbow sleeve).
Maybe those two years he spent roaming the outfield rejuvenated him. I guess it also says something about the overall quality of second base fielding in the National League. Of course, Utley and Uggla more than make up for it with the bat, but I think Biggio still manages to be a hair above average there, too.
Not bad for the old fella.
[And I think you can help the formatting a little by abbreviating some of the longer names]
glad to see my hunch that langerhans should be the braves CF is confirmed here. Andruw had a few nice games early in the year but he's just not the player he used to be any more, unfortunately.
if pujols is healthy the rest of the year, i predict he wins the MVP in a run away. he's real good.
Well, that is easier on the knees.
Guilty. Well, I am using a three-year average (02-04) averaged with 05. That's 115. I thought I had read it was 113 this season, and I'd be surprised if that were enough.
I only have Holliday as 7 XRpt.
Wright's defense has been disappointing this year because there were all the reports about how he was working so hard on it in the offseason. I went to a recent game (July 4) and got to sit in the left field loge seats. There was a few balls hit that a good third baseman gets to that Wright just didn't reach.
I should add, though, that every time he makes a nice running catch every Giants fan has a panic attack.
It's also surprising to someone who has seen him play this year. He's extremely slow going to his left and he can't make plays going too far to his right because he doesn't have the arm. He's often taken out late in the game for defensive purposes so Burke or Bruntlett can take his place who both visually have more range and better arms.
Lane was poor last season, and Mike Emeigh said the Crawford Boxes cause “Green Monster problems” in left field. I am very surprised to see Preston Wilson that far below average at this point in the season. There’s more than just a park effect going on with him. Chris Burke should never have been put in centerfield.
Lane really doesn't look that bad in RF. He's not great, but he normally gets good jumps and he's got a pretty good arm. Visually he's below average, but not a liability. Ditto with Wilson. Burke's not great in CF, but he's better than Biggio ever was out in CF and he has gotten better during the course of the season.
I'd like to think that Willie will be smart enough to do this in a playoff game. He has to see how poor Nady is. Which reminds me.. what are Nady's numbers? I wouldn't have been surprised to see him as one of the trailers.
anyway, in reference to post 19, would love to see it(as long as one of the team is the cardinals...actually all I care about is luna vs miles :), (although I find it hard to believe that taguchi is above average defensively this season) Edmonds and encarnacion(who's defense seems erratic but overall good)
I'm posting the ratings for everyone that has played 200 innings at the position. Check Dialed In.
I have it at 106. Maybe I'm not figuring it right, but I have 9.57 runs scored per game at Coors Field, and 9.05 runs scored per Rockies away game. The Rockies OPS at home is .764, and .763 on the road.
It seems to be a real change in the park, as much as moving fences in or out. They said they were going to leave balls in the humidor longer to bring down scoring, and that's exactly what happened. I can understand your being reluctant to accept it on a half-season's worth of evidence, but it seems real to me.
So what happens if the Coors Field PF stays around 105 for the next three years? Will Holliday's 2006 performance still be downgraded -- because of what happened in 2003-2005?
Ah well. I just hope you're doing a pitching roundup as well, because the Rockies rotation is going to look like the best in the league.
If those numbers continue to hold true, it would also signal an end to the Coors Field hangover effect. I wonder what MGL thinks.
I can believe it. At the end of the year, I will be using this year's PF. So I won't go back and change his mid-season score.
But yes, one year park factors aren't a good idea. And so yes, the performance will be always impacted by the past.
Does this apply even when there are real changes to the park? I can think of a recent example of an obvious park change, but if the Astros decided to put the centerfield fence in front of that hill in center starting next year, wouldn't you assume that the park factors have changed? If that happened, I can't imagine that it would make any sense at all to use this year's park factor in figuring next year's Astro players.
Is there another park change I don't know about?
Also, Reyes is the man! Third most valuable player thus far. Wow.
I didn't. He's currently anchoring my Hacking Mass team.
this has to be one of the all time classic lines!
Jack Wilson at -5? ANd Castillo? Aren't they supposed to be the wunderkind middle IFs?
Park Factors
Alex Gonzalez moved from Toronto to Wrigley and his fielding #s dropped like a stone IIRC.
He followed that up with a very good defensive campaign in 2003. The upward trend ended in game 6 of the NLCS...
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