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Saturday, October 24, 2009

THT: Top Fielders of 2009

At least according to TotalZone…

The man at No. 1 shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Earvin 'Gold Stars' Johnson Posted: October 24, 2009 at 01:20 PM | 23 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: angels, braves, cardinals, dodgers, mariners, miami, phillies, rangers, rays, reds, sabermetrics

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1. Levi Stahl Posted: October 24, 2009 at 04:54 PM (#3364531)

I'm not surprised to see Brendan Ryan in the mix, either. He was a real joy to watch this year, and not just because of the mustache and chain.

2. Tripon Posted: October 24, 2009 at 04:54 PM (#3364532)

I'm stunned that Casey Blake is ranked the 6th best fielder in all of MLB.

3. sunnyday2 Posted: October 24, 2009 at 05:18 PM (#3364544)

10 OF (6 CF, 4 corner OF) and 5 IF (3 3B and 2 SS). These might be the best relative to their peers, but these cannot be the most valuable.

A post to THT asks the obvious question, how Brett Carroll can rank #13 at +13 in 319 innings in the corner OF?

4. Home Run Teal & Black Black Black Gone! Posted: October 24, 2009 at 05:33 PM (#3364551)

Because BC is death to flying things.

5. ValueArbitrageur Posted: October 24, 2009 at 06:18 PM (#3364572)

Because BC is death to flying things.

And because single season defensive stats are so precise that we can actually cut them into 319 inning increments that are just as accurate.

6. Enrico Pallazzo Posted: October 24, 2009 at 06:44 PM (#3364585)

Yeah, I'm definitely not surprised to see Gutierrez at the top. What a great under the radar season, including offensively. Great pickup for the M's.

7. Young Blasarius yonder Posted: October 24, 2009 at 06:51 PM (#3364590)

Surprised to see Figgy and Hunter that high...also surprised Aybar didn't make it. I hated the kid at the beginning of the year and Scioscia's reluctance to give Wood a chance. Now Aybar is one of my favorite Angels...he's like that little dumb energetic puppy that annoys you at first then grows on you as you get used to him...

8. cardsfanboy

Posted: October 24, 2009 at 06:55 PM (#3364593)

he's like that little dumb energetic puppy that annoys you at first then grows on you as you get used to him...

are you sure you're not talking about Brendan Ryan, because that description fits him too. Pissed off TLR for a while, but by the end of the season TLR was singing his praises. (along with the entire pitching staff, and every Cardinal announcer)

9. Matt Welch Posted: October 24, 2009 at 06:56 PM (#3364594)

Ditto on surprise about Hunter, who does *not* look like a great centerfielder to my eyeballs (plenty of bad routes/jumps). Maybe he's getting to balls that non-geriatric corner outfielders would normally catch?

Figgins, on the other hand, has been marvelous, even with the errors.

10. Big Train Posted: October 24, 2009 at 06:57 PM (#3364596)

how does the shift effect the ZR?

11. Joe Bivens, Idiot Posted: October 24, 2009 at 07:06 PM (#3364601)

Once again, the top Fielder of 2009 is Prince.

12. Srul Itza Posted: October 24, 2009 at 07:12 PM (#3364604)

7. Ichiro Suzuki, RF, +17

Given his batting records and his fielding, this Suzuki fellow may be assembling a case for the Hall of Fame.

What does Ray think?

13. JoeHova Posted: October 24, 2009 at 07:17 PM (#3364609)

What does Ray think?

Who knows? He's been oddly silent on the issue.

14. Mike Emeigh

Posted: October 24, 2009 at 07:23 PM (#3364615)

how does the shift effect the ZR?

It depends on how often you perform the shift, and how often the ball is hit into the teeth of the shift.

Last year David Pinto sent me a list of the best defensive plays by 2B. IIRC, of the ten best defensive plays, four or five were plays made by overshifted 2Bs - plays that were definitely OOZ but were more-or-less routine against the shift.

-- MWE

15. Joe Bivens, Idiot Posted: October 24, 2009 at 07:35 PM (#3364622)

Why would anyone care what Ray thinks about anything involving baseball issues? He know very little, proven in other thread(s). Don't make me find it...it was embarrassing.)

16. Iwakuma Chameleon (jonathan) Posted: October 24, 2009 at 09:23 PM (#3364679)

I'm stunned that Casey Blake is ranked the 6th best fielder in all of MLB.

Another one of those things that make me raise my eyebrows at the fielding statistics. They've come a long way, but they're not all the way there yet.

17. Big Train Posted: October 25, 2009 at 02:38 AM (#3364859)

It depends on how often you perform the shift, and how often the ball is hit into the teeth of the shift.

Last year David Pinto sent me a list of the best defensive plays by 2B. IIRC, of the ten best defensive plays, four or five were plays made by overshifted 2Bs - plays that were definitely OOZ but were more-or-less routine against the shift.

One of the reasons I ask, when the dodgers shift against a left, Casey Blake moves behind 2b, and they leave Furcal on the otherside.

If he were to field a ball, I wonder if that throws a monkeywrench into the stats.

18. DL from MN Posted: October 25, 2009 at 03:25 AM (#3364897)

I agree with sunnyday. If this were a list of the top fielders you would have 4 SS and a C, maybe a 2B or CF. This is best _relative to position_. All that really says is there are some truly crappy fielders in the corner OF. Also if it were truly a best list it would include Joe Mauer.

19. CW hits the pinata for the candy Posted: October 25, 2009 at 04:01 AM (#3364910)

This is a list of fielding relative to position. If one wants to posit that it makes no sense to do it this way, I sympathize strongly with that arguement. But it doesn't make the defensive metric itself wrong, it's just being presented poorly.

And catcher fielding is radically different from all other sorts of fielding - a catcher's ability to turn BIP into outs is nearly trivial when it comes to evaluating his overall defense.

20. AROM Posted: October 25, 2009 at 04:58 AM (#3364938)

Yes, it's relative to position. And the usual sample size caveats apply. I haven't done anything for catchers yet.

I don't know anything about Brett Carroll, but his UZR is also excellent. He might not hit enough for us to tell whether or not this is a fluke.

21. Earvin 'Gold Stars' Johnson Posted: October 25, 2009 at 05:16 AM (#3364944)

I'm stunned that Casey Blake is ranked the 6th best fielder in all of MLB.

But the statistics showing Blake DeWitt is a wizard with the glove, those should be accepted as gospel.
One or the other, Tripon - you don't get both.

22. Something Other Posted: October 25, 2009 at 06:10 AM (#3364965)

I don't know anything about Brett Carroll, but his UZR is also excellent.

Isn't plus 13 in 319 innings easily enough explained by Carroll catching 20 or so flies more than the average RFer in 25 games? Hell, even Manny must have had a stretch like that at least once. While it's suggestive, if that's all I have to go on I'm not going to conclude anything about Carroll's fielding.

23. Home Run Teal & Black Black Black Gone! Posted: October 25, 2009 at 02:55 PM (#3365077)

I think +13 in 319 innings gives you an idea that BC is a good fielder, but if I was building the lineup for next year I wouldn't project him more than as a +10 for the whole season until I had a better set of data.

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THT: Top Fielders of 2009

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