Fun With Justin's Stats
by Sky Kalkman on Sep 9, 2008 6:00 AM EDT
7 comments
As of September 5th, here are the best fielding teams in the league according to an average of STATS and BIS zone rating runs:
| Team | Def |
|---|---|
| OAK | 46 |
| TOR | 40 |
| STL | 39 |
| PHI | 38 |
| HOU | 37 |
| MIL | 25 |
| CHN | 22 |
| ATL | 21 |
| TB | 20 |
| SD | 19 |
| CLE | 16 |
| LAA | 15 |
| NYN | 15 |
| LAN | 14 |
| WAS | -2 |
| DET | -5 |
| COL | -6 |
| SF | -7 |
| SEA | -7 |
| CIN | -11 |
| PIT | -15 |
| CHA | -21 |
| BOS | -24 |
| ARI | -25 |
| BAL | -35 |
| TEX | -35 |
| FLA | -36 |
| MIN | -41 |
| NYA | -53 |
| KC | -57 |
Anyone still wondering why the Yankees were so disappointing this year? Or why Rangers' pitchers always seem to struggle? That the Twins were so poor on defense makes their young rotation that much more impressive. Milwaukee went from a bad fielding team to a good one in just one year. You can credit moving Ryan Braun from 3B (-25 runs last year) to LF (+8 runs this year) for a lot of that improvement. Ten of the top fifteen fielding teams are in the National League.
Here's a comparison of offensive runs above replacement, compared to average. Sure, you could just order the teams by run scored, but that doesn't adjust for league or outs used:
| Team | Off |
|---|---|
| BOS | 103 |
| TEX | 79 |
| DET | 77 |
| STL | 71 |
| CHN | 69 |
| BAL | 59 |
| TB | 52 |
| NYA | 51 |
| NYN | 45 |
| CHA | 39 |
| CLE | 34 |
| MIL | 30 |
| FLA | 15 |
| ATL | 14 |
| PHI | 9 |
| MIN | 2 |
| LAA | -19 |
| COL | -22 |
| HOU | -23 |
| PIT | -29 |
| LAN | -32 |
| TOR | -37 |
| SEA | -45 |
| CIN | -47 |
| SD | -56 |
| ARI | -59 |
| KC | -87 |
| WAS | -89 |
| OAK | -100 |
| SF | -102 |
I'm not sure anyone's shocked to see Boston and Texas near the top or San Francisco and Oakland at the bottom (it must be tough to be a fan of offense in the Bay Area these days). The Rays are surprisingly high and the Angels surprisingly low. And it will be a really impressive feat for the Diamondbacks to make the playoffs with a bottom five lineup
Lastly, at least on the team level, here are the teams with the best position players, offense and defense combined:
| Team | Total |
|---|---|
| STL | 109 |
| CHN | 91 |
| BOS | 79 |
| DET | 73 |
| TB | 71 |
| NYN | 60 |
| MIL | 55 |
| CLE | 50 |
| PHI | 47 |
| TEX | 43 |
| ATL | 35 |
| BAL | 23 |
| CHA | 18 |
| HOU | 14 |
| TOR | 3 |
| NYA | -2 |
| LAA | -5 |
| LAN | -18 |
| FLA | -20 |
| COL | -28 |
| SD | -37 |
| MIN | -39 |
| PIT | -44 |
| SEA | -52 |
| OAK | -54 |
| CIN | -58 |
| ARI | -84 |
| WAS | -91 |
| SF | -109 |
| KC | -144 |
Wow, the Royals really just need to start over -- Tony Pena, Ross Gload, Jose Guillen, Mark Teahen, and Esteban German are a combined 53 runs worse than replacement level, and there are only five position players who accumulated more than one run above replacement level.
Going into 2008 the Cardinals' pitching staff was a big question mark, and they ended up letting the team down. They had the best set of position players in the majors and still couldn't catch the Cubs or Brewers, who to be fair, were also both among the top eight teams.
How about the best and worst individual fielders at each position?
| Pos | Best | Runs | Worst | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | Kendall | 12 | Salty/Doumit | -7 |
| 1B | Teixeira | 17 | Jacobs | -16 |
| 2B | Utley/Ellis | 17 | Ramirez/Durham | -12 |
| SS | Escobar | 11 | Harris | -11 |
| 3B | Beltre | 22 | Cantu | -17 |
| LR | Guierrez | 19 | Abreu | -25 |
| CF | Gomez/Beltra | 13 | McLouth | -16 |
No, that Abreu number is not a typo. The team on the left is about 250 runs better than the team on the right, just considering fielding alone.
And finally, here are the top 20 best and worst defensive players (fielding at position plus a position adjustment):
| Player | Def |
|---|---|
| Adrian Beltre | 23 |
| Jason Kendall | 20 |
| Chase Utley | 18 |
| Mark Ellis | 18 |
| Marco Scutaro | 18 |
| Scott Rolen | 17 |
| Carlos Beltran | 17 |
| Franklin R Gutierrez | 16 |
| Carlos A Gomez | 16 |
| Yunel Escobar | 16 |
| Kurt K Suzuki | 15 |
| Willie Harris | 14 |
| Grady Sizemore | 14 |
| Jose Molina | 14 |
| Joe Mauer | 13 |
| Adam Kennedy | 13 |
| Cesar Izturis | 13 |
| Placido Polanco | 13 |
| Omar Vizquel | 12 |
| Brian Giles | 12 |
| Player | Def |
|---|---|
| Bobby Abreu | -29 |
| Brad B Hawpe | -24 |
| Jason Bay | -23 |
| Mike Jacobs | -21 |
| Delmon D Young | -21 |
| Raul Ibanez | -18 |
| Jorge L Cantu | -18 |
| Manny Ramirez | -17 |
| Justin Morneau | -17 |
| Prince Fielder | -17 |
| Jason J Kubel | -16 |
| Richie Sexson | -15 |
| Jose Guillen | -15 |
| Casey Blake | -15 |
| Jason Giambi | -15 |
| Milton Bradley | -14 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | -14 |
| Alex J Gordon | -14 |
| Ross Gload | -14 |
| Aubrey Huff | -14 |
It's shocking how low Justin Morneau rates defensively this year. Certainly some of it could weirdness in the batted ball distribution.
All stats courtesy of Justin. I merely copied, pasted, pivot-tabled, and commented.
0 recs |
7 comments
Email
Print
Comments
So does all that defensive prowess...
… along with Kendall’s rep for calling a good game and working well with hitters, make up for his crap-tastic .671 OPS? I think it does, but I know you’ve made bold claims about things like wanting Big Papi’s bat so badly that you’d start him at first in Interleague games. Thoughts?
by WD to Evers to Chance on Sep 9, 2008 9:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Kendall's bat has been worth 5 runs over replacement level, while he's been 25 runs better than replacement overall (which is better than the average major leaguer)
You can just click through Justin’s link for the numbers on all players.
And welcome, WD.
by Sky Kalkman on Sep 9, 2008 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
stats at THT
You get the same team fielding stats by using the source info at THT. It might be nice to give us some credit for purchasing the stats and making them available to the public.
by studes on Sep 9, 2008 11:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
THT is a fantastic website and resource, everyone should support them.
Studes, to be fair, I credit and link to THT all the time. And these numbers are an average of the BIS zone ratings (available at THT) and STATS zone ratings (available at CNNSI and ESPN, which of course, are not nearly as cool as THT.)
by Sky Kalkman on Sep 9, 2008 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Credit
I do include a thanks to THT on every post I make regarding these data. It is appreciated, studes.
All I do is apply some well-established methods to synthesize these data in a way that is not currently available elsewhere….at least, not in the same form.
As Sky said, these specific fielding stats are averages of translations of THT’s data and ESPN’s (stats inc) data. -j
by JinAZ on Sep 10, 2008 9:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
MBradley
How could accumulate such a large negative, he rarely plays the field?
by JTodd on Sep 9, 2008 2:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
i listed defensive value, which includes both a position adjustment and fielding your position
Bradley has a -10 run adjustment for his time at DH (and some right field) and has accumulated -4 runs while playing the field.
the point that defense = position + fielding is important in those last two tables.
by Sky Kalkman on Sep 9, 2008 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
BtB on Facebook
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
