Graph of the Day: The Rays OF

by Dan Turkenkopf on Apr 20, 2009 9:00 AM EDT

Continuing our look at the defensive prowess of outfielders, today we focus on the 2009 Rays.

As always, data is based on David Pinto's PMR and Defensive Charts.

I know this isn't Tropicana Field, but being a dome, it's very hard to get a good overhead shot. Anyway, let's talk about the defense.

B.J. Upton was just phenomenal last season. He had one zone where he was +8 plays. Part of that was Upton taking some discretionary plays (which is most likely why Gabe Gross is a negative in the same zone).

Both Crawford and Gross were outstanding in the corners as well.

There were very few places in the outfield where the Rays weren't above average - often substantially above average, which no doubt helped to catapult them into the playoffs.

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Gross' name is misleading when it comes to fielding

-Zach Sanders
MLB Notebook.com
Roto Rat.com

by mlbnotebook on Apr 20, 2009 9:51 AM EDT reply actions

Coincidence that Upton's +8 slice matches up perfectly with Gross' only red slice?

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Apr 20, 2009 9:59 AM EDT reply actions

I don't think so

I think if a play is considered discretionary, PMR gives credit to the fielder who makes it and subtracts credit from the fielder who didn’t.

If, on average every ball in that vector is caught 50% of the time by the CF, and 50% of the time by the RF, but for the Rays, Upton catches all of them, he’d receive +.5 plays for each, while Gross would get -.5.

Obviously those numbers are just for illustration, but that’s the basic way it works I believe.

by Dan Turkenkopf on Apr 20, 2009 7:48 PM EDT up reply actions