Graph of the Day: The 2008 Rangers Outfield

by Dan Turkenkopf on Jun 8, 2009 11:30 AM EDT

The Texas Rangers are in first place, and a lot of credit has been given to their improved defense.

Today's Graph of the Day looks at last season's outfield defense using David Pinto's Probabalistic Model of Range (PMR), which gauges the probability of each play being turned into an out by an average fielder.

More info after the jump.

Interestingly, all three positions seemed to do poorly with balls right at them. There were lots of different outfielders with playing time last season.

In LF: Brandon Boggs, David Murphy, Marlon Byrd and Frank Catalonotto all saw time in left. Boggs was by far the best, but the left fielders in general were pretty good.

In CF: Josh Hamilton was the major culprit here. He really does belong in a corner. David Murphy wasn't much better in his limited playing time. Marlon Byrd was pretty good in center last season.

In RF: Five different players got time here. Murphy had the most and was quite good. Nelson Cruz was pretty bad in his short time there - although he appears to have improved this season. Milton Bradley managed to play the field a little without hurting himself and was basically average.

All three outfielders returned from last season, although the playing time is being shared differently in 2009. The Texas outfield wasn't horrible last year, so there's not as much room to grow as in the infield.

Speaking of the infield, you may see a bonus Graph of the Day tonight if I can finish the infield (there's a lot of overlapping zones so I'm trying to figure out the best way to accomplish the graph).

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Theory on balls right at them

Anyone have a theory? Seems like we’ve seen this before with the other teams, but maybe I’m imagining things?

MLB Notebook / Baseball Daily Digest / Inside the Majors

by Zach Sanders on Jun 8, 2009 5:56 PM EDT reply actions

There's a definite skill to judging balls hit right at you, quickly determining going back or coming in.

But it could also just be an issues of poor positioning showing up more. This one’s more probable (though still not likely) given that all three outfielders have the same issue. Ballpark effects could be involved somehow, too.

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

by Sky Kalkman on Jun 8, 2009 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Ground balls through the hole?

Do these balls only represent fly balls? If they include ground balls, then it’s reasonable to think that the poor range of the infielders allowed more balls to slide through the holes (corresponding to the red zones), making the outfielders look worse with respect to their counterparts on other teams.

by Matt.Dillard on Jun 9, 2009 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions

These are just flyballs

by Dan Turkenkopf on Jun 9, 2009 7:51 PM EDT up reply actions

This definitely promotes my concern

about keeping Josh in center. I know I’m not the only one who’s voiced that concern, but at this point, with Hammy on the DL, I wonder where he fits upon his return.

Your uncle molests collies.

by 3k on Jun 9, 2009 12:10 AM EDT reply actions