New Defensive Study (1 Viewer)

[wilked]

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10647918

The top three, and the worst, fielders (some of whom are no longer playing), based on the SAFE rankings, were:

• First base: Best, Ken Harvey, formerly with Kansas City; Doug Mientkiewicz, now with Pittsburgh; Eric Karros, formerly with the A's and Dodgers; worst, Fred McGriff, formerly with Tampa Bay.

• Second base: Best, Craig Counsell of the Brewers; Brandon Phillips of the Reds; Chase Utley of the Phillies; worst, Enrique Wilson, who last played with the Cubs.

• Third base: Best, Damian Rolls, formerly with Tampa; Counsell; Placido Polanco of the Tigers; worst, Travis Fryman, formerly with the Indians and Tigers.

• Shortstop: Best, Clint Barmes of the Rockies; Rodriguez; Jason Bartlett, traded from Minnesota to Tampa Bay in the offseason; worst, Jeter.

• Left field: Best, Crisp; Reed Johnson of the Blue Jays; Carl Crawford of Tampa Bay; worst, Higginson.

• Center field: Best, Michaels; Andruw Jones, now with the Dodgers; Darin Erstad, now with the Astros; worst, Williams.

• Right field: Best, Matthews; Trot Nixon, who played with the Indians last year; Dustan Mohr, who last played for Tampa Bay; worst, Pena.

 

[ScottNorwood]

Obviously this study doesn't correct for Jeter's intangibles

 

[Eephus]

Obviously this study doesn't correct for Jeter's intangibles

He's no Clint Barmes

 

[wilked]

Obviously this study doesn't correct for Jeter's intangibles

Bonus points for jump throw

 

[Michael Brown]

You guys are forgetting something really important. Over the past five years or so, the balls that have been hit off Yankee pitching were hit REALLY REALLY hard. NOBODY could get to those!

In all seriousness, I always thought Jeter was a solid enough fielder until 2007. He was terrible last season though.

 

[Workhorse]

How in the world can anyone say that Trot Nixon was among the 3 best Right Fielders in baseball?

 

[wilked]

How in the world can anyone say that Trot Nixon was among the 3 best Right Fielders in baseball?

It could be an effect of the monster...whereas the monster tends to penalize defenders at Fenway, the opposite could be true for the big right field. It is a tricky area to play, so other team's defenders have troubole with it, and Trot knew it like the back of his glove

 

[jtnt1096]

This is not new news. Baseball Prospectus has noted this for years. As noted in their book, Baseball Between The Numbers, from 1996-2004 Jeter cost the Yankess 140 runs in the field. Jeter was below average in each of those years.

 

[Eephus]

Here's Jensen's statistical methodology in more detail

http://stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~stjensen/research/safe.html

 

[the moops]

How in the world can anyone say that Trot Nixon was among the 3 best Right Fielders in baseball?

It could be an effect of the monster...whereas the monster tends to penalize defenders at Fenway, the opposite could be true for the big right field. It is a tricky area to play, so other team's defenders have troubole with it, and Trot knew it like the back of his glove

It's also looking at data from 2002-2005. A different Trot Nixon was in RF than the fat piece of crap he is now.

 

[Workhorse]

How in the world can anyone say that Trot Nixon was among the 3 best Right Fielders in baseball?

It could be an effect of the monster...whereas the monster tends to penalize defenders at Fenway, the opposite could be true for the big right field. It is a tricky area to play, so other team's defenders have troubole with it, and Trot knew it like the back of his glove

It's also looking at data from 2002-2005. A different Trot Nixon was in RF than the fat piece of crap he is now.

Still, I watched Trot almost every day those years. Maybe my eyes deceived me but he never struck me as anything better than average defensively out there. It's not like he had great range.