UZR leaders by position, past three seasons.
Written by Joe Veno on August 20, 2009 – 11:28 AM -Since UZR has been looked at as “suspect” recently, with it’s grade on Mark Teixeira. Here are the top five at each position over the past three seasons. And three seasons is much better than one…
1B: Albert Pujols, Casey Kotchman, Kevin Youkilis, Todd Helton, Lyle Overbay.
Does anyone dispute that? Pujols has been regarded as the best defensive 1B in the game for a few years now. Kotchman is notorious for being a powerless wiz with the glove. Youkilis is solid, albeit unspectacular, and really doesn’t make many errors at all at first. Helton and Overbay both have been known to flash the leather. I do think Tex is of quality on the defensive side. But I am no scout either. He makes plays look great, but are they great plays? I’m sure some of them are…
2B: Chase Utley, Brandon Phillips, Mark Ellis, Dustin Pedroia, Placido Polanco.
Utley is going to go down as one of the best 2B ever, and his defense has a lot to do with it–whether the casual fan knows about it or not. Phillips has the rep. Ellis is kind of like a lesser Derek Jeter, that has always been the better defender with respect to position. Pedroia is a good defender, and Polanco has that same reputation. More sure handed, then rangy I’ve heard on Polanco.
3B: Ryan Zimmerman, Pedro Feliz, Rolen, Inge, Beltre.
If there is evidence that UZR is legit over a three year sample, then this is the position that should be used as an example. Zimmerman is probably the best of the bunch now, although it’s very close, and disputable. Feliz was the best just a few years ago. Rolen may be the greatest of all time, if not, then top three. Although I really cannot name anyone other than Schmidt that would be in that top three. Inge, although qualifying as a catcher too, is a great defender who never hit much until this season. And Beltre’s greatest strength has been his glove. Yes, hacking away wasn’t Beltre’s strength.
SS: JJ Hardy, Jimmy Rollins, Jack Wilson, Troy Tulowitzki, Orlando Cabrera
Hardy being the best in UZR over a three year period kind of gives me the urge to acquire him to field SS with the Red Sox. I knew he was capable, but did not know that he led the league in UZR over this stretch. Rollins looks slick in the field, so the metric backs that up. Jack Wilson is notorious for his glove-work. Tulo, ditto. And O-Cab was good before this year, when he has seemingly taken a decline on defense.
RF: Randy Winn, Austin Kearns, Alex Rios, JD Drew, Jeff Francouer
Well, Winn apparently gets the job done. Kearns doesn’t look the part, but I have never heard anything bad about his defense. Rios is a guy that could play center, as he will in Chicago, it seems. Drew has the range, and gets good jumps. But he doesn’t seem to field ground balls well, something that doesn’t apply much to an outfielder anyway. And Drew definitely doesn’t won’t run through a wall for you, or even lay out very often. Francouer has a cannon for an arm. If he could learn to lay off a pitch, or two, then he would be a fine player–maybe.
CF: BJ Upton, Coco Crisp, Carlos Beltran, Aaron Rowand, Mike Cameron
Upton likes to make his plays look good, but I never questioned his brilliant range. Crisp is awesome when healthy out in center. Beltran too. Rowand will actually run through a wall for his team, and seems to be a great teammate. He is actually higher than I might have thought thought, based on what I have heard recently. Mike Cameron is known for his defensive prowess as well.
LF: Matt Holliday, Carl Crawford, Alfonso Soriano, Josh Willingham, Carlos Lee.
This is simply a lack of fielders that qualify. Holliday above Crawford though? Maybe the Red Sox will look at Holliday to improve their sub-par defense, as Bay is not good out there. But Holliday will probably command too much on the open market. Crawford is great, and could probably play center if given another opportunity. Soriano is surprising because he seems to make some blunders. Both Willingham and Lee are pretty terrible, but only nine left fielders qualify. They are both well into the negatives. If I were to change the minimum innings requirements, then Eric Byrnes and Fred Lewis would take their spots.
So there you have it. UZR for the past three seasons. Much greater, and more reliable then simply looking at this season. If you are wondering, Tex falls in 7th among 18 qualifying first baseman. So yes, he is an above average defender at first, but he might not be great.
Tags: MLBPosted in Rankings, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
August 20th, 2009 at 11:44 AM
he is great . I watch the games. UZR is bogus. holliday above crawford? !! i’m glad i have actual EYES
but i agree it does a good job with 3rd base.
and yes coco was ‘the greatest center fielder i’ve ever seen”
Terry Francona
( my favorite quote from the last few years….)
August 20th, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Well, he is considered above-average, so it isn’t as though he is some terrible 1B according to the metric.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:00 PM
he is great
August 20th, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Carlos Lee? Seriously?
As far as Francoeur goes, he was like the best RF in the game defensively before he bulked up and started running like the ground is made of molasses. Right now his arm is his best asset, but if he gets in better baseball shape he could be the best RF in the game. Defensively.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:07 PM
Carlos Lee was only in there because of the lack of qualifiers. His UZR was like -12. So don’t worry. The metric may not be perfect but it isn’t Carlos Lee-bad either.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:32 PM
LF is such a crappy position. Teams always try to get away shoving a DH there.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:56 PM
Mike,
I thought you were going to think about what a great hitter was and leave a well-thought out comment?
August 20th, 2009 at 4:02 PM
oh you are absolutely right- i did say that- ok now i really will do it. this afternoon. sorry