Andrus, Kinsler Are MLB’s Best DP Combo
Last night it was clear early on that runs would be at a premium for both teams, as Colby Lewis and Jaime Garcia were dealing. In the fifth, the Cards finally mounted a rally, when of all people, Garcia drew a walk against Lewis to put runners at first and second. It was the first time the RedBirds put two runners on base, but the rally ended with the next at-bat thanks to the slick glove work of Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler on the rocket hit by Rafael Furcal. The play underscored what Rangers’ fans have come to realize — Andrus and Kinsler are the game’s best double play combo.
This didn’t happen overnight. If you follow Jamey Newberg on Twitter — and honestly, you can’t call yourself a Rangers fan if don’t — you know that at times he has been critical of Andrus’ defense (but also like a proud dad when he does well) and with just cause. After a fantastic rookie season, Andrus regressed sharply in the field last season, and is prone to lapses of concentration that sometimes end up with the ball landing either five feet in front of the first baseman or in the second row of the stands. But aside from his ErrR mark, he mostly rebounded this year, and together with the criminally underrated Kinsler they outpaced all challengers:
| Team | 2B/SS | rGDP | DRS | DPR | UZR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEX | Kinsler/Andrus | 8.0 | 29.0 | 7.10 | 22.00 |
| BOS | Pedroia/Scutaro | -2.0 | 14.0 | 0.90 | 18.60 |
| CHW | Beckham/Ramirez | 1.0 | 11.0 | 2.90 | 16.80 |
| LAA | Kendrick/Aybar | 3.0 | 15.0 | 2.90 | 15.60 |
| PHI | Utley/Rollins | -2.0 | 3.0 | -2.30 | 11.30 |
They left little to the imagination, leading the league in both UZR and DRS as well as the double play components of each metric — DPR and rGDP. The double play metrics in particular are interesting, as they had at least a five-run gap on everyone else.
And despite Andrus’ struggles in 2010, their dominance over the past three years is pretty clear as well. For starters, whether due to injury, poor performance, whims of the manager, trades or free agency, it’s incredibly hard to keep the same double play combo together long-term these days, even when one side of it is dominant. Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki had consistent partners up until this year, but Dan Uggla was jettisoned in favor of Omar Infante this year in Florida, while the keystone for Colorado was a jumble of sadness. Boil it all down, and there are only four teams who have had the same double play combo each of the past three years — five if you include Brandon Phillips and Paul Janish in Cincy (I left them out because Orlando Cabrera garnered the lion’s share of PT in 2010). Of the four, Kinsler and Andrus are once again the cream of the crop:
| Team | 2B/SS | rGDP | DRS | DPR | UZR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEX | Kinsler/Andrus | 16.0 | 74.0 | 5.80 | 46.50 |
| PHI | Utley/Rollins | 4.0 | 35.0 | 0.80 | 44.20 |
| LAA | Kendrick/Aybar | 7.0 | 11.0 | 5.10 | 16.10 |
| NYY | Cano/Jeter | 0.0 | -9.0 | 0.0 | -11.10 |
While the cumulative UZR for Rollins and Utley come close, Texas’ duo laps them and the others in DSR. And again, both double play metrics — rGDP or DPR — has them at the top.
We can measure most things in the game of baseball these days, and in a way, chemistry is one of them. We hear frequently how hard it is for double play partners to get in sync with one another, but in our numbers-oriented world we tend to think of things in a more plug and play fashion. Take Uggla and Alex Gonzalezfor example. Entering this season, Gonzalez had posted positive UZR’s in eight of the past nine years and had posted positive DPR’s in all nine, so the thinking was that he would make up for Uggla’s subpar fielding, i.e. plugging in Uggla wouldn’t hurt Gonzalez. But Gonzalez’s fielding performance dipped this year. Was that because he really is getting old and slow, or did covering for Uggla hurt him? Maybe neither, maybe it was a one-year blip. But the point is that there can be value in keeping your double-play combo together (well, unless you’re the Yankees), and plays like last night show why. Is it Kinsler’s job to break for second on Furcal’s smash? Absolutely. But in watching the wide angle on the replay, you can see how far Kinsler was, and he still broke hard. Given how far away he was, no one would have faulted him if he had let up, but he went hard, and part of the reason had to have been because he knew Andrus had a chance to make the play.
Last night, Andrus and Kinsler helped spoil what could have been a 2-0 series lead and the continuation of an incredible story for the Cardinals with their gloves, their bats and their legs. Pitching may win championships, but dynasties are built up the middle. And the Rangers, with the league’s reigning number-one DP combo (not to mention Josh Hamilton and Mike Napoli) are set up to be very good for a very long time.
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DAT DOUBLE PLAY COMBO
I am a Rangers fan and I do not follow Jamey Newberg because if I wanted to read biased, lay sources paid by the Rangers organization, I could ask the Rangers mascot, Captain.
It’s interesting that the Rangers this year have a flyball staff, and despite the presence of Beltre, Andrus and Kinsler, their team ERA is pretty much in line with the FIP and xFIP.
I do have a theory that a good defensive infield helps to build the confidence of young pitchers and aids in their development. It is true that the Ranger staff had a very good development year in 2011, as the Rays’ staff did when they moved Upton to the outfield and added Bartlett (and Longoria) a few years ago (with the team FIP and xFIP improving, as well as the expected improvements to ERA)
Perhaps some graphs displaying defensive performances during progressive years of double play combos are in order? Would be interesting if there is a genuine trend upward or if the numbers are all over the place.
How do you know it is due to lapses in concentration?
I guess I don’t know that concretely. It’s just what I’ve observed on the field and in print. Perhaps I should have added a “supposed” in front of “lapses.”
Washington and Andrus have both said it is.
It probably should be supposedly… But it’s pretty obvious if you watch the Rangers often
I would assume A. Beltre is MLB’s best at starting the DP from 3rd, also. Best I’ve seen.
Actually Beltre is the 2nd best in the majors. Since 2008 Longoria leads all 3B with 139 double plays started to Beltre’s 98.
Longoria’s a beast
Longoria is also slick, but shouldn’t we compare that stat to the number of chances each received over the same time before deciding which is best?
Watching a lot of AL ball this year, I thought the same thing as Bill: Beltre has to be league’s best at starting double plays from 3rd. He takes an extra step or two in, sets his feet, and delivers quick and accurate feeds to Kinsler at 2nd.
Instead of just looking at total DPs, I divided DPs by defensive assists. It’s not perfect, but the results are striking (and not because of Beltre). Among third basemen with at least 1000 assists over the past two years, here’s double plays as a percentage of assists:
1. Longoria – 16.0%
2. Beltre – 11.2%
3. Rolen – 10.3%
4. Reynolds – 10.3%
5. Rodriguez – 9.8%
6. Zimmerman – 9.5%
7. C. Jones – 8.6%
8. Wright – 8.6%
9. Inge – 8.4%
10. Figgins – 8.2%
11. A. Ramirez – 6.7%
12. Blake – 6.6%
This probably ignores range and is closer to being a measure of just “hands,” but it’s incredible how far ahead Longoria is–more than 40% better than anyone else in the league.
And those percentages ignore how good their respective 2b is at converting good fielding/throwing on the part of the 3b (not to mention the small role the 1b plays)
“while the keystone for Colorado was a jumble of sadness.”
lol.
I didn’t realize ‘Drus and Kins’ liked to tag-team hoes like that.
I’m not going to start this conversation again, but really?
Sorry, but you can’t rock a headline like that and not expect someone to comment on it.
I’m surprised it was this far into the comments before someone said something like this.
I’ll admit it took the better part of my willpower not to make the comment myself.
Where would Phillips and Janish rank? Because I have seen them make silly plays the last few years.