Outfielders by wRAA/UZR
One graph is not enough for today, so, here’s another. This one is 2008 major league outfielders with defense on the horizontal axis and offense on the vertical axis. I adjusted the UZR for all the centerfielders up 10 runs (except Ichiro and Ellsbury, who got lesser adjustments for less than full seasons as a CF), since the average CF is about 10 runs better defensively than the average corner OF. I also adjusted all the wRAA numbers down by 8.5 runs to account for the fact that outfielders are better than average hitters. This puts all the outfielders on the same scale, where we’re comparing them all evenly to each other.
The upper left quadrant would be the the good bat/bad glove, group, consisting of guys like Brad Hawpe, Adam Dunn, and Bobby Abreu. This could also be referred to as the reality check group, as they just had their contract demands violently re-adjusted. These guys have been, for the most part, viewed as star level players, but are generally less valuable than perceived due to their lack of defensive ability.
The lowet left quadrant would be, essentially, replacement level players. A below average bat and a below average glove is not a good combination. Here you see guys like Jeff Francoeur, Delmon Young, and Jose Guillen. They didn’t help their teams last year.
The lower right quadrant are the bad bat/good glove guys – the ones who don’t hit all that well but offer their value in the field. These players are the antithesis of the sluggers, and in general, have been undervalued for the last few years. Carlos Gomez is a great example, as his bat was bad but his glove more than made up for it, making him a positive contributor to the Twins.
But then there’s the upper right quadrant. These guys are the ones that everyone likes. They hit, they run, they throw – they are five tool superstars and among the best players in the game. You’ll find guys like Carlos Beltran, Grady Sizemore, and Nick Markakis hanging out over here.
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Is that Manny up at the top of the wRAA axis? I’m a bit surprised his defense was so good last year.
My guess would be Berkman. Manny is probably one of the two unmarked dots above Abreu
This is absolutely excellent stuff. Is it possible to see a live graph? I’d like to see what players are represented by the diamonds, but whose names are not shown here.
Thanks Dave,
Jonathan
That would be nice, but you can find out who each point is with very little work using the leaderboards.
Shouldn’t a +2.5 adjustment for centerfielders and -7.5 for corner outfielders be used instead? The relative values would remained unchanged but the y-axis would be shifted 7.5 runs to the right to more accurately reflect fielding value. Outfielders on average get a -4.2 adjustment per 150 games but the graph makes them look like +3.3 defenders relative to all fielders.
Or, alternatively, since you’ve already done the work, you can just draw an imaginary line with your mind’s eye through 7.5 on the x-axis, which is what I’m doing right now.
Good work all the same. Sexy, even. I know I’m a bit aroused.
+1, Joey.
Is that Ryan Braun as the top hitter and slightly below on defense?
Manny. Yes, he only came out as -2 in the field this year.
Braun’s most likely the square directly below the number 20 on the y-axis, smack dab between the 2 and the 0.
It would be nice to have a thin red line bisecting the break even point (y=-x).
Love the graph, but not leaving some of notation of who is at which dot is cruel!
If you include Barry Bonds from 2001 to 2004 on this graph, (well, I guess you don’t have his UZR for 2001), his dots would be at the level of the heading of the article.
I must say, this is an excellent graph, very telling of a player’s value, or lack there of…cough, Francoeur, cough…
Hey I see on this site that Jeff Francouer has a great outfield arm. Nonetheless, you show him as being bad defensively. Are you counting his arm, or just his range?
Sizemore is a 4 tool, not 5 tool player. As good as he is defensively, his arm isn’t much better than that of Juan Pierre.