Comments on: Seeing and UZR and Teixeira

By: Kimbal

Kimbal — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:56:07 +0000

One problem for UZR really is the ability to dig out bad throws and convert them into outs. Tex has good range and looks good in the field so he gets Gold Gloves while the slow-moving Konerko is labeled a bad fielder. But if you watch him every day you see that Paul Konerko is a vaccuum cleaner for errant throws and that adds greatly to his defensive value. If Dunn plays first instead of Konerko, watch the infield hits and infield errors on the White Sox ramp up!

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:00:22 +0000

I’m going to go ahead and agree with Tyler Kepner. I see Mark Teixeira making good to great plays and missing none of the easy ones every single game, and I grew up watching Don Mattingly and Keith Hernandez. He looked like a doofus to me when he first joined the Yankees, and I couldn’t imagine a big slugger who looked like that could field well regardless of his reputation, and then he went and surprised essentially every single time I saw him near the ball. Either he’s above average by a large margin, or the average team now fields a high-quality athletic player at first base instead of the usual mix of aging and slow-footed sluggers.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 04:24:05 +0000

Personally, UZR has never agreed particularly well with the eye test with regards to first basemen. But even though UZR might not be perfect, I’m sure my judgment is even less so, so I’ll stick with UZR.

By: joseph pittman

joseph pittman — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:49:46 +0000

David Appelman says:

“Scoops are not included in UZR, but they are also not a major part of a 1B defensive ability. At the very most you’re looking at half a win on either side.”

then you sir are retarded….considering that the vast majority of a 1st baseman’s plays are receiving throws from other members of the infield, if that aspect isnt considered UZR is worthless.

imagine a 1st baseman who made every fielding play off the bat that came his Way…… but who missed even 3% of the throws of his teammates? he wouldnt be at 1st for very long.

guess that makes you either the stupidest man alive or very close

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:37:00 +0000

Teixera’s defense was consistent all year last year and I remember 90% of all the plays from the Yanks season. He let some balls get by him down the line that I would like to see get scooped up and he didn’t dig out some balls that I felt I could probably handle but all in all he had a rock solid defensive year and the proof was in the Yanks team defense last year. AROD didn’t get to many balls but Jeter and Cano both were helped out by Tex’s ability to catch practically anything they threw his way.

By: OldYanksFan

OldYanksFan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:45:56 +0000

When you have a stat that is given yearly, it tends to imply that annual data is valid/accurate. If URZ can be inaccurate (too large an error factor) over a single year, maybe it should be expressed as a career average, with maybe an annual fluctuation factor?

If a 2008 AND 2009 average says he was a VERY GOOD fielder, yet 2009 says he was AVERAGE, then in 2008, he must have been SPECTACULAR!

Also, how does throwing come into the equation? Does it? How about scooping balls? Is that in there? And what of positioning? Certainly positioning can cost or make plays. Maybe the problem is we are weighing URZ too heavily without looking at other aspects (throw, scooping, positioning, etc) of fielding at 1B.

I love stats and think they are fun and basically accurate. And while the MATH is always correct, a formula and/or application might have flaws. I don’t know how many different defensive stats there are, and if they cover ALL aspects of play (throwing, scooping at first, blocking the plate for a Catcher, etc). Maybe we need a stat that combines ALL defensive stats into one, so at least the flaws in any one stat are somewhat mitigated.

By: David Appelman

David Appelman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:32:07 +0000

Scoops are not included in UZR, but they are also not a major part of a 1B defensive ability. At the very most you’re looking at half a win on either side. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/first-basemen-scoops/

By: Felonius_Monk

Felonius_Monk — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:10:03 +0000

I don’t believe it’s accounted for in UZR at all, which may be a major issue with the metric. Correct me if I’m wrong…

By: MarkInDallas

MarkInDallas — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:12:48 +0000

They don’t try to determine if an average fielder would have made the play as I understand it. They just count the balls that come into their area, and see what percentage they turned into outs. If they turn a higher percent into outs, they’re a better fielder, and if it’s lower, they’re worse.

The formula is more complex than I just described, but that’s the crux of the logic.

Similarly, if a batter hits a grounder through the infield, you don’t know whether the ball would have been caught had the second baseman not been covering for a hit and run, etc. You just know it was a hit. In the end, the percentages even out and you get a picture of how much the player gives his team a chance to win.

By: joser

joser — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:29:01 +0000

Kudos, DC Stack, for doing the work — and especially for graciously admitting when you were wrong (there’s not enough of that around here).