UZR Tidbits Through 5/10
The Reds outfield defense is pretty good.
Jay Bruce is the new UZR king with 9 and Willy Taveras is at 5.1 runs. That gives the Reds two centerfielders at all times, no matter who mans left field. The Reds don’t have many flyball heavy pitchers, but the staff as a whole are outperforming their FIP by 0.41 runs. Contribute a large part of that 3.93 staff ERA to a .289 batting average on balls in play against, which is tied for the fifth lowest in the league. For what it’s worth, fellow outfielders Jerry Hairston, Laynce Nix, and Chris Dickerson also rate as above average corner outfielders thus far, although not nearly to the extent of Bruce.
The left side of the Rays infield is the best in the league.
Evan Longoria ranks third individually with 7.4 runs and Jason Bartlett isn’t too far behind with 3.1 runs. Longoria rates as the best third baseman, a run better than Ryan Zimmerman, and Bartlett as the second best shortstop, behind Marco Scutaro. It’s also worth noting the Rays still maintain the best defense in the league, and now it’s not even close, 23.7 runs compared to the second place Brewers 11.6 runs.
From best to worst…
The White Sox, Dodgers, Nationals, and Red Sox make up the bottom of the league. I’m just as surprised as you to see the Red Sox ranking low. So far Jason Bay (-8.2, the lowest in the majors amongst qualified players), Julio Lugo (-2.4), Mike Lowell (-2.3), and J.D. Drew (-2.2) are killing them. The team leader is Kevin Youkilis at 1.4 runs. As for the Dodgers, Orlando Hudson and Andre Ethier are sinking them. You hate to make assumptions based on these small of sample sizes for defense, but if it holds up over the long haul then it’s time to proclaim Hudson’s run as an excellent defender over.
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funny how all you hear is how bad the yankees defense is compared to the sox… yet…
i think it should be fair to note Ryan Howard and his 11.3 UZR/150 so far this year. dude has been a wizard at first base this year.
How much of Bay’s total is the Green Monster?
It’s no surprise that Lugo’s been that bad in limited playing time — his fielding has looked clearly awful.
How worthwhile is UZR this early in the season? I only ask because Raul Ibanez is sitting at 23.7 UZR/150 and that number doesn’t have a negative sign in front of it.
One season of offensive data is equal to three seasons of defensive data.
So relatively speaking, UZR is worth relatively nothing at this point.
Offensive data and defensive “metrics” are not comparable. Its is a fabrication. Seven out of 10 dentists recommend Crest. So what?
Furcal looked pretty awful at SS this weekend.
While UZR at this point has little predictive value, doesn’t it tell us to this point in the season, who has performed well? For example, while past UZR suggest that Raul is unlikely to continue at his current level, he seems to have performed admirably well to this point of the season?
Stats serve two purposes:
1) A predictor of future outcomes
2) an evaluation of of past performance
At this point in the season UZR is a good tool for 2, but not particularly useful for 1, correct?
This is a much better way of stating things, yes, although the way the question was phrased I assumed he meant 1.
A defensive sample this small is so noisy that I’d argue it’s tough to believe.
Without knowing knowing anything about the spread in the data, it’s tough to interpret these data IMHO.
Rickie Weeks has the highest UZR/150 by a 2B on the season. I can’t imagine that will hold true all season but he has noticeably improved.this season defensively. Will be interesting to see what happens with him as a few years ago he was the worst 2B in baseball and has slowly improved to the point of being roughly average the past 2 seasons. (though to be fair the eyeball test still left him below average).
UZR seems to be severely underrating both Hudson and Ethier. Hudson has been making some absolutely insane plays and getting to balls no one has business getting to, and seems to be penalized for that because he isn’t making an out. The issue is, those would be balls into CF or RF, and more damaging if Hudson doesn’t stop them.
As for Ethier, his arm is a well know commodity and has been severely underrated this year, which is eating up his UZR. That should certainly change as the season goes on.
I knew that Jay Bruce was playing great defense this year. Gold Glove, in fact. There’s a stat to back it up.