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April 26, 2008

Great fielding graphs

Colin has merged Gameday and Retrosheet data to create some cool fielding graphs. His first attempt provides an interesting take on what's possible, and his following post includes two dynamite graphs comparing Troy Tulowitzki with, who else, Derek Jeter.
Posted by: Dave Studeman

April 21, 2008

Fielding Disappointments

Eric Seidman has a post up on Fangraphs about Pat Burell's designated fielding replacment, So Taguchi. Taguchi has been a disappointment in the field so far this year and Eric outlines the when's and how's. Also, Aaron Gleeman feels that the legendary Adam Everett has been disappointing in the field in Minnesota. Aaron notes that there may be a physical cause behind Everett's performance: he was recently placed on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis.
Posted by: Dave Studeman

August 20, 2007

The 2007 Fan Scouting Report

If you're going to use human eyes to evaluate defense, you can trust the word of a few scouts who only get a chance to watch a player a few times a year...or you can ask every single baseball fan on the planet. How can you do the latter? By participating in Tangotiger's 2007 Fan Scouting Report. This is the fifth year that Tango has done it, and if you haven't participated before, now is the time.
Click for more...

Posted by: Sal Baxamusa

June 18, 2007

BIS Zone Ratings Now Available

The Hardball Times now has Zone Ratings for every major league player, courtesy of Baseball Info Solutions (BIS). BIS's Zone Ratings differ from ESPN's, as plays made out of zone aren't included in the Zone Rating statistic—they're listed separately. We believe this version of Zone Rating is the best fielding stat freely available on the Internet. It will be updated on a daily basis the rest of the season.
Posted by: Dave Studeman

November 03, 2006

Buster Olney Doesn’t Get It Again

Buster Olney wrote an ESPN column today (subscription required) about the latest Gold Glove awards and how difficult it is to evaluate fielding. He tells an interesting story of how coaches make their Gold Glove choices off the top of their heads, and he also criticizes some of the latest fielding stats.

Now, advanced fielding stats aren't perfect, but Olney makes his case by first finding fault with Range Factor (which was created over 20 years ago) and then totally screwing up a description of the most advanced stats (like MGL's Ultimate Zone Rating and John Dewan's Plus/Minus system). Olney says, Other statistical measures depend on an evaluator sitting in the press box effectively gauging whether a fielder might have/should have reached a ball...

No they don't, Buster! Companies like Baseball Info Solutions do track where each ball lands on a field, and they then calculate how often each ball batted in that location was fielded for an out (they also factor in how hard the ball was hit, and what type of batted ball it was). Fielders are compared those average outcomes and then ranked accordingly. No one sits in a pressbox and determines whether a ball should have been caught or not.

The disappointing thing is that Olney has covered the majors for years. How can he not know this????
Posted by: Dave Studeman


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