More Guns in the Outfield: Center and Left Field
by John WalshMarch 15, 2006
Last month I wrote an article here at The Hardball Times on rating outfield arms. I explained my method for rating arms, but that explanation took up so much space that I only had room for a discussion of the top throwing right fielders in 2005. In this article, I want to move ahead, having a look at center fielders and left fielders.
Just as a brief reminder, here's how my ratings work:
using play-by-play data, I consider five different situations when a throw from
the outfield is important. For those plays, I add up how often the
runner is thrown out or how often the runner is "held," i.e. prevented
from taking an extra base. A comparison with league average allows me
to rate the outfielder's arm.
Center Fielders
Before giving the results of the analysis, I'd like to speculate on whom we might expect to see among the best and worst center field arms in baseball. Last time, I presented some "scouting" results on outfield arms, which were really the results of either fan or player surveys. The center fielders that topped the surveys were: Mark Kotsay, Torii Hunter, Jim Edmonds and Andruw Jones (from Tom Tango's Fan's Scouting Report and SI's player survey). For the worst CF arms, Tango's report listed Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon and Nook Logan as among the very worst.
Before we go to the actual rankings, let's have a detailed look at a couple of center fielders.
Johnny Damon : Ask even a casual fan for his opinion of Johnny Damon's arm and he's likely to tell you that Damon has a weak arm. Invariably, the fan will use the words "throws like a girl" while describing the new Yankee center fielder. Well, we have all seen him throw and, in fact, there's no denying it: he really does throw like a girl. But controlling the running game from the outfield is not only about arm strength; getting to the ball quickly, cutting balls off in the gaps, a quick release and accuracy are all important as well. Maybe Damon's speed and quick release compensate for his feminine lobs? The following table shows how Damon fared in the five situations that I consider. "Opps" means "opportunities," "H" stands for "holds" and "K" is "kills". The first H and K columns are what Damon actually did, while the rightmost H and K columns give the expected values given average performance.
Johnny Damon, CF
Situation | Opps | H K | H K
S-1B | 56 | 34 2 | 38.0 0.7
S-2B | 38 | 5 1 | 7.0 1.5
D-1B | 22 | 12 0 | 6.4 1.5
OF-3B | 23 | 2 1 | 3.4 0.7
OF-2B | 32 | 10 0 | 21.1 0.5
Overall | 171 | 63 4 | 75.9 4.8
As for kill rate: Damon threw out four
base runners, when an average CF with his chances would have killed
around five, which is not bad. However, he has trouble keeping runners
from taking the extra base: he recorded 63 holds, well below his
expected number of 76. So, Damon's performance does seem to be well
below average in 2005. We'll compare him with other center fielders in
a minute.
Willy Taveras: I hadn't heard anything at all about Willy Taveras' arm, nor have I seen him play much, so his stats jumped out at me a bit. Here they are:
Willy Taveras, CF
Situation | Opps | H K | H K
S-1B | 49 | 32 1 | 33.8 0.6
S-2B | 36 | 7 4 | 6.9 1.4
D-1B | 11 | 2 1 | 3.3 0.7
OF-3B | 14 | 1 1 | 2.0 0.4
OF-2B | 28 | 16 1 | 18.5 0.5
Overall | 138 | 58 8 | 64.6 3.6
Taveras eliminated more than twice as many base runners as expected. He
did not hold runners well, but I think it's fairly common for rookies
to have poor hold rates, since opposing teams are going to test their
arms. Especially, when they are six feet tall and weigh 160 lbs. Six of
Taveras' kills came in the critical situations 2-4, where the
key play occurs at the plate. This results in Taveras having a large
number of runs saved, as we'll see shortly.
Andruw Jones: You probably knew this, but Andruw Jones has a cannon, or at least he did in 2005.
Andruw Jones, CF
Situation | Opps | H K | H K
S-1B | 52 | 34 1 | 35.8 0.6
S-2B | 57 | 16 3 | 9.3 2.2
D-1B | 24 | 11 5 | 7.2 1.6
OF-3B | 11 | 1 0 | 1.6 0.3
OF-2B | 25 | 20 0 | 16.5 0.4
Overall | 169 | 82 9 | 70.4 5.1
As befits someone of his excellent reputation, runners were reluctant
to run on Andruw; he recorded 12 more holds than expected. And despite
runners not taking many chances against him, he still threw out four
more baserunners than an average center fielder given his chances. A
very strong performance.
Ok, let's go on to the rankings for center fielders. Last time, I defined two stats, Kill Rate (KR) and Hold Rate (HldR), which are normalized stats (like OPS+). They measure a player's ability to kill or hold runners relative to league average. So a KR of 150 means the player threw out 50% more base runners than a league average player would have given the same opportunities. Here is a list of the top center fielders in terms of KR (minimum 75 opps and KR of 150):
Top Center Field Arms by Kill Rate
Opps KR HldR
Taveras 138 225 93
Ford 84 203 112
Bradley 85 185 104
Wilkerson 106 182 103
Jones,A 169 175 119
Hunter,T 115 163 93
Ellison 90 161 88
Some familiar names here, but some that perhaps you didn't expect to
see: Lew Ford and Jason Ellison.
Now let's have a look at the center fielders with the best hold rates. The guys known for their throwing ability will generally excel in hold rate, as runners will not take chances again them. In other words, reputation is largely responsible for a good hold rate. Here are the top center fielders in hold rate (HldR at least 110):
Top Center Field Arms by Hold Rate
Opps KR HldR
Edmonds 165 87 128
Jones,A 169 175 119
Kotsay 135 80 115
Ford 84 203 112
Sullivan 80 119 111
Rowand 152 0 109
Not surprisingly, we see Edmonds, Andruw and Kotsay at the top. Look at
Rowand's line; he did not kill a single base runner (in the five
situations we consider; overall he had three assists in 2005), but he
still managed an above-average hold rate. He was either unlucky with
the assists, or runners haven't figured out that he cannot throw them
out. (I know, Rowand's hold rate does not meet the 110 minimum, but I wanted
to get his line in there.)
As I did last time, I can combine the benefits derived from good kill and hold rates to obtain an overall ranking by considering the number of runs saved above average. The ranking is shown below, for all center fielders with at least 75 throwing opportunites. "Runs" is shorthand for "runs saved above average," and "Runs/200 Opps" is the number of runs saved per 200 opportunites, which corresponds to slightly over a full season.
Top Center Field Arms by Runs Saved per 200 Opps
Opps KR HldR Runs Runs/200 opps
Jones,A 169 175 119 8.2 9.7
Bradley 85 185 104 3.4 8.0
Ford 84 203 112 3.0 7.1
Edmonds 165 87 128 4.6 5.6
Wilkerson 106 182 103 2.9 5.5
Taveras 138 225 93 3.3 4.8
Sullivan 80 119 111 1.7 4.2
Kotsay 135 80 115 1.6 2.4
Hunter 115 163 93 0.8 1.5
Dejesus 161 125 102 0.4 0.5
Wells,V 186 134 94 0.3 0.4
Finley 121 85 106 0.1 0.2
Ellison 90 161 88 0.0 0.1
Rowand 152 0 109 -0.1 -0.1
Griffey 185 71 107 -0.1 -0.1
Matos 148 102 95 -0.7 -1.0
Sizemore 158 49 108 -1.6 -2.0
Beltran 179 77 99 -1.8 -2.1
Matthews 169 59 92 -2.0 -2.3
Patterson 112 125 90 -1.6 -2.8
Wilson,P 160 70 97 -2.4 -3.0
Reed 168 113 85 -2.5 -3.0
Pierre 184 72 94 -3.0 -3.2
Roberts,Da 109 60 101 -2.0 -3.7
Damon 171 83 83 -3.3 -3.9
Williams,B 130 107 76 -2.6 -4.0
Logan 132 87 86 -3.1 -4.7
Clark 169 41 91 -5.7 -6.7
Hollins 111 90 73 -4.8 -8.7
It looks like the scouting reports are pretty much on target. Andruw,
Edmonds, Kotsay and Hunter all place
comfortably above average in the rankings. The "scouts" did even
better on the weak arms, with Damon, Bernie and Nook Logan all among
the very worst center field arms in baseball in 2005, although Brady
Clark and Damon Hollins were significantly worse than those three.
Left Field Arms
Last time we discussed in some detail Manny Ramirez, who surprisingly led the American League in assists last season. We also looked at Jeff Francoeur who had a terrific season throwing in right field for Atlanta. Why don't we have a look Francoeur's corner mate down in Atlanta:
Kelly Johnson, LF
Situation | Opps | H K | H K
S-1B | 32 | 26 0 | 27.3 0.4
S-2B | 27 | 10 5 | 9.4 2.0
D-1B | 16 | 14 0 | 9.7 0.5
OF-3B | 9 | 2 1 | 2.1 0.4
OF-2B | 15 | 14 0 | 13.6 0.3
Overall | 99 | 66 6 | 62.0 3.6
Zoom in on Johnson's performance S-2B situations, i.e. a single with a
runner on second base. He fielded 27 such singles, and 10 times the runner chose
to hold third base, just about the expectation (9.4 holds). However,
of the 17 runners that went, Johnson threw out fully five of them,
when only two kills were expected. As for Taveras, these are very high
"leverage" outs, and hence are quite valuable in terms of runs saved.
Overall, Johnson held more runners than expected
and threw out more as well.
Miguel Cabrera: I must confess, before doing this study, I didn't know anything about Cabrera's arm. I don't believe I've ever had the opportunity to see him make a throw from the outfield. He actually scored quite high on the Fan's Scouting Report, although that was based on only six ballots. In any case, he had an excellent arm in 2005:
Miguel Cabrera, LF
Situation | Opps | H K | H K
S-1B | 38 | 31 1 | 32.5 0.5
S-2B | 51 | 22 5 | 16.3 4.0
D-1B | 22 | 16 0 | 13.1 0.7
OF-3B | 17 | 4 3 | 3.9 0.8
OF-2B | 20 | 19 0 | 18.2 0.4
Overall | 148 | 92 9 | 83.9 6.4
Cabrera was above average in both Hold Rate and Kill Rate and had
three catch-and-kill double plays, where he threw out a runner
attempting to score on a (would-be) sacrifice fly. Cabrera moves back
to third base this season, where I'm sure he'll put that cannon to
good use.
The best left fielders of 2005 in terms of Kill Rate. Only two would have made the 150 minimum, so I lowered it to 140:
Top Left Field Arms by Kill Rate
Opps KR HldR
Ramirez,M 192 168 105
Johnson,K 99 168 109
Floyd 180 144 103
Ibanez 79 143 99
Cabrera,M 148 141 112
And here are the top Hold Rate guys. Again, for left fielders, it
appears harder to rise much above the average. I show everybody with
105 or more in Hold Rate:
Top Left Field Arms by Hold Rate
Opps KR HldR
Cabrera,M 148 141 112
Johnson,K 99 168 109
Catalanotto 80 37 108
Dunn 150 76 106
Crawford 199 17 106
Ramirez,M 192 168 105
Burrell 188 119 105
I didn't expect to see Burrell or Catalanotto here, but their numbers
are not that much above average, and they may not indicate a
superior performance.
Here is the full list, ranked by runs saved per 200 opps:
Top Left Field Arms by Runs Saved per 200 Opps
Opps KR HldR Runs Runs/200 opps
Johnson,K 99 168 109 4.3 8.7
Cabrera,M 148 141 112 6.4 8.7
Ramirez,M 192 168 105 7.1 7.4
Burrell,P 188 119 105 3.5 3.7
Floyd 180 144 103 3.2 3.6
Matsui 156 91 103 1.2 1.6
Klesko 125 103 104 1.0 1.6
Catalanotto 80 37 108 0.6 1.6
Ibanez 79 143 99 0.3 0.9
Gonzalez,L 185 96 96 0.8 0.9
Long 157 111 98 0.1 0.2
Dunn 150 76 106 0.1 0.1
Hollndwrth 84 28 104 -0.0 -0.1
Lee,Ca 177 107 101 -0.3 -0.3
Crisp 141 39 102 -0.4 -0.5
Crawford 199 17 106 -0.6 -0.6
Byrnes 106 99 97 -0.7 -1.3
Stewart,S 133 106 101 -1.1 -1.6
Alou 78 34 102 -0.9 -2.4
Anderson,G 122 51 94 -1.7 -2.8
Podsednik 125 26 103 -2.4 -3.9
Feliz 87 0 103 -1.9 -4.5
Mench 150 104 92 -3.5 -4.7
Holliday 158 61 96 -4.1 -5.2
Winn 121 23 102 -3.2 -5.4
Bay 157 19 87 -8.1 -10.3
It's hard to judge if this list is in accord with our expectations,
because we generally expect left fielders to have average or below-average arms. About half of the bottom ten outfield arms according to the Fan's Scouting Report are left fielders.
This makes perfect sense, of course; a corner outfielder with a rifle is found in right field, not left. So, perhaps an
evaluation like this is especially important for left fielders, since
we'd have a hard time ranking them based on reputation/scouting
reports. One thing is pretty sure: Jason Bay, and I love him as a
hitter, has a terrible arm out in left field, or at least he did in
2005.
An interesting thing to note here is that the range of runs saved per 200 for left fielders (-10 to 9) is comparable to what we found for center fielders (-9 to 10) and last time for right fielders (-7 to 13). This is not to say that left fielders need to throw as well as right or center fielders, but it does say that the top left fielder arms save their teams just as many runs as a top right field arm. To me, that's an unexpected result.
Some Comments to Wrap Up
This concludes our look at the throwing arms of outfielders for the 2005 season. The top outfield arms, ranked on Runs Saved per 200 opportunities, were Jeff Francoeur (RF), Andruw Jones (CF) and Kelly Johnson (LF). If I consider only players who played a full season, Miguel Cabrera takes the top spot in left, while Geoff Jenkins has the top right field arm.
One thing to keep in mind is the rather large uncertainty of these one-season rankings due to "noise" or chance. It takes just a few assists to move a player from below average to among the best in the league and vice versa. Sometimes not even a perfect outfield throw will nail the runner trying to advance and certainly not all outfield assists are the result of a strong throw.
I'm reminded of a play in the 2003 ALDS between the A's and the Red Sox. With Jose Guillen on first, Adam Melhuse rapped a single to center. Guillen was going for third all the way. Damon made his maidenly toss, a rainbow that, it must be admitted, was heading directly towards third base. The ball bounced on the infield about where the shortstop usually stands, but it didn't skip low to the waiting third baseman, no, it bounded high in the air, and watching on TV you could see Guillen steaming into third base with the ball arcing over his head, descending, slooooowly, seemingly traveling in slow motion, and finally plopping into Mueller's glove just in time to get Guillen. Terrible throw, base runner kill.
The analysis presented here shows what really happened on the field in 2005. These are the guys that saved their teams the most runs with their arms. But, these may not be the best at their trade, since luck plays fairly a large part when examining just one season.
To answer the question of who has the best outfield arms in baseball, it's going to be necessary to look at data from multiple seasons. That'll be the subject of a future article.
John Walsh dabbles in baseball analysis in his spare time. He welcomes questions and comments via e-mail.