About Sharing Tools. How long did Omar Vizquel play baseball? Become a Stathead today and run queries with our, Most Unique Players by Age by Similarity Scores, Most Games without a World Series Appearance, Most Games without a Postseason Appearance, Highest Career and Single-Season Salaries, Scores from any date in Major League history, Minor, Foreign, College, & Black Baseball, Frequently Asked Questions about MLB and Baseball, Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE. Braun fielded just .895, making 26 errors in 112 games, and made .57 fewer plays per nine innings than the average third baseman. 7. ), 10. In May, Mike Bauman of MLB.com predicted that Escobar would eventually win a Gold Glove. Do you have a blog? Fielding percentage: .989 (tied for second). While having a fast 60 time is important, college coaches will also look for an agile middle infielder that can cover a lot of ground laterally, this is often referred to as range. His DRS of four is just above-average, as it puts him in a four-way tie for seventh in the majors. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. One method in doing so is fielding percentage. Although the remaining candidates hold the top two RFs, Tulo's range is arguably more impressive given that his genetic makeup is atypical for a shortstop. But if a players skillset and body type just doesnt project well at that positionmeaning if a softball player isnt going to be big and strong and hit for power like a typical first basemanthen they need to come to terms with the position just not going to work in the long term. Drew's numbers aren't outstanding, but they do speak to his point, as does the video above. This should be the best athlete on the field, but these shortstops aren't playing at higher levels because of a lack of speed and lateral quickness. Kozma's UZR of 6.3 is the third-best among qualifying shortstops in the majors, while his dWAR of 0.8 (three-way tie for ninth) and DRS of four (four-way tie for seventh) are just above-average. Troy Tulowitzki is not your typical shortstop. His +26 is just percentage points below the top performance of the last two years, which belonged to another D II product, UC San Diegos Vance Albitz. What's even scarier is his age: Simmons is only 23. Twenty-eight of those 29 runs below average came as a center fielder, where he made 2.50 plays per nine innings compared to the MLB average of 2.76. Thanks. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. In the article, I didnt try to resolve the sort-of-contradiction between Beckhams excellent stats and the conventional wisdom that he cant stick at shortstop. Sources and more resources A third defensive metric that I'll mention in the piece below is ultimate zone rating, available at FanGraphs. 9 . Tulowitzki's RF of 4.89 is third-best among qualifying shortstops. I'm not sure if he played through an injury or if they used quicksand for infield dirt that year at Miller Park, but in the past five years, the second-lowest range factor for a regular-season second baseman was 4.31 plays per nine innings -- by Weeks in 2011. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. Fielding percentage is a very simple measurement. Share & Export. This time needs to be verified by a 3rd party for college coaches to truly believe it. I dont think scouts generally talk about Beckham as a liability in the fieldjust a guy who cant stick at shortstop. 1 because not only does he lead UZR, dWAR and DRS, but he leads them by an enormous margin. Coaches look for these key measurables first at these levels. Sandwiched around this all-time bad season are two Gold Glove honors in 2009 and 2011. Los Angeles Dodgers. The basic infield positions are shown below in diagram above, which illustrates where each player will stand in the most fundamental situations. All stats are per team game. 10. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. * Imminent Big Leaguers article. Alcides Escobar edges out Yunel due to his higher UZR and slightly elevated RF. Thank you for writing this article. Why did Ross Tucker start Go Big Recruiting? 4. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Perhaps Shields racked up the strong numbers because Florida Southerns weaker competition didnt generally hit balls as hard as the batters in a top D I conference. In general, positions are more likely to be filled with people with more experience than others. Key NCAA Rule Change for Recruiting Communications. The consensus is that the Minnesota Twins have finally found an everyday shortstop. Alexei Ramirez can be considered a veteran at this point, but he's still pretty spry. The longest games in Major League history (both leagues) with no chances offered to a shortstop? On June 27, 1939, Eddie Miller of Boston played twenty-three innings at shortstop and handled twenty-one chances setting the major league record for most chances by a shortstop in an extra inning game. Third basemen dont have to move as much compared to the SS or 2B, so they can be bigger bodied. The composite metrics are the most comprehensive (and wildly complicated) statistics, so I weighed them more than the rest when making my choices. However, his dWAR of 1.1 and DRS of six (both fourth place) put him in the company of the top-tier guys. Its important to understand the positional numbers so that a proper scorebook can be kept and players understand the lineup and dugout card. Even if you cut all of Simmons' composite stats in half, you'd still probably have a player who ranks in the top 10. Your email address will not be published. By 1993, Puckett was 33 and had put on some weight; it's perhaps instructive that the Twins moved him from center field to right field after the All-Star break. While he occasionally sacrifices accuracy in the name of pizzazz, he's considered by most measures to be one of the most elite shortstops in the game. What can help a young softball star reach the next level? I enjoyed reading your write up Coach Dan Blewett, youre doing a good job. Not as much fielding range as the shortstop; One of the better power hitters on the team, typically; Many HS shortstops are recruited as SS, but end up playing 2B or 3B in college . Current Visitors: 165 (13 members, 152 guests). Ryan's RF is 4.35, good enough for eighth among qualifying shortstops. Its very hard to win without great pitching. That can be attributed to a good amount of added strength, using his body more efficiently in the box and employing a more direct bat path consistently. Or write about sports? This simply means they are making 970 or more error free plays out of 1000 chances. I never change that. Ryan Jacksons +9 is solid, and is more impressive when you know that his 08 total was slightly negative. Grant Green was the only college shortstop selected in the top 100 picks of this years draft. The 25-year-old has a RF of 4.66 which has him sitting in fifth place, while his DPR of -0.1 (16th) is below-average to middling. Maybe fielding stats for aluminum-bat-league shortstops are at least partly telling us how good the guy will be at third base with wood bats. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Sullivan of MLB.com, Texas manager Ron Washington had this to say about Andrus: He has been outstanding. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Beyond that, he needs to pick bad throws, be a great, large target and read throws well to get outs on every throw he can from other infielders. Please post more of this stuff because now I know that for example 3rd is not a fit at all unlike left field. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Yes, it's another shortstop named Escobar. Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following. Pingback: How Do You Size A Fastpitch Softball Glove: Beginner's Guide. It's a combination of control, cat-like reflexes and pure athleticism. His reward? The most consistent part has been making the routine play. St. Louis' first-round draft pick from 2007 wasn't expected to play much this year as the Cardinals initially had both Rafael Furcal and Ronny Cedeno on their roster, but Furcal's decision to have Tommy John surgery and St. Louis' eventual release of Cedeno provided an opening for Kozma at short. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Third baseman have a similar skillset to shortstops, but they hit for more power and are more offensive in general, with slightly less range and foot. The corner outfielders, shortstop and second baseman are typically the fastest players on a competitive fastpitch softball team. Only at the next level will coaches start to consider height and weight more in hopes of a projection or skill development. You don't have to guess. Major League . Pro/Con of going online for senior yr and not playing hs ball. I never thought of Gomez as a bad fielder, but I guess I never really gave all that much thought to Gomez in the first place. Well break each position down, but its important to understand throwing speed as it pertains to which positions a softball player can play. I kept looking and I didn't find one for me, so I knew I didn't make the team. The first baseman is paid to HIT, and hit for powerthats job #1. Sports averred that "he manages the defensive wizardry of a player three inches and 20 pounds smaller." On a broader scope, however, he's just average. Probably not. While he trails one player in both RF and DPR, these margins are miniscule in comparison. UZR had Kemp at minus-26 runs that year, the worst total it has ever given a center fielder going back to 2002, so by all accounts Kemp was awful. Here are the top shortstops right now in baseball, in ascending order. Its just like a refresher course for me. I used three general criteria to rank shortstops, each with its own subset(s): 1. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Lower NAIA/D2 Middle Infielder Physical Measurables: Height: 5'11" Weight: 170 lbs. His dWAR is just a hair below the Escobars' while his UZR bests the two by a greater margin, but it's his fielding percentage and RF that definitively solidify his higher ranking. I didnt include 07 stats in this calculation because most of these players didnt get the requisite playing time in their freshman year. The tiebreak deciding where Hardy is on the continuum ranging from average to elite is a DRS of seven, which is also good enough for third-best. He's a bit better in his role as half of a double-play combo, as his DPR of 0.2 has him in a three-way tie for 10th. While only about 1.6% of high school softball players go on to play at the Division 1 level, the other division levels, NAIA schools, and junior colleges offer many opportunities for promising prospects. For pitcher fielding the minimums are reduced . Its the most demanding out field position with lots of ground to cover. Escobar is only 26, meaning his prime will soon be upon us, so it's possible that he'll rise in the rankings in the next several years in a similar way to Andrus. His DPR of 0.8 (seventh place) is also of note. Its either the shortstop, center fielder, catcher or pitcher all are critical positions that require lots of skill, athleticism and mental toughness. Do you have a sports website? Dante Bichette, LF, 1999 Rockies (minus-34). It's true; his composite stats are currently laughable, so he's obviously not in the top 10. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Ramirez's recent onslaught of errors is cause for concern, but the rest of his numbers still put him among the premier shortstops in the game. Fielding percentage, essentially, measures a player's ability to make a proper catch or throw, taking into consideration the number of opportunities a defender has to make a play. Let's look at his range factors per nine innings: In raw numbers, Kemp played nine fewer innings in 2010, but made 37 fewer putouts. Copyright 1999- The 2008-09 correlation was a bit weaker, but still above 0.25. While Drew is middling in terms of most of his stats, the superb fielding percentage is hard to ignore.
