Jose Iglesias and Andrelton Simmons - Whose BABIP was more out of whack?

<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;"><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/iglesjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.flagrantfan.com" href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/iglesjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.flagrantfan.com" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" target="_blank">Jose Iglesias</a></strong>, if he plays full time, will be part of a debate between he and <strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/simmoan01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.flagrantfan.com" href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/simmoan01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.flagrantfan.com" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" target="_blank">Andrelton Simmons</a></strong> on which is the better fielder. Simmons is fresh off one of the best fielding seasons for a shortstop...ever. Iglesias has that kind of reputation, but other than a few other-worldly highlights from 2013, has yet to put a full season together. But today, the focus is not on their fielding, but on which of the shortstops had a more unrealistic batting average based on balls in play (BABIP).</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">Iglesias ended the season with a batting average of .303 and a BABIP of .356. Andrelton Simmons ended the season with a BABIP of .247 and a batting average of .248. Since a large part of the two free-swinging batters on-base percentage is based on batting average (they do not walk much), this is an important question moving forward on their potential offensive worth.</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">Simmons did hit 17 homers in 2013, which Iglesias will never do, so Simmons does have that advantage. But looking at just the on-base percentage equation, the two players could not have had a more different outcome.</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">Here is a look at some BABIP figures for both as compared to each other and to the league average as a whole for 2013:</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">Where hit - MLB - Simmons - Iglesias</div><ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><li style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;">Ground - .240 - .183 - .304</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;">Flyball - .182 - .145 - .200</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;">Line Dr - .674 - .642 - .708</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;">Pulled  - .391 - .317 - .545</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;">Up Mid. - .301 - .265 - .275</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;">Opp Fld - .307 - .195 - .367</li></ul><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">While it is not a proper equation because of the percentage hit of each, you can see that Simmons is under on every category to the tune of a total of -348 points! Iglesias is over on every category except up the middle and is over by a total of 304 points. Those are some pretty glaring anomalies.</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">Most of Jose Iglesias' success with batted balls happened in the first three months of the season with the Red Sox. Regression set in during the month of July. At the end of July (the 30th), he was traded to the Tigers. In August with that team, his BABIP was .364. In September, he had another correction down to .243.</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">Of Iglesias' 290 balls in play for 2013, 18 of them were bunts. He beat out eleven of them. That 61.1% success rate would up his BABIP by four points. That's not a big push, but it does help. After looking at Iglesias' spray charts, a large percentage of his ground balls went to the left side of the infield and he beat out his share of those too. Those kinds of things help.</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">But, his BABIP was still a bit of a fluke as there were plenty of bloops and dribblers in there as all the Twitter conversation in April and May would attest.</div><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: justify;">Andrelton Simmons bunted thirteen times and beat them out for singles on four occasions, a .307 average. While still good, that will not make much of a dent on his BABIP. Like Iglesias, Simmons pulls a lot of his ground balls. But by attesting to his .183 average when hitting them, he does not beat a lot of them out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">Judging from Simmons' spray chart, he might be quite easy to defense as he does hit almost all of his ground balls to the left side:</span><iframe frameborder="0" height="450" scrolling="no" src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=spray&num=1&h=450&w=450&players=10847&position=SS&mt=battedball&ss=2013&se=2013&cht=battedball&pos=ALL&vs=ALL" style="border: 1px solid black;" width="450"></iframe> <span style="font-size: 9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/spraycharts.aspx?playerid=10847&position=SS&type=battedball&ss1=2013&se1=2013&cht1=battedball&pos1=ALL&vs1=ALL">FanGraphs</a></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Let's face it, if Simmons and Iglesias can be huge positives on defense for their teams, then it matters much less how well they hit. But every run gained is a positive one for a team. Simmons, despite hitting a large amount of ground balls to the same place in the infield, was unlucky overall in 2013. He should get better results if he can at least attain a BABIP near league average (.300). Iglesias will have to prove that his batting success in 2013 was not the fluke that it appears to be.</span></div>

Jose Iglesias and Andrelton Simmons - Whose BABIP was more out of whack?

Jose Iglesias , if he plays full time, will be part of a debate between he and  Andrelton Simmons  on which is the better fielder. Simmons i...

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The Tigers are getting defensive

<div style="text-align: justify;">The Detroit Tigers had the third best pitching staff (overall) in the American League in 2012 and 2013. They had the second best offense in the American League in 2013 and the fourth best (by OPS+) in 2012. That combination should land you close to 100 wins each season, right? But the Tigers won 93 games in 2013 and 88 in 2012. Those totals are not terrible by any means and got them to the post season. The missing ingredient has been defense.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The idea for this post came from a conversation between Neal Kendrick (@neal_kendrick) of High Heat Stats and Jacob Smith (@JTD_Smith) that started with this tweet:</div><br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">AL pitching leaders in fWAR for 2013 1. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/scherma01.shtml">Max Scherzer</a></strong>, DET 2. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sanchan01.shtml">Anibal Sanchez</a></strong>, DET 3. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hernafe02.shtml">Felix Hernandez</a></strong>, SEA 4. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/verlaju01.shtml">Justin Verlander</a></strong>, DET<br />— Neal Kendrick (@neal_kendrick) <a href="https://twitter.com/neal_kendrick/statuses/427476966296408064">January 26, 2014</a></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Think about that for a second. Their starting rotation featured three pitchers in the top four in the American League. And <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fistedo01.shtml">Doug Fister</a></strong> was eighth! Their fifth starter, <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/porceri01.shtml">Rick Porcello</a></strong>, is a ground ball pitcher that needs fielders to field his batted balls.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">How did that staff ever lose? They lost, at least in part, to fielding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the old school way of looking at things, the Tigers' fielding would have looked great. Hey, they finished with the least amount of errors in the AL and the highest fielding percentage. The trouble is, we now know that fielding percentage is nice if you are getting to a lot of batted balls. But when you are not, you have a lack of defensive efficiency no matter how good you are at catching and throwing the ball.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2012, the Tigers were next to last in the AL in defensive efficiency. In 2013, they were tied for tenth out of fifteen teams. In 2012, the team as a whole had a -31 runs below average according to Baseball Info Solutions. In 2013, that figure was worse and ended up at -64 runs! That is between five and six wins of bad defense. While we are not dealing with direct cause and effects here, it is a coincidence that adding those lost wins gets the team pretty close to 100.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Who is to blame for this lack of focus on defense for the Tigers? It is easy to blame Jim Leyland because he is gone now. But you have to give him some of the focus. Leyland wanted as much offense in the lineup as he could possibly stack. He would bring outfielders to play second base. You have to give part of the blame to the general manager and owner who signed the biggest free agent regardless of what it meant for the offense.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whatever the case may be, it looks like the organization is finally paying some attention to defense. The <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kinslia01.shtml">Ian Kinsler</a></strong> for <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fieldpr01.shtml">Prince Fielder</a></strong> was one example of sacrificing a little offense to get much better defense. The move also allows <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabremi01.shtml">Miguel Cabrera</a></strong> from third base, where he was a disaster last season, to first base, a position he is much more capable of playing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you look at just the infield (the outfield is okay), you have the following improvements from last year again based on Baseball Info Solutions and a projection of what will happen in 2014:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First base: Fielder to Cabera: -10 runs to -3.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Second base: <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/infanom01.shtml">Omar Infante</a></strong> and others to Kinsler: -7 to 12</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shortstop: <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/peraljh01.shtml">Jhonny Peralta</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/iglesjo01.shtml">Jose Iglesias</a></strong>: 0 to 10</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Third base: Cabrera to <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/casteni01.shtml">Nick Castellanos</a></strong>: -15 to -5.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">By my count, that is an improvement of 46 runs just in the infield. The infield improvement does not only improve the infield but also the pitching. The biggest beneficiary will be Rick Porcello and his 50+% ground balls. But it will also help the entire pitching staff.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The one question, of course, is how much offense the new infield will cost. Most feel that Iglesias' offense was a fluke last year. We don't know yet how Castellanos will fare at the Major League level. And you have to wonder how much Kinsler will dip leaving the friendly conditions of Texas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kinsler is a loss in offense compared to Fielder and Castellanos (naturally) will not equal Cabrera offensively. But even if the Tigers lose twenty runs of offense, that is more than doubled by the improvement of the defense.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You have to wonder if Iglesias and Castellanos struggle early on offense what the Tigers will do. Hopefully, the Tigers will stay with it. The team has come close to the promised land in the last two seasons. Perhaps with some defense, they can make the last hurdle to get there. </div><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

The Tigers are getting defensive

The Detroit Tigers had the third best pitching staff (overall) in the American League in 2012 and 2013. They had the second best offense in...

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The most accurate shortstop arms

<div style="text-align: justify;">When I was a kid, my brother and I made up this game called, "Ground ball to first." We would stand on opposite sides of the street about 70 to 90 feet apart and each half inning of a nine inning game consisted of us taking turns playing shortstop and first base. The first baseman was on "offense" and would throw grounders to the other. An out required a perfect field of the baseball and a perfect throw back to the first baseman. Errors were the only way to score. It was from that game that I have always appreciated the strong, accurate throw from the shortstop position.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I had the idea to go through the list of shortstops in the last fifty or so years who are on Baseball-reference.com's assist leaders. I also took a look at those with the top fielding percentages and zone ratings. Please note that I am not looking for the best fielding shortstops here. I am only looking for the most accurate arms. If you dig down enough for each player, you can find out how many of his total errors were throwing errors and then it is a simple case of dividing the throwing errors by throwing errors plus assists.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I know this is not perfect because some of the throws might have been relay throws and some benefited from year to year by who played first base and that first baseman's scooping ability (or height!). But I would assume all of that stuff evened out over the length of each player's career. I also know that I did not get everyone. I added to my list at least four times and am sure I missed a couple.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the list became interesting as it is and gives a pretty good snapshot of what shortstop's arm was accurate or not. Here are my numbers from best to worst:</div><ol><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bowala01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Larry Bowa</a></strong> - .0022</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/conceda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Dave Concepcion</a></strong> - .0037</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/belanma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Mark Belanger</a></strong> - .0041</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/russebi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Bill Russell</a></strong> - .0046</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dentbu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Bucky Dent</a></strong> - .0048</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kessido01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Don Kessinger</a></strong> - .0053</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cardele01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Leo Cardenas</a></strong> - .0057</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/campabe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Bert Campaneris</a></strong> - .00596</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/yountro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Robin Yount</a></strong> - ..00599</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/harrebu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Bud Harrelson</a></strong> - .0067</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcmilro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Roy McMillan</a></strong> - .007105</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/player_search.cgi?results=ripkeca01,ripkeca99&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Cal Ripken</a></strong>, Jr. - .007108</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vizquom01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Omar Vizquel</a></strong> - .00711</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/speiech01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Chris Speier</a></strong> - .007198</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithoz01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Ozzie Smith</a></strong> - .007199</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/trammal01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Alan Trammell</a></strong> - .0073</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/templga01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Garry Templeton</a></strong> - .0075</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/aparilu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Luis Aparicio</a></strong> - .008638</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sanchre01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Rey Sanchez</a></strong> - .008647</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fernato01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Tony Fernandez</a></strong> - .0090</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rolliji01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Jimmy Rollins</a></strong> - .0104</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brinked01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Ed Brinkman</a></strong> - .0119</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guilloz01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Ozzie Guillen</a></strong> - .0126</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/player_search.cgi?results=rodrial01,rodrig011ale&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Alex Rodriguez</a></strong> - .0134</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/claytro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Royce Clayton</a></strong> - .0144</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/larkiba01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Barry Larkin</a></strong> - .0158</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tejadmi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Miguel Tejada</a></strong> - .0164</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/renteed01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Edgar Renteria</a></strong> - .0167</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jeterde01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Derek Jeter</a></strong> - .0178</li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">Larry Bowa was amazingly accurate and tops our list of modern shortstops with the most accurate arm. Eight of his sixteen full seasons at shortstop had zero throwing errors. Zero! And five others included only one throwing error. He made only 15 throwing errors his entire career. Eight of those were in the first two seasons he played. He went from 1974 to 1980 without a single throwing error. Amazing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of course, throwing accurately is only part of a shortstop equation. B-R also tracks something called Percentage of fielded balls that turned into outs. Throwing is only a part of that equation. Release and simply catching the ball cleanly also play a part. During all seasons I looked at, 89 or 90% was the league average.</div><ol><li style="text-align: justify;">95% - Mark Belanger</li><li style="text-align: justify;">93% - Leo Cardinas, Rey Sanchez, Bud Harrelson, Roy McMillan</li><li style="text-align: justify;">92% - Larry Bowa, Bert Campaneris, Alan Trammell, Cal Ripken, Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Luis Aparicio, Bucky Dent, Robin Yount</li><li style="text-align: justify;">91% - Conception, Templeton, Speier, Jeter, Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel, Brinkman, Guillen</li><li style="text-align: justify;">90% - Tejada, Russell, Rollins</li><li style="text-align: justify;">89% - Clayton, Renteria, Fernandez</li><li style="text-align: justify;">88% - Kessinger</li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">So the old saw would apply that most of these long-time shortstops "made all the plays."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For 2013, the top five in throwing accuracy from shortstop were:</div><ol><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/drewst01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Stephen Drew</a></strong> - .0030</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/iglesjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Jose Iglesias</a></strong> - .0057</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabreas01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Asdrubal Cabrera</a></strong> - .0095</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/peraljh01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Jhonny Peralta</a></strong> - .0101</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tulowtr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Troy Tulowitzki</a></strong> - .0104</li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">Please remember that I am not saying this makes the best shortstop. Good old Asdrubal points that out in this list. But it is interesting to see who has the most accurate arms from the shortstop position. Larry Bowa should be smiling at Stephen Drew.</div>

The most accurate shortstop arms

When I was a kid, my brother and I made up this game called, "Ground ball to first." We would stand on opposite sides of the stree...

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Drew over Iglesias the wrong move for the Red Sox

There was a time when I supported <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/drewst01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Stephen Drew</a></strong> as one of the most underrated shortstops in baseball. If you search my site, you will probably find a post or two on the subject. But that was before he broke his ankle and fell out of favor in Arizona. Since that injury, Stephen Drew has not yet been able to recapture his elite shortstop status. I waited for years for Drew to have that one big season and it never came. Now people are expecting Drew to be at least as good as he was despite not ever having the breakout season. I suspect they will be disappointed too.<br /><br />The Red Sox broke out of the gate this season in impressive fashion. A combination of good pitching, great fielding and timely hitting won them five of their first seven games. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/iglesjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Jose Iglesias</a></strong> was right in the middle of all that. And to be sure, the batting numbers Iglesias put up in those first seven games were misleading. Five of his hits were infield swinging bunts. His ground ball rate rivaled Jeter's. And there is no way that Iglesias was going to have a BABIP over .500 for the season.<br /><br />But if you discount all of that, there was still his defense. Defense rarely goes in slumps. Iglesias <strike>has</strike> had a chance to rival Hardy and Ryan as the best fielding shortstop in the American League. Drew fell off to negative territory last season for the A's and sure, the ankle not being right is a big part of that. The 25.8 runs above average Drew put up for the Diamondbacks at shortstop between 2008 and 2011 were impressive. After a year of being below average in 2012, is it only fair to assume that Drew can improve to league average this season?<br /><br />Let us assume that Drew does field up to league average. The common theory is that his bat is much more reliable than Jose Iglesias'. But is that really the case? Fenway Park is not the hitter-friendly park that people think it is. To be sure, Drew will hit a few homers that Iglesias would never hit. Drew will probably receive a few more walks than Iglesias would have. But all that being said, Drew has not been much of a hitter in the 86 games before he broke his ankle nor in the 79 games since he has returned.<br /><br />Here is what ZiPS assumes: Stephen Drew will improve his fielding to league average, will be a slightly below league average base runner and will finish the season with 1.4 WAR. Now let's go over to the Iglesias side. ZiPS assumes that his defense would be worth at least eight runs above average. I think it would have been higher. ZiPS assumes that Iglesias would be a slightly above average base runner and that he would be a lousy hitter and accumulate 1.5 WAR.<br /><br />If you look at those two projections--and granted, what happens on the field can be far different--you come out to basically the same value. If you were looking at two different players and they both looked the same in value, would not you go with the better fielder?<br /><br />Pitching and defense is a lethal combination. It won the Giants a World Series title last season. It won a title for the Red Sox back in 2007. And it was precisely how the Red Sox were winning early this season. A middle defense of Pedroia and Iglesias is drool-worthy. It is only a coincidence that the Red Sox lost the first game Drew started since coming back from his concussion. But that is what some people will think. "Why mess with a good thing?" they will ask.<br /><br />I will grant you that Jose Iglesias is a terrible hitter. At best, he can hit an empty .250 and could be quite a deal worse. But I do not believe that Drew will be all that much better at the plate. Time could prove me wrong. But if I had a choice between two players of seemingly equal value, I would always go with the guy with the glove--especially a shortstop.

Drew over Iglesias the wrong move for the Red Sox

There was a time when I supported Stephen Drew as one of the most underrated shortstops in baseball. If you search my site, you will proba...

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