You'll be happy to hear that Alcides Escobar dominated the shortstop rankings with +22 runs for the...

You'll be happy to hear that Alcides Escobar dominated the shortstop rankings with +22 runs for the season.

Sean ("CHONE") Smith, with whom I'm working to come up with minor league defense numbers. He's referring to the '08 Southern League.

10 months ago Jeff Sackmann 11 comments 0 recs |

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This is good news in two different ways, all at the same time!

Now I am extremely curious as to how Gamel would rate out.

Scored three times and detonated an indisputable in four visits to the batting box.

by Jordan M on Jan 19, 2009 10:01 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Let’s guess.

…-22.

Very creative, I know.

by HRF on Jan 20, 2009 1:40 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, this is tremendous news.

by HRF on Jan 20, 2009 1:40 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe getting a bit ahead of things but...

do you have some details for how the averages for the respective minor league levels (or leagues, if necessary) compare to each other and to MLB? Basically, is there a need to consider “defensive MLEs” or are things in roughly the same ballpark?

by Zeyes on Jan 20, 2009 12:09 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

yep, that is several steps ahead, but

would be good to know.

When I tinkered with MiL defense a couple of years ago, I ran some numbers and found that AAA defense is roughly equivalent to MLB defense—at some positions, even a little better. I didn’t publish it, for whatever reason.

This seems reasonable to me ~~- many (though certainly not all) of the players stuck in the minors are good-glove/no-bat guys~~-Gwynn, for example, or even a guy like Abe Nunez. While, of course, MLB is riddled with players at nearly all positions who play the field just barely well enough, but their bat makes putting them in the lineup worth it.

This is why, when you see “Wins above replacement” calculated, usually it’s the sum of “Batting wins above replacement” and “Fielding wins above AVERAGE,” because, in a sense, you can always get average fielding from a replacement player.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 20, 2009 1:09 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I have no idea why all that stuff is crossed out.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 20, 2009 1:10 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Ok, some more preliminary results

Escobar is not only best among SS’s, his +22 is the best defense in the ’08 SL. These are all raw numbers, not adjusted for runs/150 games or anything.

Worst? Matt LaPorta, -14 in RF.

Before you get too excited about that, Brantley was second best CF in the league, at +15. And another +2 in LF.

Gillespie, +4. Errecart, -8. Cain is +2 in CF, -1 in RF, probably a sample size issue.

Finally, Gamel is only -2, but keep in mind that that doesn’t include things like extra bases gained on errors, which would obviously penalize him more than others.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 20, 2009 2:45 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Awesome

This all based off of the TotalZone system, then?

Scored three times and detonated an indisputable in four visits to the batting box.

by Jordan M on Jan 20, 2009 3:17 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

yep

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 20, 2009 3:19 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

And for everyone to keep in mind

1 year of defensive numbers doesn’t equal one year of hitting numbers. These things can fluctuate, you need a few years of data to really get a good idea of a defender.

Scored three times and detonated an indisputable in four visits to the batting box.

by Jordan M on Jan 20, 2009 3:18 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

especially since some of these players

didn’t spend a full year in the SL — and some who did were hurt or moved positions (like Cain). And even a full season is ~140 games, so sample size issues abound.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 20, 2009 3:20 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

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