Perhaps some more ground ball practice...

by mbennett on Jul 18, 2007 9:54 AM EDT

While I was enjoying the dick/bert show last night, oh, and there was a baseball game in the background too, I overheard something which blew my mind. I didn't believe it, so I did a whopping 12 seconds of research to authenticate their claim.

Jason Bartlett has committed 16 errors this year. The twins, as many of you probably know, have 43 errors on the year. This works out to Bartlett having 37.2% of the errors on the year...not exactly what I would consider to be a sparkling statistic. And it gets more ugly, of the 93 games the twins have played this year, Bartlett has only played in 83. So, Bartlett is committing roughly one error every 5 games he plays. Only Betancourt of the Mariners, and Guillen of the tigers have more errors on the year than Bartlett, with Tony Pena Jr. and Hanley Ramirez tying Jason for 3rd worst in the league.

Now maybe this jumps out today because of the fact that the error committed scored, which, really, isn't Jason's fault. And naturally your 2nd basemen and shortstops are going to get the most opportunities to commit errors, but 16 seemed like a lot. And when the number 16 is out of 43...it seems like a lot more.

Hopefully Jason can tidy up the glove a bit, take some more practice, or, just watch the ball into the glove a bit more. The club needs to be spotless, then get some help in order to make a run at the playoffs. I hope that the defensive issues of Jason can right them self, because, while it is fun to lead the league in a category at the end of the year, I don't think anyone wants to lead it in errors.

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Notice a pattern?

Only Betancourt of the Mariners, and Guillen of the tigers have more errors on the year than Bartlett, with Tony Pena Jr. and Hanley Ramirez tying Jason for 3rd worst in the league.

What do all of these players have in common?

by ubelmann on Jul 18, 2007 2:50 PM EDT 0 recs

They all play SS

Shortstops always lead their teams and league in errors.

by Jesse on Jul 18, 2007 2:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

Well

That and Guillen and Ramirez are superfreaky at the plate, and Betancourt is decent. Now, I have hopes for Jason (just picked him back up in fantasy since Bill Hall went on the DL, grumble grumble) being a decent table-setter, but he's not exactly blowing us away with his bat.

by ravenfly on Jul 18, 2007 3:08 PM EDT up 0 recs

As a team...

...the Twins have 17 errors at SS. The average AL team has 14 errors at SS. Would I like to see Bartlett with fewer errors? Absolutely. Do I think it's one of the team's biggest concerns right now? Absolutely not. Bartlett's going to make errors, but he also has good range, so he's making some plays that a good hands shortstop might not make. Garza himself said that Bartlett plays good defense. Of all the things that are wrong with the Twins, this really doesn't rank high on my list.

by ubelmann on Jul 18, 2007 3:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

I would also note...

...that if we are looking for things that the team should practice, perhaps we should have Punto practice bunting, as he was (yet again) unable to get down a bunt in a key situation.

by ubelmann on Jul 18, 2007 3:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

+1

Wish list for a championship:

Fielding: Check
Pitching: Check
Hitting: not so much

It's funny that so much of the consternation about last night's game referred to pitching (Coomer: "That was a rookie mistake") and fielding ("errors and misplays did us in"). But why so little focus on our lack of hitting when we were shut out for the eighth time this year?

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 18, 2007 3:44 PM EDT up 0 recs

so ubelmann...

what the hell DO they all have in common?

by montanatwinsfan on Jul 18, 2007 7:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

Jesse got it...

...they are all SS. As a position, shortstops get the most errors of any position on the field. As I pointed out earlier, the average so far this year is 14 per team.

I'm not saying Bartlett has been spectacular in this regard--he certainly hasn't--but comparing him to his teammates and noticing that he has the most errors on the team shouldn't be a surprise. The SS will have the most errors on most teams.

I suspect Bartlett will improve slightly in this regard, but we shall see. He had 13 errors in a similar number of innings last year, so it's not like he's been so much different than he was last year.

by ubelmann on Jul 18, 2007 8:11 PM EDT up 0 recs

oh...

I figured there was something more to your teaser since it was so obvious in the original post that he was explicitly comparing shortstops.

by montanatwinsfan on Jul 19, 2007 12:01 AM EDT up 0 recs

And Jeter...

...has 14 errors

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 18, 2007 3:06 PM EDT 0 recs

Other numbers

not that I'm a believer in the validity of Range Factor, but I believe it provides as much information as errors or fielding percentage. Here is Jason's RF/9 innings is 4.46 where the league average is 4.47. Also, according to the Fielding Runs Above Average system, he has a -6 FRAA. Not to put much weight in them, just take them for what they are

by TMoney on Jul 18, 2007 3:15 PM EDT 0 recs

My sense....

...is he's about league average defensively. Offensively, he's just above replacement level, though since the first week of the season, he's been better than that.

He'll be a serviceable part until the next guy comes along. I'm thinking Plouffe supplants him in three years.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 18, 2007 3:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

even more numbers

Zone Rating, something else very suspect, is more kind to Bartlett. With a revised Zone Rating of .808, with AL average ZR of .807. But on top of that Bartlett has turned 42 balls out of his zone into outs, which is good for second in the league behind Tony Pena Jr. who has 44. So the conclusion of ZR is that while Bartlett might be booting more balls than desired, he has exceptional range over other AL shortstops that puts him above average.

by TMoney on Jul 18, 2007 3:31 PM EDT 0 recs

Watching Bart

I 'see' most games on the radio, but last time I was home and got to watch some games on TV I was surprised how shaky Bartlett looks in the field. It is a small sample size, but he ain't gonna win any style points from Randy, Paula and Simon.

by wcooley on Jul 18, 2007 3:42 PM EDT 0 recs

Speaking of abstract defensive statistics

I looked at Nick Punto's ZR numbers, and I was shocked at how low they are for a player that all he has to offer is defense. Nick Punto's ZR is .669, well below the league average .685. And as for balls turned into outs outside the zone, 23 opposed to the league average 31. These seem to be too large of deviations to be an aberration.

by TMoney on Jul 18, 2007 3:46 PM EDT 0 recs

Punto ZR

It is odd that his stats belie his public persona as a good field, no-hit third baseman (sounds like an oxymoron).

Is there something in the surface that reduces the time to get to balls? If that were the case, it should be uniform for all the Twins fielders. But the fact that Bartlett scores well in these metrics and Punto scores poorly suggests that there's more validity to Punto's poor numbers. How do the other two fielders score?

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 18, 2007 3:51 PM EDT up 0 recs

It is worth noting...

...that Punto scored very well according to revised zone rating (the one that is being referenced here.) (And Bartlett also scored very well last year, leading all AL SS in RZR.)

Because there are so many factors that affect the number and types of chances that fielders get over the course of the season, it just takes a lot longer for their fielding numbers to even out. Punto's probably had some combination of bad luck and tough chances in the field.

It's like if Morneau goes a couple of weeks without hitting a HR. Does that mean he's not a good power hitter? Nah, it means he had two powerless weeks, was probably a little unlucky and faced some good pitchers. (Also, no one dismisses HR total as meaningless because a power hitter can go without a home run for a short period of time, but many seem will to completely cast aside fielding statistics for a very similar problem.)

JB and Punto are neither as good as their fielding numbers last year suggest or as poor as their numbers this year suggest. Like always, the best estimate of their abilities lies somewhere between the extremes.

by ubelmann on Jul 18, 2007 4:05 PM EDT up 0 recs

Punto scores...

because some chicks dig the "little and cute" factor. There is no other explanation.

by wcooley on Jul 18, 2007 4:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

I see

I personally don't see those things. But each to his own, I guess.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 18, 2007 4:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

As in other two fielders

do you mean Castillo and Morneau?

I'll assume you do. Castillo's numbers are again below average on the ZR scale. With a league average (taken from 23 everyday 2B) ZR of .837, Castillo has a .811, and Out Of Zone of 24, compared to average 26. Like with Bartlett these numbers seem to ring true. Even though he is sure handed, his range seems to be limited at times. Also noted, Utley not only is far and away the best 2B at the plate, but he's damn good on defense as well.

As for Morneau his ZR is good at .764 compared to the league average of .740, but his OOZ is weak at 12 compared to the league average of 15.5. Looking deeper I would guess that his OOZ is even weaker than it appears. For every 100 balls hit into the zone, Morneau will make about 8.3 plays OOZ, whereas the average 1B would make 14.5 plays.

Of course this follows the logic that balls hit OOZ would be proportional to the balls hit in the zone. Of course this logic could be misguided or completely backwards, and they could have an inverse relationship. But Albert Pujols, easily the best fielding 1B will make 26.1 plays OOZ for every 100 in zone.

by TMoney on Jul 18, 2007 4:22 PM EDT 0 recs

Though

Bartlett has a big range, which has helped make up for the errors a lot. In fact, it's more a matter of the errors hurting the value of his big range somewhat. He's cut down on the errors well lately too.

Baseball is great because you cant take a knee or kill the clock. You gotta put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn shot E Weaver abridged

by AdamOnFirst on Jul 18, 2007 10:39 PM EDT 0 recs

I was looking for this yesterday

http://actasports.com/sows.php

My favorite of all the abstract defensive systems. Bartlett is a nice +12, and Jeter is a solid -21

by TMoney on Jul 19, 2007 5:42 PM EDT 0 recs

Uh?

Shannon Stewart is the top LF? Next metric please.

by wcooley on Jul 19, 2007 9:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

H

Haha.

Yeah...

Baseball is great because you cant take a knee or kill the clock. You gotta put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn shot E Weaver abridged

by AdamOnFirst on Jul 19, 2007 9:45 PM EDT up 0 recs

I don't think

that that's entirely fair. The knock on him defensively has to do more with his arm than his range. In his career he has been at least average range-wise.

by TMoney on Jul 20, 2007 4:04 AM EDT up 0 recs

Maybe

I think Gleeman used to call him "Mr. Magoo" but that might just be his bias

by wcooley on Jul 20, 2007 12:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

When healthy

Stewart is an above average left fielder. It's hard to get good jumps on balls when your feet hurt. I had seats down the left field line last Thursday night for the A's game and Stewart looked better than I ever remember him. He's also running better down the line and he easily beat out a double off the baggie when I thought Cuddy had a chance to get him. He looks like a whole new player this year.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 20, 2007 1:37 PM EDT 0 recs