High Heat Stats: Metrics helping bring defense to the fore
In past weeks, we've used this space to take a look at the pool of candidates for the most valuable player awards in both leagues and highlighted a group of pitchers whose accomplishments in 2014 are mighty impressive.
The area that we haven't covered enough is one of the most overlooked and occasionally misunderstood areas of baseball: defense.
As much as the American League MVP race has been hotly debated (especially over the last two years), no one would consider positing that the Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera was not a great hitter in either of his award-winning seasons. It's hard to put a negative spin on a Triple Crown campaign in 2012 or a slash line the following year of a .348 batting average, .442 on-base percentage and .636 slugging percentage — all tops in the league.
As far as Gold Glove awards, though, there have been seasons in which recipients were undeserving, picked because they played in a large market or, in at least one case, awarded a Gold Glove despite playing 128 games as the designated hitter, as Rafael Palmeiro was in 1999. (Palmeiro won the AL award for first basemen in the two previous seasons with 153 games at first in 1997 and 159 in 1998.)
Between 2004 and 2010, Yankees shortstop and no-doubt Hall of Famer Derek Jeter took home five Gold Gloves, despite being arguably among the worst everyday shortstops in that span. Part of his Gold Glove case likely is because of the frequency with which Jeter employed his trademark jump throw, a play potentially unnecessary if Jeter possessed the requisite range to get in front of the ball.
For years, the only statistics voters could use to determine a player's worth on defense were putouts, assists and errors. It stood to reason then that the player who committed the fewest errors was therefore the best defensive player. The only issue is that view discounts a player's range or attempts at making difficult plays — it's easy to avoid errors if one never expends energy to reach a ball.
More than three decades ago, statistics pioneer Bill James offered Range Factor, a fairly rudimentary number that showed how many combined putouts and assists a player made a game.
Since then, defensive metrics have become far more refined and reliable. Among the most popular are Baseball Reference's Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and Fangraphs' Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR).
We will use the preferred DRS stat, which tracks the number of runs a player saved or cost his team in comparison to an average player.
This season, several players are having truly remarkable defensive seasons. The Atlanta Baves' Jason Heyward leads all right fielders and players overall with 34 Fielding Runs, a mark that ranks second all time at the position behind the 41 set last season by the Arizona Diamondbacks' Gerardo Parra.
Parra and Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons, also with 41 last season, share the record for the most Fielding Runs in a season regardless of position.
New York Mets center fielder Juan Lagares has a mark of 30 despite playing in 100 games. While the 30 Fielding Runs are tied for ninth all time for a center fielder, his per game average (.30) is the best among all players in history since 1900. (Catcher Fatty Briody had a higher per game average in 1884.)
There are many active players who might be a bit past their defensive prime but are among the game's best fielders. Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre is rated by DRS as the sixth-best defensive player all time and second to Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson at his position.
The Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols and Yankees' Mark Teixeira each rank as top-four defensive first basemen, and the Philadelphia Phillies' Chase Utley ranks fourth among all second basemen.
While it is true defensive achievements are more meticulously measured than 100, 50 or even 20 years ago, it is logical that a more athletic player has the ability to cover more ground on defense. Of the greatest 200 defensive seasons (ranked by DRS), 51 have come in the last 10 years and five of the top 12 defensive seasons were in 2013 or this season.
The numbers show baseball is in a golden age of fielding.
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