The Ol' Ballfield

THT Takes a Look at Outfield Arms

John Walsh (not the same Walsh that now graces this blog) over at The Hardball Times has released his annual analysis of outfield arms for 2006. Here's quick blow-by-blow.

What Walsh did was pick situations in which an outfielder has the most leeway to make a difference on a play by throwing someone out. He used:

1. Single with runner on first base (second base unoccupied).
2. Double with runner on first base.
3. Single with runner on second base.
4. Fly out with runner on third base, fewer than two outs.
5. Fly out with runner on second base, fewer than two outs (third base unoccupied).

He then compared how each outfielder fared in those situations against the league average. Some results:

Right Field

Best: Alexis Rios
Worst, actually worst in any outfield position: Shawn Green
Interesting: Brad Hawpe comes in at number two, and actually played more than Rios. J.D. Drew showed up fourth from the bottom, much worse than Trot Nixon, whom he is replacing. Drew (ironically) played more, though.

Center Field

Best: Willy Taveras
Worst: Johnny Damon
Interesting: Juan Pierre and Torii Hunter land squarely in the middle of the pack. Mike Cameron? Third-last. Johnny Damon brings nothing to the Yankees. Put Hideki Matsui in center and Melky Cabrera in left. Lead off Derek Jeter. There, I fixed the Yankees.

Left Field

Best: Andre Ethier
Worst: Scott Podsednik
Interesting: People weren't just BSing about Manny Ramirez, he comes in at third. A very impressive rookie season for Ethier. And it turns out no amount of stolen bases makes up for the fact that Scott Podsednik is a left fielder with no power that can't field.

Labels: defense, hardball times, outfielders

posted by Carnival @ 2/15/2007