Best defense in baseball?
So far this year, the Giants have a Defensive Efficiency Ratio (that's the percentage of batted balls turned into outs) of .732, best in the National League and second to the White Sox overall. By the plus/minus system, the Giants' fielders have made 22 outs above average, best in baseball.
(link to Hardball Times team stats)
Can they keep it up? Probably not. For one thing, the best-fielding team last year, San Diego, finished with 91 outs above average and a DER of .703; the Giants are way ahead of that pace. For another, they've been playing three regulars (Feliz, Winn, and Aurilia at first) who have good gloves but don't really hit enough for their positions, and Bochy is already shaking that up in search of more runs.
But still, this was a good defense last year and it looks to be a lot better this year. Not bad for a bunch of old guys.
This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.
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Re: Best defense in baseball?
Gutty pitching and great defense are my favorite parts of the game.
by E Ticket on Apr 27, 2007 7:57 AM PDT reply actions
Re: Best defense in baseball?
The fact that the DER is so freakishly high is an indication that the fielders are getting lucky, and we shouldn't expect this to continue.
But then, we knew that anyway. I doubt the Giants are going to win every game till the end of the season!
I disagree...
Re: I disagree...
DER is simply the ratio of balls in play the defense turns into outs. But all balls aren't created equal. It's much easier to turn an infield popup into an out than it is a screaming liner. Ditto FB/GB. It's easier to turn groundballs into outs on grass than astroturf, and so on. Then the size of the park, etc. So clearly you need to make major adjustments based on the ball types the pitching staff is giving up, and the ballpark. DER does none of this. It would be possible, however, to come up with a composite, park-adjusted, ball-type adjusted DER, call it *DER.
But even this doesn't take into account luck. The fact is that DER fluctuates wildly from season to season, even behind the same pitcher, and with the same defense. Why? Because (1 - DER) = Pitcher's BABIP, and we all know that a pitcher's BABIP is a fluky stat, because of dumb luck.
Re: I disagree...
This is pretty much what Dewan's plus/minus numbers do, though expressed in terms of outs rather than as a percentage. The plus/minus numbers that I cited from the Hardball Times are, if I understand this correctly, a sort of pastiche that approximate Dewan's numbers.
The fact that a pitcher's BABIP is fluky shouldn't obscure the actual accomplishments of the fielders behind him. I suspect that literal "dumb luck" is actually a pretty small part of BABIP fluctuation; it has much more to do with the fact that the quality of his pitching doesn't stay the same over time, the type and quality of the hitters he faces is constantly shifting, the quality of his fielders is constantly shifting, parks change, weather changes, etc. The problem is that you can't hold any of these factors steady long enough to get a decent sample size.
Anyway, I think you're overstating the fluctations of DER a bit. The teams rated highly last year tend to be the same ones rated highly this year.
Re: I disagree...
Is this true?
2 points:
- you have convinced me that I overstated my case
- DER remains the best stat available for team defense IMO
Re: Best defense in baseball?
Re: Best defense in baseball?
Re: Best defense in baseball?
- You can't catch it.
- You can't cut if off.
- In which case your strong arm is only good for picking your ass/nose/or rearranging your junk on Fox Sports.
by E Ticket on Apr 27, 2007 3:07 PM PDT up reply actions
Re: Best defense in baseball?
Re: Best defense in baseball?
Re: Best defense in baseball?
by giantsrainman on Apr 27, 2007 4:41 PM PDT up reply actions
Re: Best defense in baseball?
Just like Barry Zito somehow allows fewer base runners to score than most pitchers.
If you are saying that if Matt's BABIP were .400 it would bring their DER up to average, it sounds as if you're verifying that a decent part of the Giants low DER is due to their tremendous DER when Matt is pitching.

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