Getting Defensive

Every year, Tom Tango collects defensive scouting reports from the fans of a particular team. The idea is to get the impressions of people who have watched the same team 40, 50, or 162 times a year. The results often correlate with statistical measures, but there are always a few outliers. It's a huge help to the internet baseball world to have these "Wisdom of Crowds"-style metrics as another data point by which to evaluate defenders.

So go here to read the instructions, and then fill in your ballot here.

Do it before you read the rest of the post, as I'm going to taint your opinions with my sparkling prose. The rest of the post comes in the comments section.

Even though you're not supposed to take position into account, the easiest way for me to group the players is by position.

C - It's hard to measure catchers with the same categories by which you measure outfielders, but remember that you're not supposed to take a player's position into account with these rankings. So while I'm tempted to put that Bengie Molina has "great" velocity/sprint speed because that makes me giggle, I'll defer to the pure intentions of this study. I gave Molina very high marks in all of the throwing categories. Is it just me, or has his arm gotten better since he's been a Giant?

1B - It was tough sledding for John Bowker for most of this year. Rich Aurilia gets average marks.

2B - Low marks for Durham, obviously, but I didn't see enough of Velez this year to mark him down as well. Burriss does well in all of the categories.

SS - Vizquel is still a magical little feller, though his arm isn't what it used to be. Still, high marks all around.

3B - We haven't had a third baseman all year. How did that happen? Weird. It's almost as if we did have one, but I'm pushing the memory of that person into the dark recesses of my cerebellum. I find it hard to believe the Giants just didn't have one all year. Since we're not supposed to take position into account, Aurilia's average marks apply here as well.

OF - It's hard to judge Lewis's overall range, as his first step is distinctly Benardian, but his speed seems to make for a lot. Rowand is way more average to the naked eye than I expected, and his arm is almost useless because of its inaccuracy. Randy Winn seems to have fantastic range, but so does every right fielder in Mays Field. Ellis Burks, Reggie Sanders, and Jose Cruz, Jr. all seemed to play right as if they were on skates. I'm wondering if the funky dimensions give off some sort of Mystery Spot vibe.

If you are really bored, you can see my exact rankings here.