Early 2000s Fashion Magazines, Articles W

When it was announced at the end of the 2008 season that Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Nate McLouth had captured a Gold Glove Award, many fans wondered if he actually stole it, because there was no indication based on his play that he actually earned it. Teams: Louisville Eclipse/Colonels (1882-89, 1892-93), Cleveland Infants (1890), Pittsburgh Pirates (1891), Cincinnati Reds (1891-1892), St. Louis Browns (1894), Brooklyn Grooms (1894), Stats: 3,439 chances, 2,490 putouts, 535 assists, 414 errors. Known as much for his flamboyant style on the mound and his singing (he was into merengue), Lima also was an awful fielder. Teams: Baltimore Orioles (196568), Houston Astros (1969), New York Yankees (197071), Oakland Athletics (197172), San Diego Padres (1972), Stats: 3,461 chances, 3,142 putouts, 261 assists, 58 errors. Teams: Boston/Milwaukee Braves (1942, 1946-64), New York Mets (1965), San Francisco Giants (1965), Stats: 1,279 chances, 222 putouts, 999 assists, 58 errors. But here's the thing you need to remember: .312 lifetime batting average, 555 home runs, 2,574 hits and 1,831 RBI. Rdef. Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates (1992-99), San Diego Padres (2000), Seattle Mariners (2000-01), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2003), Stats: 1,810 chances, 1,700 putouts, 54 assists, 56 errors. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? The Phillies havent done enough hitting, and so theyll go into the offseason looking to make a major splash. He still hadn't caught a ball yet, but he was getting a lot closer.". Teams: New York Highlanders (1908, 1910-12), Washington Senators (1912), Chicago Cubs (1913-21), Stats: 906 chances, 92 putouts, 740 assists, 74 errors, Caught stealing percentage: .519 (incomplete). It's not hard to see why he made all those mistakes. His mobility declined rapidly, and he was in the negative for defensive wins above replacement for 14 straight seasons, bouncing between left field, right field and first base. ), 9. Baseball Info Solutions tracked him with 30 good plays and 39 misplays and it's worth noting that ultimate zone rating had him at minus-23 runs and total zone at minus-31 runs. Dahlen still holds the record for total chances by a shortstop, and oftentimes led the league in putouts and double plays as well. The Twins walked the fewest batters in the AL and were in the middle of the pack in strikeouts and home runs allowed but were 13th in hits allowed, so the team defense was pretty bad overall, with Puckett apparently playing a big role. Escobar, who signed with the Mets with a reputation as a decent defensive third baseman, finished with a career-worst -11 Defensive Runs Saved at third base in 2022. Thus, players of earlier eras who were noted for the defensive skillssuch as third baseman Brooks Robinson and shortstop Ozzie Smithwere not evaluated in this manner. Freddy Peralta thrills family with dazzling debut, Real or Not? There are two easy ways to explain Nolan Ryan's low number of chances over 27 seasons in the majors he's the MLB career leader in both walks and strikeouts. Meanwhile I NEVER hear ANY ringing endorsements for DRS or UZR. Glenallen Hill's defensive struggles were infamous. and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt certainly presents an interesting case this year. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. I didnt say Andujar was better, I was just establishing 1) they are comparable yet seymour singled out Andujar, 2) thats intellectually dishonest. It may be a bit unfair to include long-time shortstop Bill Dahlen on this list. Despite a career filled with plenty of offense, Bichette's career WAR was 2.0, a telling sign of his defensive deficiencies. His longevity definitely wasn't tied to his ability to field the ball. There is no question that numbers can at times be deceiving, as evidenced by the fact that New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has won five Gold Glove Awards during his career despite the negative numbers seen above. Dante Bichette, LF, 1999 Rockies (minus-34). Overall, things have worked out okay, but they havent worked out well enough to win, and win consistently. Sanchez, who relies on unbelievable power at the plate to change games, improved on blocking pitches in 2019. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda tried to get into Guerrero's head to uncover his fielding struggles and asked what he was thinking playing third base in the ninth inning of a tie game. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. There might not be a good answer to this. Guerrero's 165 career errors make a lot more sense now. "Please, God, don't hit it to (second baseman) Steve Sax.". Still, that's nearly one fewer play every two games. The following year, Sax became completely unable to throw the ball accurately to first base, committing 30 errors on the season. UZR includes errors as part of its calculation, too. Let's look at his range factors per nine innings: In raw numbers, Kemp played nine fewer innings in 2010, but made 37 fewer putouts. Chris Gomez, SS, 1997 Padres (minus-33). The Phillies knew theyd be sacrificing some defense this season. Do you have a sports website? He played for 13 teams (12 franchises), more than any position player in MLB history, even winning a World Series with the Phillies in 2008. However, defensively, Bichette was easily one of the most challenged of players. Grieve's -76 total zone runs allowed for his career is truly horrendous. But there is *some* evidence. worst defensive runs saved all time ingredient in ice cream that causes diarrhea 3, 2022 how old was zacharias janssen when he died on worst defensive runs saved all time Hawpe managed to survive getting the axe over this stretch by posting his best seasons at the plate. Probably not. Blefary's -6.9 defensive WAR is a pretty telling stat. In his first few seasons with the Yankees, Gary Sanchez was as bad at blocking pitches behind the plate as almost anyone in the modern history of baseball. Red Sox bullpen's tightrope act will wear thin, Real or not? It would be years before Sax finally figured out his mechanical issues, but the damage had already been done. Jolley committed 44 errors in just four seasons, and was once credited with three errors on the same play, having the ball actually go through his legs twice on the same batted ball. He was an All-American forward at Ohio State selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the fifth round of the 1958 NBA draft. After seven seasons at shortstop for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals, enough was enough, and the Royals finally moved Jose Offerman to second base. But for now, just focus on the Phillies. They moved him to third base the following season. 48. Its weird to think that he couldnt handle 2B. Instead, the Phillies will play out the string, while the Braves get themselves set for the playoffs. However, during the opportunities when he did play first base, it became clear why Thomas was a DH. Now, he's known for two off-field incidents, including one where he rushed a pitcher with a bat in independent league baseball and was ordered to pay an almost $1 million settlement. Things got really bad in the later years of his career, with -22 total zone runs allowed in 2004. He also was among the league leaders. Teams: Detroit Tigers (199295), Florida Marlins (1995), Oakland Athletics (199699), Baltimore Orioles (200004), New York Yankees (2005), Arizona Diamondbacks (2005), Stats: 117 chances, 25 putouts, 85 assists, 5 errors. It's no surprise that he rated poorly in the outfield -- minus-20 runs -- but he also rated minus-23 runs at first base in just 540 innings. He didn't get much practice. Just to give some kind of a clue at just how bad Marv Throneberry was as a fielder, former manager Casey Stengel, who Throneberry played for with the expansion New York Mets, said to Throneberry on his birthday, "We was going to get you a birthday cake, but we figured you'd drop it.". Diamondbacks primed to bury Dodgers, Losing Corey Seager leaves Dodgers' season on the brink. He might be standing out there, sweating a little more than everyone else, not as locked in as you want, overthinking it. The AL East is setting up as a race for the ages, Albert Pujols' push for 3,000 powered by dominant decade, 'Ich-i-ro! There are just zeroes. The really strange thing about Bill Madlock's career is teams didn't try to fit him into an easier position to play, like right field. UZR had Kemp at minus-26 runs that year, the worst total it has ever given a center fielder going back to 2002, so by all accounts Kemp was awful. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. My word, honesty is in short frickin supply around here. They also rank 19th in actual wOBA on contact, with the second-greatest difference between the numbers in the league. As you can see, the Royals are, quite literally, at the bottom of this list. While Madlock's career fielding percentage may look comparable to other third basemen during his time, fielding percentage never tells the whole story. 8. Such was the case with the "Steve Sax Syndrome" after the Los Angeles Dodgers' second baseman inexplicably couldn't throw to first base properly from 1983 to 1988. With 13 All-Star selections, 555 home runs and a .312 lifetime batting average, it's easy to see why outfielder Manny Ramirez clearly has numbers that should qualify him for Hall of Fame status. Anyway, Young had come up as a second baseman and moved to shortstop in 2004 and in 2005 he made 4.41 plays per nine innings versus the MLB average of 4.60 (his fielding percentage was about league average). Jose Lima was one of the more entertaining players in the major leagues throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Teams: Minnesota Twins (199197), New York Yankees (19982001), Kansas City Royals (2002), Stats: 6,821 chances, 2,852 putouts, 3,844 assists, 125 errors. Luzinski's misplay of a line drive to left field in the 1977 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers triggered what Phillies' fans call "Black Friday.". Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. So the two kind of balance each other out. While the numbers above don't appear to be horrible, noted baseball statistician Bill James once said that Smith should teach a course in "defensive recovery and cost containment" since he spent so much of his time working on it. Theres broad consensus that errors are not a reasonable method of measuring a players complete defensive contribution and DRS and UZR (for any of their failings) are superior methods of measuring overall defensive contribution, particularly when reviewed together. Bonilla could've been on this list as a third baseman, but that almost seemed too easy. He was just 37 years old. Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Anyone who can bounce a ball off their glove 20 feet into the stands for a home run deserves a spot on this list. Many regard defense to be the most important attribute for the catcher position, and that certainly can't be argued. How did Duane Kuiper play 10 seasons in the majors? Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. The Phillies might just land Manny Machado or Bryce Harper, and then theyll have a better lineup. The tradeoff? Theres no reason for them to have a bias. Martin had a horrendous -52 total zone runs allowed for his career, with a -39 mark in left field, where he started almost 843 games. Im older than him, and I can barely catch the TV remote when my roommate tosses it to me (from a couple of feet away mind you lol). With a defense so bad, you need to be able to hit. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=400&type=1&season=2018&month=0&season1=1871&ind=1&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=11,a. Teams: Cincinnati Reds (2005-09), Toronto Blue Jays (2009-16), Cleveland Indians (2017-18), Seattle Mariners (2019), New York Yankees (2019), Chicago White Sox (2020), Stats: 5,914 chances, 4,415 putouts, 1,355 assists, 144 errors. Only two third basemen finished worse in the stat than he did. All major league baseball data including pitch type, velocity, batted ball location, Doug Flynn's 1980 Gold Glove is one of those times. My next thought was 'I hope they don't hit it to Sax. Braun fielded just .895, making 26 errors in 112 games, and made .57 fewer plays per nine innings than the average third baseman. He tried first base, third base, outfield and even catcher. Sheffield was only marginally better in terms of numbers in the outfield, and considering where he was numbers-wise before he got there, that's not saying much either. We should all know Greg Luzinski's name an elite power hitter who played 15 seasons in the majors and had over 300 career home runs. It's a darn good thing that outfielder Ruben Sierra could hit a little bit, because he certainly wasn't kept around for his defense. That's just the first two pages of searches. Groom's fielding percentage hovered around or below .900 for most of his career and finished at an atrocious .940 in 13 seasons. Note: We used a combination of metrics such as Defensive Wins Above Replacement (dWAR), Total Zone Runs (an estimate of runs saved or given up in the field), errors and fielding percentage to produce this lineup. Devers was credited with minus-13 defensive runs saved, basically neck-and-neck with the Phillies' Alec Bohm for the worst third baseman in the majors. What a weak comeback. Fans who sat behind the first base area at Dodger Stadium were known to wear helmets, not knowing where Sax's throws would land. 1. Bichette was fast enough to play a little center field early in his career, but by 1999 was 35 and lumbering. by Retrosheet. Real or Not? Teams: Colorado Rockies (2004-10), Tampa Bay Rays (2010). Ed Taubensee was an average hitter who was historically bad at defense for his entire career he threw out only 23 percent of baserunners who tried to steal. What else do you need to know? While his fielding improved over the course of his career, you can point directly to his early struggles in the outfield as one of the reasons the Oakland A's traded him after three seasons and an average of approximately -20 total zone runs allowed in that span. A third defensive metric that I'll mention in the piece below is ultimate zone rating, available at FanGraphs. Teams: Oakland Athletics (1985-92), Texas Rangers (1992-94), Boston Red Sox (1995-96), Oakland Athletics (1997), Toronto Blue Jays (1998), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1999-2000), New York Yankees (2000), Chicago White Sox (2001), Stats: 2,128 chances, 2,003 putouts, 63 assists, 62 errors. But watching Bernie Williams play center field for the Yankees for almost two decades was a study in perseverance. And his TZR allowed were among some of the highest in his career after the move, although he did finish his career with 412 home runs. Also note that there is some variation in DRS as presented on baseball reference sitesfor example, Baseball-Reference.com credits Adrin Beltr with a DRS figure of 201 for his career,[8] while FanGraphs credits him with 200. [/fn] They're the mirror image of Runs Created, the metric Bill James developed . Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. For those of you who dont know, DRS stands for Defensive Runs Saved. which combined with poor range gave him minus-37 defensive runs saved. And it should be clear that, at the very least, the Phillies defense has been a season-long weakness. Kirby Puckett, CF, 1993 Twins (minus-29 runs), This one seems a little odd considering Puckett had won a Gold Glove the previous season. Maybe that's why the Hall of Famer was so poor at fielding the ball. To say that outfielder Jose Canseco was defensively challenged is a bit like saying that Babe Ruth was just a better than average slugger. The four Golden Gloves he won were a joke his total zone runs allowed were in double digits for two of those seasons. Details are actually sketchy regarding Browning's defensive prowess, but several accounts claim that Browning played defense standing on one leg to prevent opposing players from running into him. The point is that Devers is not much better than Andujar and therefore the remark about Andujar and the worst DRS is garbage. So the numbers certainly indicate that Dahlen was not necessarily bad in any way, but he does have the dubious record nonetheless. I never thought of Gomez as a bad fielder, but I guess I never really gave all that much thought to Gomez in the first place. No-hitter the latest feat in James Paxton's rise, Deal ends Matt Harvey's roller-coaster ride with Mets, Sizing up potential trade fits for Manny Machado, Real or Not? Slow of foot, Kingman was simply awful in the outfield, posting a lifetime .957 fielding percentage and -32 Rtot. As an outfielder, Incaviglia's play could certainly be described as hit-or-miss as well. Or write about sports? Frank Thomas was nicknamed Big Hurt for the way he punished baseballs, hitting 521 home runs during his career. All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. ", "And Phillies fans never forgave Ozark for failing to make a defensive substitution for Greg Luzinski". What's worse about Hill's defensive stats is he was shoved into the designated hitter role whenever teams had an opportunity to use him there to limit his defensive chances. In retrospect, you could say the story of the 2018 Phillies is represented by the acquisition of Carlos Santana. Sorry, the RF variance is not enough to claim 1) Devers is better (certainly not offensively) and 2) Andujar has the worst DRS Evah, as you suggest. Here, then, is a list of 40 of the worst defensive players in MLB history.