Sports Info Solutions

Log In

Category: Defense

  • Stat of the Week: What A Turnaround For The Mets

    Stat of the Week: What A Turnaround For The Mets

    The Mets currently rank 25th in the majors with -13 Defensive Runs Saved. They haven’t gotten positive value at any defensive position over the entire season.

    But to leave it at that would be incredibly misleading because they’re currently on an amazing run. It’s one in which their defense has played a huge part.

    As bad as their -13 looks right now, that’s nothing compared to how entering June they were at -34 Runs Saved, which ranked next-to-last in MLB. After a dreadful start to the season, the Mets are 32-15 in their last 47 games. Since June 1 they’ve totaled 21 Runs Saved, 4th-most in MLB in that time.

    Team Runs Saved
    Guardians 38
    Brewers 30
    Royals 26
    Mets 21
    Blue Jays 16
    Braves 15
    Diamondbacks 15
    Red Sox 12
    Rangers 10
    Astros 9

    Of the top 10 teams in Runs Saved since June 1, the Mets and Astros are the only ones who still have a negative Runs Saved for the season. In other words, most of the teams that were good before continued to be good. The Mets were an anomaly.

    So what happened here?

    Early-season injuries to right fielder Starling Marte and catcher Francisco Alvarez, and a rough start for their other catcher, Omar Narvaez, forced the Mets to make some adjustments and acquire Luis Torrens.

    Tyrone Taylor has rotated between the three outfield spots but has been particularly good in place of Marte in right field. Marte had -9 Runs Saved in right field prior to his injury. For the season, Taylor has 6 Runs Saved there, 4 since June 1.

    Alvarez and Narvaez went through a stretch in which they couldn’t throw any would-be basestealer out. Torrens has caught only 18 games but he’s made a world of difference, throwing out 8-of-12 would-be basestealers and picking off another. He has 3 Runs Saved.

    Meanwhile, shortstop Francisco Lindor got off to a dreadful start to the season but now looks like an MVP candidate. He entered June with -3 Runs Saved but has flipped that around and has 3 Runs Saved since the start of that month.

    Lindor’s positive play has impacted the entire infield. The Mets ranked last in the majors in how frequently they turned a ground ball or bunt into an out through the end of May. They rank 8th since the start of June.

    There are other things going right too. First baseman Pete Alonso has played better defense in this stretch. Harrison Bader replacing Brandon Nimmo in center field improved their defense there from last season, even though it still rates below average in 2024. Nimmo has been alright in left field and avoided major mistakes.

     

    We’d also be remiss if we didn’t point out how the overall play of Jose Iglesias has sparked the team. Three years ago, Iglesias was the worst defensive shortstop in the majors. Now, he’s a utility player and team sparkplug. Though he has -3 Runs Saved at second base, when he’s filled in at third base (a position he last played in 2013), the ball has found him in important spots.

    Iglesias also has a hit song, ‘OMG,’ that has become the Mets’ anthem as they’ve surged into playoff position. The song title is an apt way to describe how their defense has played too.

  • Note to MLB Teams: Are You Sure You Don’t Want Kevin Kiermaier?

    Note to MLB Teams: Are You Sure You Don’t Want Kevin Kiermaier?

    Photo: Larry Placido/Icon Sportswire

    Kevin Kiermaier didn’t make MLB Trade Rumors’ list of its Top 50 Trade Candidates. When the Blue Jays put him on waivers, no one claimed him, likely because that would mean paying what’s left on his $10.5 million contract for this season.

    But we have to think there’s some contending team out there for whom Kiermaier could play a prominent role.

    We say this even though Kiermaier is hitting .189 with a .540 OPS in just under 200 plate appearances for the disappointing Blue Jays this season. That OPS is a 201-point dip from last season, a good year that earned Kiermaier his latest one-year deal.

    Kiermaier has value on a good team, which the Blue Jays are not, because he is still a very good defensive center fielder who can impact a game in any inning. Kiermaier won a Fielding Bible Award at that position last year. He’s been very good this year too.

    Kiermaier’s 7 Runs Saved rank tied for 5th among center fielders in 2024. His three-year total of 27 there is topped only by Daulton Varsho (31) and Michael A. Taylor (31). 

    Player Team Runs Saved
    Pete Crow Armstrong Cubs 10
    Jarren Duran Red Sox 9
    Ceddanne Rafaela Red Sox 8
    Daulton Varsho Blue Jays 8
    Kevin Kiermaier Blue Jays 7
    Michael Siani Cardinals 7
    Jacob Young Nationals 7

    In terms of MLB-tracked stats, Kiermaier’s 90-foot split time, his sprint speed, and his jumps are near matches for what they were last season. He ranks in the 97th percentile for arm strength (averaging 93.7 MPH). The skills are still there.

    Admittedly, if you look at most of the contending teams, they’re pretty well set in center field for all 9 innings (for example, the Mariners and Padres aren’t likely to displace Julio Rodriguez or Jackson Merrill at the end of a game for a defensive replacement).

    But there are a couple of spots where Kiermaier could fit. One example would be with the Dodgers where James Outman just came back to try to stabilize the position, though Kiermaier’s a better defender than he is. The Orioles (Cedric Mullins), Guardians (Tyler Freeman), Giants (Heliot Ramos), and Rangers (Leody Taveras) are others that have center fielders that aren’t as good defensively as Kiermaier is.

    These teams could install Kiermaier as their ‘defensive closer,’ bringing him into the game in the 8th or 9th inning to save the game with his glove. As an added wrinkle, they could even give Kiermaier a light-show entrance a la Edwin Díaz, with John Fogerty’s “Center Field” as his entrance music (alright, maybe that’s a little much).

    You might laugh, but remember Michael Harris’ catch and double play in last year’s playoffs or Chas McCormick’s in the 2022 World Series? Kiermaier has made plays that looked like those plenty of times. He had one reasonably similar to that last month. There’s also the catch from the photo atop this article which just happened last week.

    There are other players who will be switching teams in the next couple of weeks who are good defensively. But none have Kiermaier’s reputation for defensive excellence. His value has the potential to be priceless.

    Most Defensive Runs Saved – Center Fielders

    Since Stat First Calculated in 2003

    Player Runs Saved
    Kevin Kiermaier 159
    Lorenzo Cain 119
    Juan Lagares 81
    Michael A. Taylor 76
    Byron Buxton 76
    Michael Bourn 75
  • Looking For Good Defense? Watch The Rangers When Nathan Eovaldi Pitches

    Looking For Good Defense? Watch The Rangers When Nathan Eovaldi Pitches

    Photos: Leslie Plaza Johnson and John Bunch/Icon Sportswire

    Did you happen to catch Nathan Eovaldi’s seven innings of one-hit ball last Tuesday against the Padres?

    If you did, you saw not only Eovaldi pitch a gem, but the Rangers field some gems. Their combined defensive effort on the batted balls against Eovaldi was worth 2 Runs Saved.

    There was some impressive range.

     

    Some smart defensive positioning

    And some good luck.

    With a few other niceties mixed in.

     

    This isn’t unusual.

    By our measures the Rangers have saved 17 runs on the batted balls hit against Eovaldi this season, the most by any team for any pitcher in 2024.

    It’s often thought that the difference between a pitcher’s ERA and FIP can be attributed to either luck, performance with runners in scoring position, or the caliber of a team’s defensive play. In Eovaldi’s case, it seems like the difference between his 3.10 ERA and 3.74 FIP is a product of the Rangers’ defense. There are pitchers with lower BABIPs than Eovaldi who have not received this kind of defense behind them.

    Two other things we’ve noticed about the Rangers’ defense behind Eovaldi.

    One would be how good Marcus Semien has been. Four of his 10 Runs Saved on batted balls have come when Eovaldi’s pitched. The whole Rangers infield has been great. It has turned 83% of the grounders and bunts against him into outs, the 5th-highest rate in MLB (minimum 60 grounders and bunts) and a rate 10 percentage points higher than MLB average.

    The other would be that the Rangers have played mistake-free. In addition to tracking errors, our Video Scouts also track Defensive Misplays. These incorporate things like if a fielder slipped and fell, or if a potential double play was botched by a poor glove-to-hand exchange. We have more than 60 categories of Misplays.

    The Rangers have had only 3 Defensive Misplays and Errors with Eovaldi on the mound. Eovaldi’s teammates, Andrew Heaney and Jon Gray, each been victimized by 11 Misplays & Errors, Jose Urena 8, and Michael Lorenzen by 7 in a comparable number of innings. Dane Dunning is the one other pitcher in their rotation for whom the Rangers have limited their misplays. They’ve committed 4 for him.

    Eovaldi next pitches for the Rangers on Saturday against the Astros.

    Here are the MLB leaders in most Defensive Runs Saved support on batted balls against them.

    Pitcher Team Runs Saved
    Nathan Eovaldi Rangers 17
    Jose Berrios Blue Jays 14
    Colin Rea Brewers 12
    Aaron Nola Phillies 11
    Logan Gilbert Mariners 11

  • MLB’s First Half Defensive MVP: Daulton Varsho

    MLB’s First Half Defensive MVP: Daulton Varsho

    This is the time of year when people select their first half MVPs and Cy Young Award winners. But nobody ever asks “Who was the first half Defensive MVP?”

    Not until now anyways. I just asked. And now I’ll answer.

    It’s an easy call for me. My choice would be Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho.

    Varsho has 12 Defensive Runs Saved in left field (most in MLB) and 7 Runs Saved in center field (1 run shy of the MLB lead). Adding 12 and 7 isn’t necessarily the best way to assess defensive value but if you do, he’s No. 1 in baseball with 19 Runs Saved (he tied Fernando Tatis Jr. for No. 1 last year too). He’s also No. 1 in 2024 in Baseball-Reference’s Defensive WAR, which takes the difficulty of playing the position into account.

    Varsho is on the small side and he’s a little burly. He’s listed at 5-foot-8, 207 pounds. That’s an odd combination for an MLB outfielder in 2024 and one more appropriate for his former position, catcher. In fact, there aren’t even any other semi-regular outfielders who are 5-9 or shorter and 200 pounds or heavier.

    Magicians will sometimes describe a trick as packing small and playing big. That’s a good way to describe Varsho too. He goes after fly balls without fear or hesitation both coming in and going back to make catchers that other outfielders don’t make.

    In April, it felt like he was in Quick Pitch’s “Premier Play” highlights every night. It’s a little less regular these days but still evident. He leads all outfielders with 18 Good Fielding Plays* Much like a good magic trick, you don’t know he can surprise you with how good he is.

    * Good Fielding Plays, awarded by our Video Scouts, encompass great catches, throws resulting in an out, and plays like cutting a ball off to prevent a batter or runner from taking an extra base. 

    Our Video Scouts have credited Varsho with a Good Fielding Play on 15 fly ball or line drive catches this season. You can see what makes Varsho so good by watching some of them.

     

    This one from April 28 against the Dodgers rates higher in fear factor than out probability. Bonus points because Shohei Ohtani was the hitter. Watch it again and listen to the impact. Props to the SportsNet production team for having the wall mic’d.

    By our count, Varsho has caught 4 balls on which he’s crashed into a fence this season, tied with Stuart Fairchild and Jazz Chisholm Jr. for most in MLB.

     If you want to see one that rates higher out probability wise, check out Varsho’s 40-yard dash-and-crash on this one on July 5 against the Mariners and Luke Raley.

    and another of the same nature on April 19 against the Padres and Xander Bogaerts.

    Ouch.

    Sometimes Varsho does approach the wall carefully. Like here on May 13 against a would-be home run hit by Ryan O’Hearn of the Orioles.

     

    I’m going to do something I don’t usually do here and publish a still shot  because this one is just perfect at showing how high he got. Love that an Orioles reliever got a nice close-up of it. He’ll probably never see a better catch.

    Daulton Varsho reaches well over the outfield wall to make a catch as an Orioles relief pitcher watches.

    You’ve now gotten a pretty good look at what Varsho is like when going back to make a difficult play.

    But what about other types of catches?

    Varsho ranks No. 1 in MLB – per Statcast – when assessing how much more ground he covers than the average outfielder within the first 3 seconds of the ball coming off the bat. He’s shown he can go in any direction to make a play.

    This one is our No. 1 play by out probability for Varsho, a liner to right center by Bobby Witt Jr. on April 26. We gave Varsho only a 7% chance of making the catch. Royals broadcaster Rex Hudler realized right away how good it was.

     

    His No. 2 play is also a low liner, this one to left field by Anthony Rizzo, which checked in with a 12% out probability.

     

    And more recently, there’s this catch and double play against Ty France of the Mariners on July 6. It looks like he actually snagged this one with the heel of his glove and then squeezed it while tumbling over.

     

    Varsho has split his time between left field and center field almost evenly this season. His 7 Runs Saved in center field are boosted by the bonus he got for the home run robbery plus a couple for limiting baserunner advances on base hits. He’s made 96 catches on 133 opportunities*, 5 more than the summed out probabilities from those 133 chances indicated he’d make

    * Opportunities = plays with a >0% out probability

    He’s been a very good center fielder. But he’s been a dominant left fielder. There, he’s made 93 catches on 109 opportunities, 12 more than his expected number of catches. He’s far better than the rest of the field in the range component of Runs Saved.

    Varsho’s basically eliminated mistakes from his game. In 2023 he had 11 Defensive Misplays & Errors in just over 800 innings. In 2024 he has 1 Misplay and no errors in just shy of 350 innings.

    We’ve heard from a lot of angry Blue Jays fans on social media who feel that Varsho’s excellence goes unrecognized. That’s not the case here. We’re well aware of just how good he’s been.

    Most Defensive Runs Saved – Left Field

    Name Team Runs Saved
    Daulton Varsho Blue Jays 12
    Brandon Marsh Phillies 10
    Riley Greene Tigers 8
    Steven Kwan Guardians 8

     

    Most Defensive Runs Saved – Center Field

    Name Team Runs Saved
    Jarren Duran Red Sox 8
    Jacob Young Nationals 8
    Pete Crow-Armstrong Cubs 8
    Daulton Varsho Blue Jays 7
  • For Jacob Young, Great Catches Start with Great Jumps

    For Jacob Young, Great Catches Start with Great Jumps

    Nationals center fielder Young doesn’t just get good jumps. He gets great ones. His average distance covered in the first 1.5 seconds after a fly ball is hit is 4 feet more than the average outfielder. There are only three other outfielders whose average distance is 2 feet above average, none greater than 2.2.

    Young’s jumps are what have put him in position to be one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball this season. Even though Young may not rate as well when it comes to his route running as he does his jumps, he’s so good in the latter that he co-leads the majors in Runs Saved at his position, making many catches that others don’t.

    Young talked on our baseball podcast about the work that goes getting great jumps, which involves a cone drill implemented in spring training by outfield instructor Coco Crisp

    “You’re working on taking a step one way and being able to course correct back to that original spot. It gives you the freedom to try to get a great jump and course correct back to center and give yourself time to readjust. Gerardo Parra is our outfield coach. If you ask him what he cares about, he says ‘The only thing I care about is your first step.’ The best time to work on it is batting practice. You just try to make it natural and be as ‘on time’ as you can be.”

    To hear the rest of Young’s interview, check out the latest episode of The SIS Baseball Podcast.

  • June’s Defensive Players of the Month: Jose Siri & Brice Turang

    June’s Defensive Players of the Month: Jose Siri & Brice Turang

    June’s Defensive Players of the Month, Rays center fielder Jose Siri and Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, won the award on the strength of both their overall defensive value and plays that wowed and showed off their best skills.

    Jose Siri

    Siri led all center fielders with 6 Defensive Runs Saved in June and tied Jacob Young of the Nationals for the monthly lead in Good Fielding Plays at the position with 7.

    The most impressive-looking of those plays was a game-ending leaping catch at the fence against the Pirates on June 21 (while avoiding the arms of a fan who reached over the railing).

    But there were others too, including a full-speed sprinting catch earlier in that same game.

    A day earlier he’d shown off his arm with a fantastic throw to third base (with his momentum going in the opposite direction) to get Royce Lewis of the Twins at third base to help preserve a one-run lead in the 10th inning. As Rays TV analyst Brian Anderson said of that one “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

    Siri’s run of terrific defensive plays really began with this leaping catch at the fence to keep a game tied in the 9th inning on May 29 (while avoiding a teammate). He actually entered June with -2 Runs Saved for the season but is now well onto the positive side of that stat.

    In this hot defensive stretch, Siri has shown off his speed and acceleration. He ranks 2nd in Statcast’s ‘burst’ stat, which measures how many more feet a fielder covers than the average defender when a batted ball has been in the air from 1.6 to 3 seconds. He also ranks in the top 15 in ‘reaction’ which measures how many feet a fielder covers in the first 1.5 seconds after contact.

    Brice Turang

    Turang led all second basemen with 7 Runs Saved in June. That matched the most Runs Saved for any player at any position. Turang’s teammate Jackson Chourio as well as Zach Neto and Taylor Ward of the Angels also each had 7.

    Turang is also tied with Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks and Marcus Semien of the Rangers for the MLB season lead in Runs Saved at second base with 11. He finished 3rd in Runs Saved as a rookie second baseman last season.

    There was some versatility among Turang’s top defensive plays in June. His highlights included this leaping catch against the Reds on June 14, a play on which he went well up the middle to get an out 10 days later against the Rangers and then one the next day in which he dove to his left.

    Since making his MLB debut last season, Turang’s strength has been those plays on balls hit to his right. He’s gotten at least one out on 72 of 112 opportunities. An average fielder would have converted only 61 of those opportunities into outs. Turang’s +11 plus-minus on those balls (our version of outs above average) is best of anyone at second base.

    2024 MLB Defensive Players of the Month

    Month Players
    March/April Daulton Varsho & Marcus Semien
    May Jo Adell & Ezequiel Tovar
    June Jose Siri & Brice Turang
  • The Royals pitcher defense has been Zack Greinke-like

    The Royals pitcher defense has been Zack Greinke-like

    Photo: Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire

    I’ve written a lot about the Royals this year, whether it be a preseason piece about Bobby Witt Jr., a look at Kyle Isbel’s penchant for catching deep fly balls or their second base by committee approach.

    My interest in this team isn’t some sort of ‘Middle America bias’ as it is a middle-of-the-diamond bias. I like writing about teams with good defense up the middle. And I’m writing about the Royals yet again because of their defense at an up-the-middle position that we might not think about – pitcher.

    Royals’ pitchers rank 1st in MLB with 14 Defensive Runs Saved this season. No other team is in double figures. That’s Zack Greinke-like contributions there*.

    * Greinke has the most Runs Saved of any pitcher (98) dating to the first season the stat was tracked, 2003.

    How does a team’s pitching staff help itself defensively as much as the Royals have?

    I’m glad the Apple announcing team praised this play from May 9 because it is a terrific play, one worth 0.6 runs saved by our measures. Props to Daniel Lynch for making it.

    But Lynch is not the only one who is athletically adept off the mound. Here’s a play John Schreiber made against the Angels the very next day, valued at 0.45 runs.

    Here’s another one by Angel Zerpa a week earlier.

    Lastly, this looks like nothing much for Seth Lugo, but there are plenty of pitchers whose follow-through would make this a tougher play or one requiring the second basemen to try to make it. But because Lugo’s in position to make the play, he can without issue. Thus, the play has a value of 0.5 runs.

     

    Now, sometimes the Royals get a little lucky, though I’m sure Chris Stratton would say this play was all skill.

    And if you’re going to be as good as the Royals have been, sometimes you’ve got to use more than your glove, as Brady Singer demonstrated.

    In all, an MLB-best 9 of the 14 Runs Saved for the Royals pitchers come from their turning batted balls into outs. Some of this is the product of opportunity. They’ve fielded 91 batted balls this season, the most in MLB and 20 more than the average team. And they’ve, for the most part, made the most of those opportunities.

    As for where the other 5 Runs Saved come from, that’s a credit to the team’s success limiting opponents stolen bases. But that feels like something where I’ve got to give credit to the catchers too.

    Looks like I have an excuse to write about the Royals’ defense if I want to again sometime in the near future. 😊

  • Gunnar Henderson’s Defense Lives Up To Its Billing

    Gunnar Henderson’s Defense Lives Up To Its Billing

    Photo: Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire

    Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson is halfway to a 10-WAR season (Baseball-Reference version), which is important because the last shortstop to have one was Alex Rodriguez in 2000 and the last before that was Cal Ripken Jr. for Henderson’s Orioles in both 1984 and 1991.

    Henderson’s WAR being that high at this point in the season is partly a credit to his defense. He ranks tied for 2nd among shortstops with 6 Defensive Runs Saved. He’s contributed 1.1 Defensive Wins Above Replacement to that 5.0 overall, one of 15 players this season whose value on defense is at least 1 WAR.

    Tuesday night, Henderson will play his 160th career game at shortstop. He has 16 career Runs Saved there. In the last 2 seasons he ranks tied for 4th in Runs Saved at the position even though he ranks 21st in innings played there.

    Moreover, there’s such a nice aesthetic to Henderson’s defensive game. Even though Henderson has made his share of mistakes this season, he’s got such a good look to the way he makes plays.

    What makes him so good

     

    What separates Henderson from other shortstops is how well he handles balls hit to his right. That often means a ball hit in the 56 hole, ones that require him to throw either while moving away from first base or for him to plant and throw from the outfield grass.

     

    When your broadcasters are describing your plays as “ridiculous” and “insane” that’s usually a pretty good sign. Even 78-year-old Jim Palmer, who has seen past Orioles Gold Glove shortstops Luis Aparicio, Mark Belanger, Ripken, and J.J. Hardy, joins in on the hype.

    There are a handful of guys of whom you could say that they are among the best in baseball at making those types of plays. Henderson is definitely one of them.

    This season Henderson has made 70 plays on balls hit to his right in 112 opportunities*.

    * Opportunities are balls on which he has a >0% probability to record an out.

    If we combine the out probabilities of those batted balls, an average shortstop would be expected to make 62 plays on those balls. 

    He’s thus 8 plays better than the average shortstop on balls hit to his right (+8 in our version of Outs Above Average). That’s best in MLB and it remains the best even when we look at it on a per-play basis. The only other shortstop who is more than 4 plays above average is Elly De La Cruz (+7).

    The Orioles are also maximizing Henderson’s value by giving him the best chance to make a play. Our Defensive Runs Saved separates the elements of each batted ball to isolate the value of positioning. They’ve received 7 runs of positioning credit for Henderson, matching the most that any team has received for any player this season. 

    Here’s a good example of the combination of positioning and skill producing an out, this on a ball hit to his left. 

     

    A ball up the middle like this has a 34% out probability for Henderson if we don’t know where he’s positioned. That jumps to 60% knowing the Orioles put him where they did. And it’s up to Henderson’s range and throwing ability to get that from a 60% play to a 100% out, which he did.

    Much was made of Henderson’s size when he came up to the majors. He’s 6-foot-3, maybe 6-foot-4 and he’s been using that to his advantage since he came through the minor leagues

     

    “It helps with range being a little bit taller,” Henderson told us when we interviewed him in 2022 before his recall to the Orioles. “A shorter person might have a quicker first step but length helps a lot.”

    Playing big allows him to put up big numbers on defense.

    Outlook

    I don’t know that I’d deify Henderson and rate him as the best defensive shortstop in the game just yet. He hasn’t been as good on balls to his left as he was last season and his numbers on turning double plays are a little off. He has 17 Misplays and Errors as tracked by our Video Scouts. That’s a total and rate that is a little higher than some other elite defensive shortstops like Ezequiel Tovar and Anthony Volpe this season and it’s not tracking to the career norms of someone like Miguel Rojas, who is consistently good. That’s why Henderson at 6 Runs Saved and not 10 or more right now.

    But nonetheless he’s really, really good and just to be talking about 10 WAR about 70 games into the season is a big deal. If he’s getting there, defense is going to have something to do with it.

    Most Defensive Runs Saved – 2024 Season

    Player Team Runs Saved
    Masyn Winn Cardinals 7
    Gunnar Henderson Orioles 6
    Zach Neto Angels 6
    Orlando Arcia Braves 6
    Brayan Rocchio Guardians 6
    Ezequiel Tovar Rockies 6

  • Stat of the Week: Most Runs Saved At One Position (Teams)

    Stat of the Week: Most Runs Saved At One Position (Teams)

    Photo: Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire

    Last week we looked at the overall Defensive Runs Saved leaderboard from an individual player perspective.

    But in 2024, there are a lot of teams using platoons or timeshares due to injury or other reasons that have been highly productive defensively.

    So rather than look at which players are contributing the most defensive value to their team, let’s look at a team’s positional group and see which have the most Runs Saved. This ranking could be largely the work of one player but often it’s the work of more than one.

    Diamondbacks second base (12 Runs Saved) – Our team leader isn’t the product of a timeshare so much as it is one guy who’s been really good, Ketel Marte. He has been great, leading all NL players in bWAR thanks in part to 11 Runs Saved at second. His teammates who have filled in on occasion have combined for 1.

    Yankees catcher (11 Runs Saved) – The Yankees have two excellent defensive catchers in Jose Trevino (7 Runs Saved) and Austin Wells (4 Runs Saved), who have split time almost equally. They’ve earned their value with their pitch framing this season. Trevino ranks tied for 2nd in our stat that measures that, Strike Zone Runs Saved. Wells is tied for 5th.

    Dodgers right field (11 Runs Saved) – This has been a true group effort between Andy Pages (5 Runs Saved), Jason Heyward (3 Runs Saved), and Teoscar Hernández (3 Runs Saved). The Dodgers have had their problems defensively in center field and left field, but this combination in right field – as odd as it is to say – probably matches or betters what Mookie Betts would have been doing had he not moved to the infield.

    Red Sox center field (11 Runs Saved) – Circumstance has resulted in a time split here between Ceddanne Rafaela (5 Runs Saved), who also plays three infield positions, and Jarren Duran (6 Runs Saved) ,who also plays left field and ranks among the overall leaders in Runs Saved. Both are standout athletes who have handled center field well so far. Red Sox outfielders lead the majors with 25 Runs Saved.

    Blue Jays center field (10 Runs Saved) – The Blue Jays are fortunate enough to have an outfield with three players capable of playing center field well in Kevin Kiermaier, Daulton Varsho, and George Springer. Kiermaier (4 Runs Saved) and Varsho (5 Runs Saved) have split time there due to Kiermaier’s hip injury. Springer filled in once and his 4 putouts that day were good enough to be credited with 1 Run Saved.

    Phillies left field (10 Runs Saved) – The Phillies have played 6 players there this season with Brandon Marsh (5 Runs Saved) getting the most innings. But when he doesn’t play, the Phillies have capable alternatives in Cristian Pache (3 Runs Saved), David Dahl (2 Runs Saved), and Whit Merrifield (0 Runs Saved). Most importantly, defensive liability Kyle Schwarber has played only one game there this season.

    Royals pitchers (10 Runs Saved) – Seth Lugo, Daniel Lynch, and Cole Ragans each have 2 Runs Saved and a bunch of pitchers have 1. The Runs Saved are a product of two things: fielding batted balls (their pitchers have combined for 10 more plays made than expected) and doing their part in conjunction with their catchers to limit stolen bases (the Royals have caught 14 of 36 would-be basestealers).

    Royals second base (9 Runs Saved) – We wrote about this group earlier this week. Michael Massey (3 Runs Saved), Nick Loftin (3 Runs Saved), Adam Frazier (2 Runs Saved), and Garrett Hampson (1 Run Saved) have all been good playmakers who have flipped the position’s -9 Runs Saved last year around.

    Rangers second base (9 Runs Saved) – This is one of the other instances of one player driving the total and that’s because when their best defensive player, Marcus Semien, misses a game, it’s a story. Semien, who plays just about every day, has 10 Runs Saved this season. He’s battling Marte for the position lead.

    Rangers shortstop (9 Runs Saved) – You might think this was one player too, but it isn’t just Corey Seager and his 5 Runs Saved. It’s also our most recent podcast guest, utility man Josh Smith, who has been highly adept at turning double plays and has 4 Runs Saved in limited action there.

  • For The Royals At 2nd Base, It Takes A Village … A Good One

    For The Royals At 2nd Base, It Takes A Village … A Good One

    Photo: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire

    If you haven’t heard by now, the Royals are doing a lot of things well. They’re 39-27 entering their game with the Yankees tonight. And while you can certainly say that the stars like catcher Salvador Perez and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. have starred, there’s something to be said for group efforts.

    I’m referring specifically to second base, which has been manned by four players this season – Michael Massey, Adam Frazier, Nick Loftin, and Garrett Hampson. None entered Monday having played more than 29 games at the position.

    Combined, those four players rank 4th in Baseball-Reference’s Wins Above Average, which (like WAR) measures player value in all areas but gauges it on the basis of an average player. Last season, Royals second basemen rank 26th in Wins Above Average.

    The improvement is part offense, part defense.

    Royals Second Basemen

      2023 2024
    OPS .676 (21st) .740 (5th)
    Defensive Runs Saved -9 (T-27th) 9 (2nd)

    Offensively, all but Frazier have hit better than an MLB average second baseman. Defensively, none of them have more than 3 Runs Saved but all four of them have a positive Run Saved number.

    For balls hit past the pitcher’s mound, but between first base and second base, the Royals have turned 77% of batted balls into outs. That ranks 5th in MLB. Last year, that percentage was 72% and the Royals ranked 25th. The five percentage-point differential is worth about an extra 15 outs so far this season.

     

    Where this has come into play specifically has been on balls hit to the right of wherever any of these four happened to be playing. They’ve been best in MLB relative to the number of outs they were expected to get.

    Royals 2B on Balls Hit To Their Right

    Plays Made Attempts Plays Above Avg MLB Rank
    61 112 +7 1st

     And what’s cool about that is that we can find an example for each player within the 10 most-valued plays made by the Royals second basemen this season.

     

     

     

     

    To pardon the pun, the Royals have gotten it right with their second basemen this season. In more ways than one.