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Tag: Adam Engel

  • Stat of the Week: Adam Engel’s Amazing Home Run Robberies

    Stat of the Week: Adam Engel’s Amazing Home Run Robberies

    By MARK SIMON

    DHs aren’t carrying their weight as MLB offenses are off to a slow start. Defensive shifting is up considerably, particularly in Toronto where the Blue Jays are using them on almost every batter.

    But we’re only a week into the season. Sample sizes are so small. Let’s wait at least another week before jumping to any sort of meaningful conclusions or observations.

    And while we do that, let’s look at something fun that only SIS tracks: Home run-robbing catches

    Specifically, I want to address White Sox outfielder Adam Engel, who stole another home run on Wednesday, this one from Jesse Winker of the Mariners.

    That marked the seventh home run robbery of Engel’s career. Seven is a lot. Engel ranks sixth among active players in home run-robbing catches. And that’s particularly impressive when you look at how often he’s played compared to those who rank ahead of him in number.

    There are no cheap home run robberies in Engel’s collection, no instances of going into an outfield corner that had a short porch and just snagging the ball without too much effort. Every one of these catches has required a legitimate leap.

    Wednesday’s was arguably the easiest, as he got back to the right field wall with time to spare and timed his leap correctly in order to make the play.

    Among the other types of homer-robbing catches in his repertoire are the change-of-direction and one that showed off his NBA-calber ups. The latter came in 2018 and was his third home run robbery within a seven-day span. He’s the only player to have that many in that short a time in the 19 seasons for which we’ve tracked home run takeaways.

    In order to keep climbing up the home run robberies list, Engel needs to stay healthy and hit enough to justify his lineup spot. Staying on the field has been a challenge. Engel missed time last season due to both hamstring and shoulder injuries.

    But the offense has been there. In his first three seasons, Engel had a .601 OPS. In 2020 and 2021, that jumped to .823. He’s found something in his offensive game that has enabled him to become more than a one-note player.

  • Simply the best: White Sox defense No. 1 so far in 2020

    Simply the best: White Sox defense No. 1 so far in 2020

    By MARK SIMON

    Nice catch, Adam Engel!

    Yes, Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter featured 13 strikeouts, but to complete his no-hitter on Tuesday night, he needed help from his defense right to the last pitch.

    Balls like Erik Gonzalez’s funky line drive to right field that was caught by Engel result in the batter reaching 39% of the time. That percentage is based on where the ball was hit, how hard the ball was hit, and what type of batted ball it was. That Engel made the play may have been a testament to something that our Andrew Kyne wrote last year – that those who play center field who move to right field (as Engel has done) add value to a defense.

    The White Sox defense was there for him as it has been for its pitchers all season. The team leads MLB with 19 Defensive Runs Saved entering Tuesday. This would be a huge improvement if maintained in the second half of the season. The White Sox ranked 26th in Runs Saved last season, their defense costing the team 56 runs.

    Two players have made improvements that might come as a surprise and both played a role in last night’s game. Shortstop Tim Anderson handled this play without issue.

    Anderson cost the White Sox 12 runs with his defense last season, but has saved them 2 runs thus far in 2020. First baseman Jose Abreu was on the other end of that throw and made a nice pick to get the out. Abreu made another good play on an Anderson throw in the sixth inning.

    Abreu is tied with Matt Olson for the lead among first basemen with 4 Runs Saved this season after costing the team 8 in 2019. Though Abreu’s total largely comes from covering a good amount of ground, his work on Tuesday is part of a larger story. Abreu has only once finished a season with a positive Runs Saved total at the position.

    Other keys to the White Sox defensive success this season:

    * Rookie Luis Robert has handled center field well, though he didn’t get much of a workout last night. White Sox center fielders have an MLB-leading 8 Runs Saved in 2020. Watch Robert a little bit and you’ll see his 7 Runs Saved come from making hard plays look routine and being well positioned to make plays.

    * Second baseman Danny Mendick, who didn’t have any difficult plays last night, has 4 Runs Saved. That ranks tied for second in MLB.

    * Catchers Yasmani Grandal and James McCann have shored up an issue from 2019. They’ve combined for 3 Runs Saved after the team finished with -10 Runs Saved in 2019. By making McCann the backup, the White Sox were able to let Welington Castillo go and limit the playing time of Zack Collins. Those two players cost the White Sox 14 runs last season.

    * Lastly, let’s revisit where we started with Engel making the play in right field. White Sox right fielders have a modest 2 Runs Saved in 2020.

    That play might not have been made last year.

    White Sox right fielders ranked last in MLB last season costing the team 23 runs with their defense. Ninety six percent of the White Sox innings in right field this season have come from players who were not in their right field rotation in 2019.

    Giolito was glad that Engel was the one there last night.

  • Stat of the Week: Who was August’s top defensive player?

    In a crowded group of highly-talented center fielders, it has been tough for Adam Engel to stand out from the rest. But in August he did. He’s our selection as the MLB Defensive Player of the Month.

    Engel finished the month with eight Defensive Runs Saved, the most by any outfielder. Half of that total was accumulated from three amazing home run robberies in a seven-day span. Engel snagged one from Greg Bird on Aug. 6, Kyle Higashioka the next day and Yonder Alonso on Aug. 12. He’s the first player in the 15 seasons for which we’ve tracked home run robberies to have three in a week’s span. His three home run robberies are the most of anyone in the majors this season.

    Engel has saved six runs this season after costing his team a run in center field in his rookie season, 2017. One change to his defensive game is that he’s playing deeper this year. Engel was usually the shallowest playing outfielder or close to it in the various AL ballparks last season, but he’s moved back eight to 12 feet in most parks. That may have given him a better chance at those would-be home runs.

    Engel is not typically a leaper – he has only four jumping catches all season (by contrast, Billy Hamilton has 16), but he is a sprinter. His 57 sprinting catches trail only Ender Inciarte’s 72 for most in MLB by a center fielder.

    Engel has also made improvements in his arm rating. Last season, he allowed 54 percent of runners to advance an extra-base on hits, and recorded only one unaided outfield assist (without a cutoff man). The advance rate against him is similar this season, but he has three unaided assists.

    The runner-up for the August award was Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, a defensive standard-setter, whose 89 DRS are the most in the majors from 2015 to 2017. For Engel to beat Kiermaier out, you know he really earned the award.