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  • Stat of the Week: Top 10 Young Defensive Players

    Stat of the Week: Top 10 Young Defensive Players

    Let’s do a sequel to last week’s list of the Top 10 Defensive Players in MLB. This time will salute the best young players, and we’ll define ‘young’ as ‘entering their age-25-season or younger.’

    Ranking them is kind of silly, as the top half of the list would be dominated by center fielders and I’ve noted in previous Stat of the Weeks that I find ranking across positions challenging. So rather than do that I’m just going to lump the entire list into a “10 best” classification.

    Here’s what I’ve got, in alphabetical order

    Name

    Team (Position)

    Pete Crow-Armstrong

    Cubs CF

    Michael Harris II

    Braves CF

    Wyatt Langford

    Rangers LF

    Colson Montgomery

    White Sox SS

    Zach Neto

    Angels SS

    Ceddanne Rafaela

    Red Sox CF

    Julio Rodríguez

    Mariners CF

    Javier Sanoja

    Marlins Utility

    Victor Scott II

    Cardinals CF

    Masyn Winn

    Cardinals SS

    Addressing the center fielders first:

    Ceddanne Rafaela and Pete Crow-Armstrong both made the Top 10 overall list, so they were automatics here. Rafaela led center fielders in Defensive Runs Saved last season at year’s end. Crow-Armstrong was neck-and-neck with Rafaela for most of the season. It wouldn’t shock me if either won our Defensive Player of the Year in 2026.

    Victor Scott II led center fielders in the range component of Defensive Runs Saved in 2025. He made an abundance of great catches on deep fly balls and had a highlight reel just as good at Rafaela and Crow-Armstrong. What puts him behind those two is that that his outfield arm numbers were poor by both our measures and MLB’s.

    For the last few years I’ve been surprised when I look at the center field Runs Saved leaderboard and don’t see Michael Harris II at the very top. Similar to Scott, his Outfield Arm Runs Saved (-2 last year) hurts his case a little bit. But he’s another outfielder who can go get the ball and plays every day (160 games in 2025). He turns 25 in March, so this will be his last year on such a list.

    Julio Rodríguez, who turned 25 in December, had a career-high 9 Runs Saved last season. After two seasons with negative Outfield Arm Runs Saved, he’s tallied 2 Runs Saved in each of the last two seasons, adding value with his arm to already pretty good range.

    And here are the other five in alphabetical order by last name.

    Wyatt Langford had a legit Gold Glove case in each of the last two years as a left fielder only to lose out to Riley Greene and Steven Kwan, respectively. He finished second at the position with 12 Runs Saved in 2024 and 2025. While some left fielders’ numbers suffer significantly when moved to center, the drop-off isn’t as steep for Langford, which makes him a strong inclusion on this list.

    Colson Montgomery got off to a very good start defensively with 7 Runs Saved in 60 games at shortstop last season and was particularly adept at getting to balls hit to his right (in the 56 hole). I’m a little nervous about this one because his minor league numbers weren’t great, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt based on the 55 fielding scouting grade that MLB gave him in 2024.

    Defensive Runs Saved has gauged Zach Neto to be a very good defensive shortstop in each of the last two seasons, though he wasn’t a Gold Glove finalist in either year. One thing that may get overlooked is that he has 9 Double Play Runs Saved in that time. In other words, he’s turning more double plays than expected. Those 9 Runs Saved are the most in MLB in that time.

    Javier Sanoja won the National League utility player Gold Glove last season and deservedly so. He played six positions last season, two particularly well in brief stints. He had 5 Runs Saved at second base and 4 Runs Saved at third base.

    Masyn Winn led shortstops in Runs Saved and won the Fielding Bible in 2024 but dropped back to 2 Runs Saved last season. Nonetheless, he did cut back significantly on his combined Defensive Misplays and Errors (the former being something our Data Scouts track) and my expectation would be that he’ll be good again in 2026. I’m picking Winn over Ezequiel Tovar here, who was in a similar situation. It’s a tough call.

    Honorable Mention: Roman Anthony (Red Sox RF), Corbin Carroll (Diamondbacks RF), Gunnar Henderson (Orioles IF), Kyle Karros (Rockies 3B), Matt Shaw (Cubs 3B), Cam Smith (Astros RF), Tyler Soderstrom (A’s LF), Ezequiel Tovar (Rockies SS), Anthony Volpe (Yankees SS), Carson Williams (Rays SS), Ben Williamson (Rays 3B).

    And we’ll add consensus No. 1 overall prospect Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin, who has 0 MLB games played. He tied for the lead in Runs Saved among minor league shortstops last season.

    What would your Top 10 list be? Share it with me at mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.P

  • Stat of the Week: Which Team Can Put Out The Best Defensive 9-Man Group?

    Stat of the Week: Which Team Can Put Out The Best Defensive 9-Man Group?

    It’s January, which is always the time when you see articles considering a team’s all-time performance or some other aspect of franchise history (best free agent signings is a common one).

    We don’t usually jump onto trends here, but I liked the suggestion from my colleague Alex Vigderman, who asked “If we took each team’s best player season at each position, which team would have the highest Defensive Runs Saved total?”

    So let’s indulge this one since it fits our brand. Essentially, it’s our version of a best-ball competition.

    It turns out that the team on top just traded a great defensive player in Nolan Arenado, the Cardinals.

    Position

    Player

    Runs Saved

    C

    Yadier Molina (2012)

    29

    1B

    Albert Pujols (2007)

    31

    2B

    Mark Grudzielanek (2005)

    23

    3B

    Scott Rolen (2004)

    30

    SS

    Brendan Ryan (2010)/

    Paul DeJong (2019)

    24

    LF

    Tyler O’Neill (2021)

    14

    CF

    Harrison Bader (2021)

    18

    RF

    Jason Heyward (2015)

    26

    P

    Jake Westbrook (2012)

    11

    Albert Pujols is the positional single-season and career record holder at first base (we’ve written about this). Scott Rolen has the best single-season total of any MLB player at third base (we’ve written about him too). Yadier Molina‘s 29 is just shy of the most in a season by any catcher (Roberto Pérez, 31) and he’s the career leader at catcher too. Jason Heyward is the career leader in right field since we started tracking Runs Saved in 2003.

    Between them, the listed group won 17 Fielding Bible Awards and 28 Gold Glove Awards in their careers and the only ones who didn’t win either were Paul DeJong and Jake Westbrook.

    Counting Ryan/DeJong only once (rather than both their totals), those players combined for 206 Runs Saved, making the Cardinals the only team to clear 200.

    The Cardinals beat out the Angels, whose lineup totaled 183 Runs Saved, with a large chunk of it coming from shortstop Andrelton Simmons and his record-setting 42 Runs Saved in 2017.

    The Diamondbacks‘ group of nine players, which ranked third-best, was strong all the way around, from second baseman Craig Counsell‘s 30 Runs Saved in 2005 to Gerardo Parra’s 27 in 2013, Nick Ahmed‘s 25 in 2018, and Jeff Mathis‘ 21 in 2018.

    Just behind the Diamondbacks were the Mariners, who have had three players with huge Runs Saved seasons: center fielder Franklin Gutierrez (33 in 2009), shortstop Brendan Ryan (27 in 2012), and Hall of Fame third baseman Adrian Beltré (27 in 2008).

    We would be remiss not to point out that prior to 2013, players received credit or demerit for their positioning, which led to some higher Runs Saved totals than are seen today. Just over half of the representation on these team’s lists came from 2003 to 2012.

    However, there were 20 instances in 2025 in which a team got its best defensive season for a player, the most in 10 years. That included Steven Kwan‘s 22 Runs Saved in left field for the Guardians, Ceddanne Rafaela‘s 20 in center field for the Red Sox, and the 17 runs saved seasons for Mookie Betts (Dodgers shortstop), Taylor Walls (Rays shortstop), and Matt Olson (Braves first base).

    At the other end of the list are the Marlins. In the 24-year history of Runs Saved, the Marlins have never had a player save more than 15 Runs at a position. Their nine-player lineup totaled 108 runs and featured notable names shortstop Miguel Rojas (15, 2022), right fielder Giancarlo Stanton (13, 2017), and left fielder Christian Yelich (13, 2015).

    Perhaps the most unusual discovery from all of this was with one of the lower-end teams, the White Sox. Miguel Vargas had 4 Runs Saved at first base for them in 2025, the most any White Sox first baseman has had in the history of the stat.

    Here’s the full listing of teams from 1 to 30.

    Team

    Runs Saved

    1. Cardinals

    206

    2. Angels

    183

    3. Diamondbacks

    172

    4. Mariners

    171

    5. Blue Jays

    162

    6. Guardians

    160

    7. Braves

    159

    T8. Rays

    158

    T8. Yankees

    158

    10. Astros

    156

    11. Cubs

    155

    12. Rockies

    151

    T13. Red Sox

    150

    T13. Rangers

    150

    15. Pirates

    149

    16. Athletics

    146

    17. Reds

    141

    T18. Royals

    140

    T18. Orioles

    140

    20. Nationals

    139

    21. Brewers

    138

    22. Phillies

    134

    T23. Padres

    133

    T23. Dodgers

    133

    T25. Tigers

    130

    T25. White Sox

    130

    27. Mets

    128

    T28. Giants

    127

    T28. Twins

    127

    30. Marlins

    108
  • How Good Is Nolan Arenado Defensively Right Now?

    How Good Is Nolan Arenado Defensively Right Now?

    Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire

    Those of you who have watched a lot of baseball over time know that Nolan Arenado ranks as one of the best defensive third basemen of all-time. He has 10 Gold Glove Awards and 5 Fielding Bible Awards.

    But what is Arenado defensively right now as he heads to Arizona at age 35, coming off the worst offensive season of his career?

    Most Defensive Runs Saved – Last 2 Seasons

    Player Defensive Runs Saved
    Ke’Bryan Hayes 29
    Matt Chapman 22
    Ryan McMahon 20
    Ernie Clement 20
    Maikel Garcia 16
    Nolan Arenado 12
    Matt Shaw 12

    Arenado’s Defensive Runs Saved totals the last three seasons are 0, 6, and 6. He’s not the guy who saved 20 runs in 2022 but he’s also not quite done either. He’s one of five third basemen to have at least 5 Runs Saved in each of the last two seasons. The others are Ke’Bryan Hayes, Matt Chapman, Ryan McMahon, and Ernie Clement. 

    What made Arenado great in his prime was how good he was particularly in the 5-6 hole. In the first 10 seasons of his career, Arenado was 134 plays above average on balls hit to his left. He was league-leader caliber basically every year. For reference, Chapman’s best plays above average on balls hit to his left is +11. Hayes’ best is +10. The last two years, Arenado is +1 and +2. His 6 Runs Saved are the product of being a little above average going left, going right, and fielding balls hit straight or nearly straight at him.

    Some of those great early-career numbers come from the type of play for which Arenado was most well known, the barehand. We track how fielders make plays, including how often they attempt a barehand. Since the start of Arenado’s career in 2013, he has seven of the top eight seasons in barehand plays successfully made, the seven occurring consecutively from 2013 to 2019. 

    In that time, he made 140 barehand plays at third base, an average of 20 per season. No one is close to that. The next-most at the position from 2013 to 2019 is 66 by Todd Frazier. Third basemen got at least one out on 38% of barehand chances in that time. Arenado was successful on 52% of his tries.

    Arenado can still make a barehand play. He has 19 the last two seasons, the most at the position in the majors. But his success percentage is 42% (19 successes on 45 tries). Prime Arenado would have racked up at least a few more, if not a lot more.

    And though the aging curve has done its thing with Arenado, he’s particularly good for someone his age. Third base is a position in which almost everyone is younger than him. Only 10 players age 34 or older started a game at third base in 2025. Arenado’s 86 trailed only Max Muncy’s 90.

    However, the thing to keep in mind for Arizona though is this. What Arenado is able to give them at third base is probably going to look a lot better than what the team has gotten recently. The Diamondbacks haven’t finished a season with a positive Runs Saved at third base since 2019. The last time they’ve had a third baseman record 6 Runs Saved in a season was Jake Lamb in 2015 (13).

  • Stat Of The Week: Good To See Alex Gordon On The Hall Of Fame Ballot

    Stat Of The Week: Good To See Alex Gordon On The Hall Of Fame Ballot

    Photo: Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire

    The Hall of Fame ballot came out a few weeks ago and so we’re in for lots of debates and discussions and everything that comes with one of the most polarizing topics in sports.

    This is not a strong ballot when it comes to first-time candidates, with Cole Hamels the best of them and he’s not likely to be elected this year.

    We like to focus on defense here so I want to address someone more likely to get 5 votes from the BBWAA than the 5% needed to stay on the ballot, let alone the 75% needed for induction, and that’s former Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon.

    Gordon hit .257 with a .748 OPS in a career that spanned 14 seasons, one that began when he was drafted No. 2 overall in 2005 and heralded as one of the game’s top prospects when recalled in 2007.

    Gordon peaked from 2011 to 2014, when he averaged just under 6 bWAR and 156 games played per season. His most memorable moment is a ninth-inning game-tying home run in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series, one the Royals went on to win. He dipped a bit as a hitter in his last five seasons, which cost him 35 points off his career OPS.

    But it’s Gordon the fielder that we want to talk about. He’s the left field overall leader in Defensive Runs Saved dating back to when the stat was first tracked in 2003. He also won 4 Fielding Bible Awards, the most of any left fielder (Steven Kwan has 3 and could catch him next year).

    Most Defensive Runs Saved – Left Field – Since Runs Saved First Tracked In 2003

    Player

    Runs Saved

    Alex Gordon

    117

    Brett Gardner

    101

    Starling Marte

    73

    Carl Crawford

    69

    Steven Kwan

    68

    How did Gordon record that many Runs Saved?

    We have three areas in which players can receive Runs Saved: Range, Outfield Arm, and Good Plays & Defensive Misplays and Errors.

    Gordon finished his career with 40 Range Runs Saved. That’s a decent total. It ranks fifth overall but is well behind the leader, Brett Gardner’s 79. Where Gordon stood out at his position was in both the Outfield Arm and Good Plays & Misplays, as those account for 77 of his Runs Saved.

    Gordon totaled 51 Outfield Arm Runs Saved and also recorded 26 Runs Saved from his balance of Good Plays and Misplays.” Each of those rank No. 1 overall among left fielders.

    Outfield Arm is largely self-explanatory. You get rewarded when baserunners don’t take an extra base on hits, get a spike if you throw someone out, and get penalized if someone goes first to third or second to home. Gordon was known for his arm and earned a lot of value here. (Here’s a refresher in case you forgot)

    Good Plays and Misplays

    I want to spend more time on Good Plays and Misplays. For the last 20-plus years, we’ve been tracking not just highlight-reel catches but also little things like if a fielder cuts a ball off in the gap and prevents a baserunner from advancing.

    Most Good Play/Misplay Runs Saved – Left Fielders

    Player

    Runs Saved

    Alex Gordon

    26

    Jason Bay

    21

    Melky Cabrera

    18

    Starling Marte

    17

    We’ve also tracked times that a fielder does or doesn’t do something that allows a batter to advance an extra base (the fielder gets credit for “holds to double” or “holds to single”). They’re admittedly a judgement call but the judgement is based on careful consideration by our trained group of Data Scouts.

    Gordon had 46 “holds to single” in his career. You can see some examples here, here, and here. An average left fielder who played as much as Gordon did would have been expected to have 31 of them, 15 fewer than Gordon had. The differential translates to about 4.5 Runs Saved.

    Most “Holds To Single” By Left Fielder (2007-2020)

    Player

    Holds To Single

    Alex Gordon

    46

    Daniel Nava

    27

    Raul Ibanez

    26

    Carl Crawford

    26

    Andrew Benintendi

    23

    Matt Holliday

    23

    One of those Defensive Misplay and Error categories is “Mishandling Ball After Safe Hit,” which is something that is sometimes obvious and scored an error and sometimes not scored one. We count both the obvious and not-so-obvious plays.

    In his career, Gordon had 17 instances of “Mishandling Ball After Safe Hit.” An average defender that played as often as Gordon did would have been expected to have 40 such Misplays and Errors.

    The 23-play difference is worth roughly 9.5 Runs Saved, a nice reward for being a careful fielder.

    We’re not here to say that you should be voting for Gordon for the Hall of Fame based on the numbers we’ve shared. He’s not a strong candidate when you consider the totality of what he was as a player. But it is fair to say that he’s one of baseball’s best defensive players of the last 25 years and we enjoy being able to acknowledge him as such.

  • Phillies Make A Massive Defensive Upgrade With Adolis García

    Phillies Make A Massive Defensive Upgrade With Adolis García

    You likely won’t see a bigger defensive upgrade this offseason than the one the Phillies just made in right field. 

    The Phillies signed free agent Adolis García to a one-year, $10 million contract. The expectation is that they’ll follow this up by trading or releasing their regular right fielder of the last four years, Nick Castellanos.

    By small sample or larger sample, there is no comparison between García and Castellanos defensively.

    If we look at last 5 seasonsAdolis García 36 (2nd-most in MLB)Nick Castellanos -51 (fewest)

    — Sports Info Solutions (@sportsinfosolutions.com) 2025-12-15T17:39:10.089Z

    And that’s even with a rough -5 Runs Season from García in 2024. That appears not to be the norm.

    And yes, we know that Castellanos has not made an error in three of the last four seasons but Defensive Runs Saved is a more sophisticated stat than errors. It takes into account what you did and did not reach. It’s easy to avoid making errors when you don’t reach balls. Castellanos had the 9th-worst “jump” stats of any outfielder in baseball last year, as measured by MLB. 

    In looking at Castellanos’ most-penalized plays last season, there was a mix of issues related to communication (particularly with second baseman Bryson Stott) and hesitation.  

    * Jump measures how much ground you cover compared to an average outfielder. Castellanos rated 2.4 feet fewer than average.

     

     

    García’s strength had not necessarily been getting to balls but in 2025 he was better at it than he had ever been before. He had by far the best Range Runs Saved numbers of his career. This was driven by an abundance of nice catches on shallow fly balls. Stott shouldn’t have to feel like he’s got to go for every ball anymore because García has (at least last season) a knack for reaching what needs to be reached.

     

    And how about this for coincidences. One of García’s best catches of the season (at least on a shallow fly ball) came against … Castellanos!

    That’s not to say that García doesn’t have flaws. He fared poorly against balls hit to the deepest part of the ballpark. But overall he still rated far ahead of Castellanos.

    Plays Saved Above Average In 2025 – By Depth

    Shallow Medium Deep
    García +15 +8 -5
    Castellanos 0 -7 -3

    * Plays Saved Above Average = our version of MLB’s Outs Above Average 

    To put some raw numbers behind it, here are the outs made and opportunities for each fielder on shallow and medium balls.

    García: 199/264 (expected to make 176 plays, made 199)

    Castellanos: 164/252 (expected to make 171 plays, made 164)

    * Opportunities are any ball on which the player has a >0% chance to record an out

    Outfield Arm

    There is likewise not much of a comparison between García’s arm and Castellanos’ arm. Last season, García had 4 Outfield Arm Runs Saved, Castellanos had -2. García has a history of being consistently good. Castellanos does not.

    Outfield Arm Runs Saved – Right Field, Last 5 Seasons

    Player OF Arm Runs Saved Rank
    García 24 1st
    Castellanos -12 Last

    To show the raw numbers, again over a longer period of time, we can look at the rate that baserunners advanced an extra base on hits fielded by each player over the last five seasons (meaning how often they went 1st to 3rd or 2nd to home on singles, or 1st to home on a double).

    Player Advances – Opportunities Advance Rate* Assists without cutoff man
    García 170-425 40% 29
    Castellanos 281-524 54% 18

    * Read this as: “40% of baserunners advanced an extra base on hits against Garcia, 54% did against Castellanos”

    Here are three examples of García putting his arm to good use last season.

     

     

    Defense has been an issue for the Phillies for several years. They haven’t finished in the top half of the majors since 2019. Swapping out Castellanos for García should improve the team’s outfield defense considerably. Castellanos was a fan favorite and did have a great postseason defensively in 2022. But what Castellanos did then, García has done on the regular.

  • Stat of the Week: Dylan Cease Deserved A Better Fate In 2025

    Stat of the Week: Dylan Cease Deserved A Better Fate In 2025

    Photo: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire

    The third inning of the Padres-Giants game on August 21 was one in a series of nuisances for Dylan Cease last season.

    First Luis Matos hit a fly ball to right center field that was very generously scored a triple when Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ramón Laureano had a miscommunication regarding who would catch it. Next, Andrew Knizner hit a fly ball down the right field line that Tatis played into a double (even Platinum Glove winners have bad days). Then Jung Hoo Lee hit a grounder to second that Jake Cronenworth botched for an error.

    These three balls ranked in the top seven of the highest out probabilities on those hit against Cease last season. Each was 89% or higher.

    I mentioned a series of nuisances because this game was just one example. The Padres totaled -11 Runs Saved on the balls hit against Cease in 2025. Only Logan Webb of the Giants got worse defensive support (-17 Runs Saved).

    The Padres turned 69% of grounders and bunts into outs for Cease, a rate that ranked in the bottom 15% among pitchers with at least 125 grounders and bunts against them. They also ranked in the 27th percentile when it came to turning balls hit in the air against Cease into outs.

    All of this jibes with Cease having a high ERA (4.55) but a pretty solid FIP (3.56), the latter being an ERA estimate based on his strikeouts, walks, and home runs allowed. Erasing 11 runs off Cease’s ledger would drop his 2025 ERA by a half-run (presuming they’re all earned runs), so bad defense doesn’t necessarily entirely account for the differential between his ERA and his FIP, but it’s a nice-sized chunk.

    This was the second time in three years that Cease’s defense didn’t do him any favors. In 2023, he finished with a 4.58 ERA and the White Sox defense had -7 Runs Saved behind him. Combining 2023, 2024, and 2025, Cease’s defenses have cost him 17 runs, the most of any pitcher in MLB.

    So when you see Cease being ranked as the No. 1 or No. 2 pitching free agent available this winter, as he has been by most publications, it seems there’s an understanding that he’s better than his recent ERAs would indicate.

    Least Defensive Support Received – 2025 Season

    Pitcher

    Team

    Defensive Runs Saved

    Logan Webb

    Giants

    -17

    Dylan Cease

    Padres

    -11

    Brandon Eisert

    White Sox

    -10

    Antonio Senzatela

    Rockies

    -10

    Kyle Hendricks

    Angels

    -9
  • Stat of the Week – Ultimate Winner of the World Series: Great Defense

    Stat of the Week – Ultimate Winner of the World Series: Great Defense

    If you had told me before the season that I was going to write the following sentence, I would have laughed at you.

    Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the most impressive-looking defensive player in the World Series.

    He was!

    This was a great World Series for great defense. We don’t track Defensive Runs Saved in the postseason, but our Data Scouts do award Good Fielding Plays and Defensive Misplays when warranted. In all, they awarded 24 Good Fielding Plays. to 12 different players. Guerrero had 4 of them, one shy of Freddie Freeman for most in the postseason (4 of Freeman’s 5 Good Plays were for scooped throws).

    Vlad Jr. put on a defensive variety show. In Game 2, he made an over-the-shoulder catch on a popup. In Game 3 he came off the bag and made a throw across the diamond to get a runner who trying to go first to third on an infield hit. That came in a tie game in the sixth inning. He then made a diving stop and a flawless flip to first base for the first out of Game 7 and a diving stop in the other direction to take away a likely extra base hit and at least one Dodgers run in the fourth inning.

    This wasn’t a fluke. Guerrero Jr. had his best defensive season, finishing fourth among first basemen with 8 Defensive Runs Saved, a big improvement from the -7 and -1 from the last two seasons. The punchline here, I suppose, is that the team’s backup first baseman, late-season acquisition Ty France, won the AL Gold Glove Award. But Guerrero showed just how much better he’s gotten.

    A strong honorable mention goes to the combination of Dodgers second basemen Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas, who for the purposes of this exercise could basically be morphed into one player. For one thing, they were part of a Dodgers infield that turned 75% of grounders and bunts into outs in the World Series (basically matching the team’s regular season rate, which ranked 4th-best overall), including 9-of-9 in Game 7.

    For another, they combined for 3 Good Fielding plays of note. Edman atoned for a critical error in Game 3 by throwing Isiah Kiner-Falefa out at third base on a ball that deflected off Freeman, which helped keep the score tied in the ninth inning. Then he made a relay throw to cut down Davis Schneider at the plate as the potential go-ahead run in the 10th inning.

    Then in Game 6, Rojas scooped a Kiké Hernández throw from left field to complete a game-ending double play.  This was a heck of a play on multiple fronts. The Dodgers had Hernández positioned perfectly in left field and he had a great jump on the ball off the bat, which allowed him to make the catch.

    And yes, Rojas hit the game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 and Will Smith hit the series-winning home run in the 10th. It seemed like the only way someone was going to win that game was by hitting a ball that was not defensible.

  • 2025 NPB Fielding Bible Award Winners

    2025 NPB Fielding Bible Award Winners

    SIS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 NPB Fielding Bible Awards.

    This marks the 6th season that we have honored the best defensive players in NPB. The awards are chosen in a vote by a panel of experts who consider statistical analysis, the eye test, and any other factors that they wish to utilize.

    We are also announcing the winner of the NPB Defensive Player of the Year and NPB Defensive Team of the Year award.

    This year’s winners are:

    Player Player Team
    Player of the Year Natsuo Takizawa Seibu
    Team of the Year Softbank
    1B Tyler Nevin Seibu
    2B Naoki Yoshikawa Yomiuri
    3B Teruaki Sato Hanshin
    SS Atsuki Tomosugi Chiba Lotte
    LF Mishō Nishikawa Chiba Lotte
    CF Ukyo Shuto Softbank
    RF Chusei Mannami Nippon-Ham
    C Seishiro Sakamoto Hanshin
    P Masato Morishita Hiroshima
    Multi-Position Natsuo Takizawa Seibu

     

    Defensive Player of the Year

    Seibu Lions infielder Natsuo Takizawa won the Defensive Player of the Year award for 2025. That snapped a two-year run by Chusei Mannami, who won in 2023 and 2024.

    Takizawa finished the season with 30 Defensive Runs Saved, the most for any player in NPB. For those unfamiliar, Defensive Runs Saved measures a player’s ability to turn batted balls into outs as well as other position-specific skills, such as turning double plays, blocking pitches in the dirt, or robbing home runs.

    SIS uses MLB out probabilities in its Runs Saved calculation. An average Runs Saved total is 0. There were 17 NPB players with at least 10 Runs Saved in 2025 (six of them catchers).

    Takizawa had 20 Runs Saved at second base and 12 Runs Saved at shortstop. He also won our award for multi-position excellence.

    “His entire infield defense is excellent,” said Fielding Bible voter Yuri Kurasawa. “Despite being only 5-foot-4 or 5-foot-5 he makes these crazy highlight-reel plays. He gets everything out of his frame.”

    Defensive Team of the Year

    The Softbank Hawks won our inaugural NPB Defensive Team of the Year Award. Softbank was the NPB team leader in Runs Saved and was one of two teams that had a positive Runs Saved at all three outfield positions.

    Other winners

    Takizawa was joined on the winners list by his teammate, Tyler Nevin. Nevin played four seasons in MLB with the Orioles, Tigers, and Athletics before beginning his career in Japan in 2025. That career will continue as he recently signed a two-year extension with Seibu.

    The other teams to have two players win an Award were the Chiba Lotte Marines, who had shortstop Atsuki Tomosugi and left fielder Mishō Nishikawa, and the Hanshin Tigers, who had catcher Seishiro Sakamoto and third baseman Teruaki Sato.

    Sakamoto, an excellent pitch framer, easily led all catchers in Runs Saved. Tomosugi was the leader in Runs Saved at shortstop. Nishikawa led left fielders with 22 Runs Saved, the same total as MLB left field winner, Steven Kwan.

    The Softbank Hawks had a player winner in addition to the Defensive Team of the Year award, center fielder Ukyo Shuto. Shuto tied for the lead in Runs Saved among center fielders.

    Other winners were second baseman Naoki Yoshikawa (Yomiuri Giants), right fielder Chusei Mannami (Nippon-Ham Fighters), and pitcher Masato Morishita (Hiroshima Carp).

    Yoshikawa and Mannami have each won the Award three straight seasons. Shuto was also a winner last year. Shuto also won in 2020 for multi-position excellence. Morishita also was a previous winner, in 2020.

    Our expert voting panel consisted of Japan Times baseball writer Jason Coskrey, NPB content creators: Yuri Karasawa (Yakyu Cosmopolitan) and Yuta Sekiguchi (Mr. Bouono’s Diary) with oversight from Mark Simon, editorial lead at Sports Info Solutions.

    “We are honored to once again reward the best defensive players in NPB,” Simon said. “We are glad that our metrics can be put to use to help identify the best baseball players not just in MLB but in other leagues as well. With so many good NPB players, we felt it was important that they were recognized too.”

    The NPB Fielding Bible Awards have been presented by SIS since 2020. SIS’ mission is to enhance and optimize the decision-making process for sports teams, sportsbooks, and sports fans. It has been an industry leader in baseball since its founding in 2002.

  • Stat of the Week: Fielding Bible Award Runners-Up

    Stat of the Week: Fielding Bible Award Runners-Up

    I started something last year that I want to make an annual tradition: Saluting the runners-up for The Fielding Bible Awards.

    We’re always going to celebrate the winners of the Awards, but it feels like we’re shortchanging some great defensive players who are deserving of recognition too. So here’s to this year’s second-place finishers in the Awards voting.

    First Base – Carlos Santana has been a high-performing defensive first baseman for three years running. That’s remarkable given that he’s done so at ages 37, 38, and 39 after having only a modestly successful run at first base prior to that. Santana had 12 Defensive Runs Saved this season, second to Matt Olson’s 17. Santana’s 32 Runs Saved trail only Olson’s 38 at first base since the start of 2023.

    Second Base – Our voters like Andrés Giménez a lot. He previously won a Fielding Bible Award in 2023 and 2024 and finished a solid second in 2025 despite injuries limiting him to 87 games at second base (and 15 games at shortstop). Giménez finished tied for fourth in Runs Saved among second basemen and may have challenged Nico Hoerner for the positional lead had he been fully healthy.

    Third Base – Maikel Garcia had a strong close to the season, finishing with 13 Runs Saved, second to only Ke’Bryan Hayes’ 19 at third base. That meant that Garcia beat out bigger names, including Nolan Arenado, and Matt Chapman. It has been an impressive rise for Garcia, who had -1 Runs Saved in 2023 and 3 in 2024 before his big jump in 2025.

    Shortstop – Nick Allen finished fifth with 12 Runs Saved at the position but vaulted over a few players to finish as the runner-up in the voting to Mookie Betts. The 2025 season was the first in which Allen got to play every day and he lived up to the scouting reports that have been touting his defensive excellence since his minor league days.

    Left Field – Wyatt Langford finished second in Runs Saved at the position for the second straight season and acquitted himself well in a 45-game stint in center field in 2025 too. Langford actually had the highest Range Runs Saved among left fielders in 2025, beating out Fielding Bible Award winner Steven Kwan. Shout-out too to Ian Happ, who finished with the same number of points as Langford in Fielding Bible Voting but Langford edged him out for second on the tiebreaker.

    Center Field – Had the Fielding Bible Awards vote been conducted at midseason, Pete Crow-Armstrong would probably have won, but he declined a bit both offensive and defensively after the All-Star Break. Still, he finished tied for second among center fielders in Runs Saved and was one of the most exciting defensive players to watch this season. We wouldn’t be at all surprised if he won the Fielding Bible Award in 2026.

    Right Field – Wilyer Abreu won a Fielding Bible Award in 2024 and came close to winning it for the second straight year after another standout season. Fernando Tatis Jr. beat him out. Abreu’s 15 Runs Saved were 1 shy of the most in right field, which was impressive given that he played nearly 300 fewer innings than the leader, Adolis García.

    Catcher – Alejandro Kirk had impressive catching credentials, as he led all catchers in the pitch blocking component of Runs Saved and finished tied for second in the pitch framing component (Strike Zone Runs Saved). Kirk has been consistently good. His 39 Runs Saved over the last three seasons rank second to 2024 and 2025 Fielding Bible Award winner Patrick Bailey.

    Pitcher – Logan Webb tied for the lead in the Range component of Runs Saved and had good Stolen Base Runs Saved stats too. He finished both second among pitchers in Runs Saved and second in the voting to Fielding Bible Award winner Max Fried.

    Multi-Position – Mauricio Dubón sets a standard in versatility that is hard to match. He played at least 15 games at five different positions (left field, second base, shortstop, third base, and center field) and had at least 5 Runs Saved at two of those spots (left field and second base). He was a worthy runner-up to Ernie Clement for the Fielding Bible Award.

    Team of the Year – The Blue Jays had a Fielding Bible Award winner (Clement) and two runners-up (Giménez and Kirk). They were also the only team to record at least 10 Runs Saved at five defensive positions this season (catcher, first base, second base, center field, and left field). Their defense was one of the key factors in their World Series run and they were a deserving runner up to the Cubs for Team of the Year honors.

    Click here to see the full Fielding Bible Awards voting, featuring the complete ballots for each of our 16 voters.Pete Cr

  • World Series Defensive Scouting Report: Los Angeles Dodgers

    World Series Defensive Scouting Report: Los Angeles Dodgers

    Icon Photo: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire

    The Dodgers ranked third in the majors in Defensive Runs Saved this season, which seems odd when you consider that they had negative Runs Saved at five different positions (pitcher, catcher, first base), but a few positional strengths and one big team factor can go a long way towards defensive success.

    Here’s our scouting report on the Dodgers defense:

    Strengths

    Defensive Positioning

    What makes the Dodgers’ defense so good is not so much the skill of their players but that their players are often situated in the best spots to make plays. 

    We wrote that season almost exactly a year ago and it’s still true today. The Dodgers ranked second with 45 of their 67 Runs Saved coming from defensive positioning, including an MLB-high 35 from modified defensive shifts (ones in which the second baseman or shortstop is playing adjacent to second base).

    Mookie Betts

    In case you missed Thursday’s announcement, Betts won the Fielding Bible Award at shortstop. It’s his 7th Award, the most in the 20-year history of the honor, his first as a shortstop.

    Betts had 17 Runs Saved which tied Taylor Walls for the lead at the position. He had fewer Defensive Misplays & Errors (16) than he did there in 2024 (19) despite playing more than 700 more innings at shortstop this season than last season. 

    Betts was at his best at season’s end. He led all shortstops in Runs Saved in August and September combined and had 9 of his 19 Good Fielding Plays this season from August 8 on (9 in 45 games compared to 10 in his first 105 games). In fact, Betts had as many Good Fielding Plays in an 18-day span in August as he had all of 2024 (5).

    Here are three pretty good ones.

    Versatility

    As is their norm, the Dodgers have all sorts of positional versatility available if they wish to use it. 

    Tommy Edman has been playing second base, a spot where he has a pretty good history, but he’s also played third base and center field adequately this season, and could be used elsewhere if necessary. Likewise, Kike Hernandez has largely played left field this postseason but could actually play anywhere else without hesitation. Miguel Rojas, very good at second base when healthy, can play all four infield positions. 

    And Andy Pages has started 10 games in center field this postseason but has finished 8 of them in right field and 1 in left field. The Dodgers have used Justin Dean as a late-game replacement in center repeatedly this postseason. He too has history at all three outfield spots. 

    Pages has great stats with his arm in center field (and ranks Top 10 in average throw speed) but his range numbers aren’t good. They’re better in the corner outfield spots and he does do a good job of getting good jumps on fly balls.

    Weakneeses

    Freddie Freeman’s Range

    Freeman is and has always been a very good scooper of throws at first base, but he had the worst Runs Saved specific to range of any first baseman this season (-10 Runs Saved). This was particularly evident on balls hit to his right, though there were a bunch of instances of pitchers failing to cover or being late to cover first base.

    As long as Dodgers pitchers are attentive, this shouldn’t be too big an issue. But it’s something to keep an eye on as the series goes. 

     

    Will Smith’s framing

    Smith used to be one of the game’s top defensive catchers, but his pitch framing and pitch blocking numbers have been well below average in each of the last two seasons. Baseball Savant data shows him as getting fewer high pitches called strikes than most catchers, as well as fewer on pitches to his right side (inside to lefties, outside to righties). He’s decent at throwing out potential basestealers, which is the best thing he’s got going for him right now, though he’s not long removed from having a hairline fracture in his right hand. 

    Something in-between

    The running game

    The Dodgers are a mixed bag when it comes to their pitchers controlling the running game. Opponents were 10-for-10 stealing against Tyler Glasnow in the regular season and 11-for-12 against Blake Treinen.

    But they were only 6-for-11 vs Blake Snell, 7-for-12 against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4-for-8 against Alex Vesia, and 0-for-3 against Emmet Sheehan. And they only attempted one steal (successful) against Shohei Ohtani.

    Keep in mind that the Blue Jays have attempted only one stolen base all postseason. We’ll see if they’re tempted to try to run at all in this series.