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Category: John Dewan’s Stat of the Week

  • June’s Defensive Players of the Month

    June’s Defensive Players of the Month

    Mariners manager Dan Wilson says that Julio Rodríguez wants to be the best player in baseball.

    That’s a tough hill to climb given the competition of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. For now Rodríguez will have to settle for being the best defensive player in baseball, at least for a month and maybe more.

    Rodríguez heads our list of Defensive Players of the Month for June. The month’s other honorees as top defenders are Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes and Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts.

     ”He’s just made so many of those catches, covered a lot of ground in the outfield, and has really taken charge out there,” Wilson said before a recent game. “You really don’t understand how many runs that saves.”

    With all due respect to the Mariners manager, we are able to put a number on it.

    Rodríguez led all center fielders with 9 Runs Saved in June and ranks third at the position with 11 Runs Saved this season. The highlight was a home run robbery against Chris Taylor of the Angels, his 2nd home-run-robbing catch this season.

    Rodríguez had previously fared well in MLB’s suite of defensive stats but he’s never had a breakout season in Runs Saved until now.

    One of the biggest things for him is that he’s reduced the number of mistakes he’s made this season. Rodríguez had 17 Defensive Misplays & Errors in 131 games in 2024 but has only 7 through 83 games this season.

    * SIS has 60 categories of Defensive Misplays that it gives to fielders for things such as slipping, dropping a transfer on a double play, or overthrowing a cutoff man.

    Ke’Bryan Hayes

    Hayes led third basemen with 7 Runs Saved during the month. Hayes, who won the Fielding Bible Award for defensive excellence in 2021 and 2023, seems to be the frontrunner for the honor just past the midway point of the season. His 11 Runs Saved lead the field by a comfortable margin. Ernie Clement and Caleb Durbin are second among third basemen with 6 Runs Saved.

    Hayes has saved at least 10 Runs in each of the last 5 seasons. He’s already surpassed his 2024 totals for Runs Saved (10) and Good Fielding Plays (10, 3 more than last year). As has been key for him in the past, one area where Hayes stands out for playmaking is on balls hit to his right (like this one), often along the third base line.

    Mookie Betts

    Betts tallied 6 Runs Saved in June, one shy of Trevor Story for the most by a shortstop. Just past the season’s midpoint, Betts and Nick Allen of the Braves look like frontrunners for the NL Gold Glove Award. Allen has 9 Runs Saved this season, one more than Betts. Both are chasing Rays shortstop Taylor Walls, who leads all shortstops with 18 Runs Saved.

    The biggest thing that Betts has done at shortstop is similar to what Rodríguez has done in center field: cut down on his mistakes. He had 19 Defensive Misplays & Errors in 65 games there last season. He has 9 through 77 games entering July.

    The Dodgers coaching staff has also done its part in helping Betts acclimate to a new position (remember, he’s won 5 Fielding Bible Awards in right field). The Dodgers have been credited with 7 Runs Saved for how they’ve positioned Betts, tied for the most for any team in positioning its shortstop. That has allowed Betts to do what he does best (click the link to see what we mean).

  • Stat of the Week: Which Team Positions Its Outfielders Best?

    Stat of the Week: Which Team Positions Its Outfielders Best?

    Photo: Steven King/Icon Sportswire

    You’ve heard of the game-saving defensive play, right?

    How about game-saving defensive positioning?

    Go back about a month to the bottom of the eighth inning at Busch Stadium in a matchup between the Cardinals and Tigers. The score was tied with two men on and two outs. Pedro Pagés hit a 107-MPH line drive to right center that looked like it could be a go-ahead hit. But center fielder Javier Báez sprinted over to make the running catch. The Tigers went ahead in the top of the ninth inning and won the game.

    You can see that catch here.

    But what you don’t see in watching the TV broadcast was how the Tigers put Báez in position to make the play. This image from MLB helps provide a better understanding. The filled in black dot shows where he was stationed prior to the pitch.

    By our calculations, balls hit to that spot at that speed in the last two years have been caught 43% of the time. But that out probability jumps to 95% when we know where Baez was positioned.

    This was one of several examples of how the Tigers outfield has been the best positioned in baseball this season. They lead the majors with 12 Outfield Positioning Runs Saved.

    We explained this in a couple of recent articles and will reiterate it again here. Pre-2013, SIS awarded positioning Runs Saved credit to the player. That credit now goes to the team as with the advent of shifting and positioning cards, the team has more control over where its players play.

    The data we collect allows us to establish:

    A) An overall out probability for a ball hit to a certain spot at a determined velocity without knowing where the fielder is positioned

    B) An out probability for which we do know where the fielder is positioned.

    The formula calculates the difference between A and B and converts it to a run value based on the characteristics of the batted ball. That value is credited to the defensive team rather than the player.

    This happens whether the play is successfully completed or not, because positioning can be good even when a play is not made.

    In other words, if we know a fly ball hit at 107 miles per hour to a designated spot Y is an out 43% of the time overall, but 95% of the time when the outfielder is positioned in location Z, then the team gets credit for improving the out probability by 52%, which is worth some fraction of a run. That’s the example with which we led this article.

    Most Runs Saved – Outfield Positioning

    2025 Season

    Team Runs Saved
    Tigers 12
    Guardians 8
    Braves 7
    Rays 5
    White Sox 5

    The Tigers’ success isn’t new. They led the majors with 18 outfield positioning runs two years ago before slipping to 2 such Runs Saved last season. We should note too that this year’s results are not the product of high volume. Tigers outfielders have faced the 20th-most balls hit in the air.

    Here are a couple other examples of plays from 2025 in which positioning resulted in a significant payoff for the Tigers.

    This ball was tagged 108 MPH and Riley Greene’s positioning in left field upped the out probability from 45 to 93%. You can see why. He barely had to move from where he was playing.

    Sometimes positioning and playmaking go hand in hand. On this ball hit by Drew Waters of the Royals, right fielder Kerry Carpenter goes deep to make a tough catch.

    Carpenter’s positioning upped the out probability of that play from 20% to 41%. Carpenter gets credit for the remaining 59% for making the catch that resulted in an out.

    Though the positioning Runs Saved totals are relatively small, the numbers do matter. The Tigers rank 8th in Defensive Runs Saved overall.

    They rank 19th in the skill components of Runs Saved but rank 1st in combined Runs Saved from infield and outfield positioning.

    The team is in first place in the AL Central and its outfielders can rejoice as they did in the picture atop this article. Good positioning is the key to their defense.

  • Stat of the Week: Which Team’s Infield Defense Has Been Best?

    Stat of the Week: Which Team’s Infield Defense Has Been Best?

    Photo: John Cordes/Icon Sportswire

    The naysayers will tell you that the Pirates are worth watching once every five days, only on the days that their phenom, Paul Skenes, pitches.

    But for as bad as the Pirates have been, and it’s been a rough year in Pittsburgh, there’s actually something that the team excels at. They lead MLB in Defensive Runs Saved from their infielders.

    It’s actually not even that close.

    Most Runs Saved From Infielders

    Team Runs Saved
    Pirates 36
    Dodgers 26
    Cubs 24
    Braves 23
    Rangers 21

    That defensive excellence starts with third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who leads the position with 9 Runs Saved. Over the last four seasons, Hayes’ 65 Runs Saved are 22 better than the next-closest third baseman, Ryan McMahon.

    Hayes is good at making the hard plays look routine and has excelled at turning balls hit down the third base line into outs this season, which was also true in 2022 and 2023. Hayes has won 2 Fielding Bible Awards and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he won another.

    The other top defender within the Pirates infield is Jared Triolo, who won the NL Gold Glove for utility infielders in 2024. Triolo has 3 Runs Saved at second base, 2 at third base, 2 at first base and -1 at shortstop this season, giving him a combined 6 Runs Saved. If he played second base full time, he’d probably be among the league leaders. He has 10 career Runs Saved in 71 games there.

    But what has led to the Pirates doing so well at turning ground balls into outs (they rank 3rd in that stat behind the Rangers and Braves) and leading in Runs Saved is the defensive positioning of their infield. The Pirates have 18 infield positioning Runs Saved, the most of any team.

    They’ve been particularly well positioned when playing what we call a partial shift,* They rank 8th in terms of how often they’ve used a shift against a batted ball but tied for 1st in infield positioning Runs Saved from shifts.

    * Partial shifts are ones in which the second baseman or shortstop is near second base and other infielders have significantly adjusted positioning as well.

     The Pirates have a veteran second baseman in Adam Frazier and a shortstop in Isiah Kiner-Falefa who have been reliable defenders in the past. They’re players who may not have the most range but, if positioned well, are going to make plays. That’s what’s happened this season.

    Frazier has 2 Runs Saved from the Range & Throwing component of Runs Saved but the Pirates have saved 5 runs in how they’ve positioned him, tied for the most for any second baseman in MLB.

    Similarly, Kiner-Falefa also has 2 Range & Throwing Runs Saved but the Pirates have 6 Runs Saved from positioning him, one run shy of the most in MLB (the Padres have 7 Runs Saved in how they’ve positioned Xander Bogaerts).

    Pre-2013, SIS awarded positioning Runs Saved credit to the player. That credit now goes to the team as with the advent of shifting and positioning cards, the team has more control over where its players play. If we gave that credit to the player now, both Frazier and Kiner-Falefa would rank among the leaders in Runs Saved at their position.

    In terms of what we’re specifically talking about, here are two good examples of infield positioning by the Pirates involving Frazier and Kiner-Falefa (here and here). The first example is a play that’s routine because of where Frazier is stationed. The other is a tougher play, but one made possible by how the Pirates positioned Kiner-Falefa and the scoop by Emmanuel Valdez, who is part of a committee effort at first base that has produced 3 Runs Saved.

    The shame of all this is that the Pirates are 30-46 and in last place in the NL Central entering Friday. The team is averaging an MLB-worst 3.2 runs per game and their infield has the lowest OPS in MLB (.616) by 26 points.

    For as good as the infield defense has been in trying to make up for the team’s deficiencies, the rest of the team’s defense has been problematic. The Pirates otherwise have a combined -18 Runs Saved this season.

  • Stat of the Week: MLB’s Top Defensive Rookies

    Stat of the Week: MLB’s Top Defensive Rookies

    By now you’ve probably seen the ridiculous home run robbery by Athletics rookie center fielder Denzel Clarke on June 9.

    In his first 18 games, Clarke reached over the wall twice to rob home runs and made some other nice plays too. He’s already totaled 7 Defensive Runs Saved, which is a heck of a way to start his career. Clarke is extra valuable defensively to the A’s because Oakland’s other primary center fielder this season, J.J. Bleday, had -7 Runs Saved.

    Clarke is tied for the second-most Runs Saved among rookies this season. He’s not the only one to make a big defensive impact. He just happens to be the one who’s gotten the most attention.

    Which other rookies have been good? Let’s fill you in.

    Player Team (Position) Runs Saved
    Javier Sanoja Marlins Utility 9
    Denzel Clarke A’s CF 7
    Carlos Narváez Red Sox C 7
    Kameron Misner Rays OF 6
    Cam Smith Astros RF 6
    Hayden Senger Mets C 5
    Caleb Durbin Brewers 3B/2B 4
    Matt Shaw Cubs 3B 4

    Javier Sanoja has been Mr. Versatility for the Marlins and leads all rookies with 9 Runs Saved when you combine his stats at each position. He’s played second base, left field, shortstop, center field, third base, an inning at first base, and even five innings in mop-up duty as a pitcher. Second base has been where he’s been most valuable, totaling 5 Runs Saved.

    Carlos Narváez is another older rookie. He’s 26 and got his opportunity when Connor Wong was injured at the start of the season. Right now, Narváez is the best all-around rookie position player. He has an .814 OPS and is tied for the lead among catchers with his 7 Runs Saved. His best value has come in pitch framing, but he’s also added a little for playmaking and in defending stolen base attempts.

    Cam Smith has gotten a chance to play every day in right field for the Astros. There haven’t been a lot of flashy plays, but he’s done well at turning batted balls into outs. He ranks 5th among right fielders with his 6 Runs Saved.

    Kameron Misner is a 27-year-old rookie who had played a lot of center field and a little right field and left field. Four of his 6 Runs Saved have come in center field, but those 2 Runs Saved in right field are important too. The Rays have the most Runs Saved there despite not having had a regular player in the early part of the season. 

    Hayden Senger made quite a good defensive impression as a backup catcher for the Mets while Francisco Alvarez was hurt. In 13 games he threw out 3 of 5 potential basestealers and was a good pitch framer and pitch blocker. The Mets went 7-3 in his 10 starts and he’s currently with Triple-A Syracuse serving as insurance against any Mets catching injuries.

    Caleb Durbin ascended to the majors from a Division III college (Washington University of St. Louis) after being traded twice during his time in the minor leagues. The Brewers have put him at third base after moving Joey Ortiz to shortstop and while the offensive numbers aren’t there, he’s shown good skill at the position. He has 5 Runs Saved there (-1 at second base).

     Similarly, Matt Shaw was given the chance to be the Cubs third baseman this year and though his offense has come slow, he’s represented well defensively, tallying 4 Runs Saved.

    Honorable mentions to White sox infielder Chase Meidroth and Mariners third baseman Ben Williamson. Each has 3 Runs Saved in 2025. Meidroth has been credited with 6 Good Fielding Plays at shortstop against only 3 Defensive Misplays and Errors. Most shortstops have more Misplays and Errors than Good Plays. Williamson has been credited with 9 Good Fielding Plays, 5th-most at third base this season.

  • May’s MLB Defensive Players of the Month

    May’s MLB Defensive Players of the Month

    Sports Info Solutions went three deep in our Defensive Player of the Month selections for May and there was no shortage of credible candidates to choose from.

    In the end, we picked a catcher who helped his team to a 19-8 record in May, a right fielder whose numbers look a lot different from last season, and a shortstop who took advantage of the abundance of ground balls to come his way.

    These are our three selections:

    Pedro Pagés, Cardinals C

    Pedro Pagés led all catchers with 8 Defensive Runs Saved in May. He entered the month with -2 Runs Saved for the season and finished it with 6 Runs Saved. Only Patrick Bailey (8) and Alejandro Kirk (7) have more for the season.

    For the season, Pagés has added value in Stolen Base Runs Saved as well as our stats for pitch blocking and pitch. framing

    He’s thrown out 8 of 32 baserunners attempting to steal (25%) and picked off two others. The average caught stealing rate for a catcher is 18%.

    He’s successfully blocked 94% of potential wild pitches. The average block rate is typically around 91% or 92%.

    Staff ace Sonny Gray seems to enjoy pitching to Pagés. Gray had six starts in May. His three scoreless ones featured 28 strikeouts and 3 walks. Pagés caught all three. For the season, Gray has a 2.32 ERA in 9 starts with Pagés catching. He’s allowed 14 runs in 14 2/3 innings with others catching.

    Adolis García, Rangers RF

    Adolis García led all right fielders with 7 Defensive Runs Saved in May. His 8 this season are tied for the MLB lead at the position with 2023 Fielding Bible Award winner, Fernando Tatis Jr.

    Garcia has engineered a major turnaround when it comes to his Range stats. Last season he had a career-worst -8 Range Runs Saved. This season, he already has 7 Range Runs Saved. He’s never finished a season with more than 6.

    Our Data Scouts award Good Fielding Plays based on their observation of specific defensive moments in games. García has 10 and has already exceeded his 2024 total of 9.

    Those include two terrific plays going to the right field line and diving to make a catch (see them here and here).

    Additionally, García has racked up most of his Runs Saved on shallow fly balls. The Rangers have played Garcia at an average depth of 294 feet in Globe Life Field this season, compared to 299 feet last season.

    He’s also improved considerably in MLB’s jump stats from last year to this year, going from ranking 70th among outfielders to placing in the Top 10 in terms of how much ground he covers above an average right fielder.

    Taylor Walls, Rays SS

    Taylor Walls has been a dominant defensive shortstop by Runs Saved since he first came up in 2021. He actually leads shortstops in Runs Saved in that time despite ranking 29th in innings played.

    Shorter term, he had the most Runs Saved of any shortstop in May with 7. He’s been very good this season both fielding balls hit to his left and to his right.

    Walls has also been given more of an opportunity to stand out. Rays pitchers have yielded many more ground balls, ranking 8th in ground ball percentage compared to 29th last season. He’s handling an average of 5 chances per 9 innings played compared to last year’s rate of 3.7.

    Sports Info Solutions has been naming Defensive Players of the Month since 2012 (with ESPN from 2012 to 2017 and then on its own since then), using a combination of statistical analysis and the eye test. Defensive Runs Saved has tracked MLB player defensive value since the 2003 season and is considered one of the industry-leading defensive stats.

  • What’s Happening To The Advantage For Right-Handed Batters vs Left-Handed Pitchers?

    What’s Happening To The Advantage For Right-Handed Batters vs Left-Handed Pitchers?

    There’s something going on within baseball right now for which I don’t have a good explanation. I’ve shared it with a few statistically-inclined friends of the company and I’m hoping they’ll be able to suss out the reasons for this.

    For now, I’m just going to point out what’s going on because I don’t know if it’s just a small-sample anomaly or something bigger.

    In a sentence: Right-handed batters are having a much rougher go of it against left-handed pitching than they typically do.

    In a table:

    Right-Handed Batters vs Left-Handed Pitchers – Last 5 Seasons

      BA OBP Slug Pct
    2021 .257 .328 .438
    2022 .252 .320 .416
    2023 .259 .326 .434
    2024 .249 .318 .410
    March-May 2025 .243 .313 .385

    Note the extreme drop-off from 2023 to the first two months of 2025. That doesn’t exist if we flip things and look at left-handed batters versus right-handed pitching.

    The gap between those hitter results in 2023 and the start of 2025 is 2 points of batting average (instead of 16), 2 points of on-base percentage (instead of 13) and 10 points of slugging percentage (instead of 49). Ten points is a deficit that could be made up as the weather gets warmer and offense increases. Forty-nine points of slugging percentage is a bigger crater.

    Let’s look at this from a more micro perspective.

    Yankees right-handed batters are hitting .304/.398/.535 against left-handed pitching for a league-leading .952 OPS and a large chunk of that is obviously Aaron Judge (.444/.565/1.111 in 46 plate appearances). But it’s also Paul Goldschmidt (24-for-45 with 10 walks) and Anthony Volpe (.328 BA, .929 OPS).

    And Yankees left-handed pitchers are dominating right-handed hitters, holding them to a .191 opponents’ batting average (2nd-lowest) and .562 opponents’ OPS (lowest). Carlos Rodón (.153 BA allowed, .499 OPS) and Max Fried (.207 BA, .521 OPS) are dominating. Ryan Yarbrough (.177 BA, .604 OPS) has been pretty good too.

    Meanwhile Orioles right-handed batters collectively have MLB worsts in batting average (.199) and OPS (.540). against southpaw pitching. There’s a six-player group with a smattering of 72 plate appearances headed by Tyler O’Neill and Gary Sánchez that is a combined 4-for-63.

    And Orioles left-handed pitchers have allowed the 3rd-highest batting average (.283) and OPS (.821) to right-handed hitters (Cade Povich and Cionel Pérez have been especially ineffective).

    I also want to give a shout-out to the left-handed relief pitchers who are thriving against right-handed hitters. We’re only a few years into the three-batter rule that all but eliminated the existence of the LOOGY. Lefty relievers wanting to stick around know they have to be really good against right-handed hitters.

    You may not know their names, but you should know their stats. Brendon Little (Blue Jays), Mason Fluharty (Blue Jays), Steven Okert (Astros), Garrett Cleavinger (Rays), Danny Coulombe (Twins), Yuki Matsui (Padres), Bryan King (Astros) and Brennan Bernardino (Red Sox) have the eight lowest opponents’ batting averages against right-handed hitters.

    Combined, right-handed batters are hitting .136 and slugging .211 against that group, with specialty pitches such as King’s sweeper and Matsui’s splitter repeatedly shutting hitters down. They are a small piece but nonetheless an interesting one to consider in trying to figure out what the heck is going on with this trend at the moment.

    If you want to see stats for right-handed hitters versus left-handed pitchers, click the links to see them on Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs.

  • Stat of the Week: Teams Making Major Defensive Improvements

    Stat of the Week: Teams Making Major Defensive Improvements

    There were a few dozen instances in 2024 of a team’s position group finishing the year with -10 Defensive Runs Saved or worse. For example, Giants center fielders totaled -24 Runs Saved, Padres catchers had -17, and Phillies shortstops tallied -13. There were more than 30 others.
    It’s reasonable to say that the teams in those situations would benefit from specific defensive improvements, like trying out new players at those spots or working with the struggling defenders to find ways to improve.
    Some teams are still having trouble defensively at those positions. Some have improved. And some have improved a lot.
    In fact, as of Thursday, there are three teams that totaled at least -10 Runs Saved at a position in 2024 that have the most Runs Saved at that position in 2025.
    Tigers 3rd base
    -13 Runs Saved in 2024
    7 Runs Saved in 2025 (MLB leader)
     Seven players combined for -13 Runs Saved at the hot corner for the Tigers last season, with Gio Urshela and his -5 being the chief culprit. This year, sans Urshela, four Tigers have combined for a major-league best 7 Runs Saved at third base.
     There’s been a playing time split among the quartet of Jace Jung, Andy Ibáñez, Zach McKinstry and Javier Báez. None of them have started more than 14 games there but each of them has at least 1 Run Saved. Jung, a top prospect whom the Tigers wanted to win the starting spot, was just sent to the minors because he wasn’t hitting.
    Red Sox catcher
    -14 Runs Saved in 2024
    9 Runs Saved in 2025 (MLB leader)
    With Connor Wong missing nearly a month due to injury, Boston turned to Carlos Narváez, who was touted as a strong defensive catcher when he was obtained from the Yankees this past offseason. Narváez has thus far delivered with 6 Runs Saved. Wong has looked better than he did last season. In 2024, he had -14 Runs Saved. In 2025 he has 3.
    Pirates left field
    -13 Runs Saved in 2024
    8 Runs Saved in 2025 (tied for MLB lead)
    The Pirates’ shortcomings this year are pretty much all on their offense. The defense has actually been pretty good in most spots. In left field, Tommy Pham, who had a rough time with the White Sox last season, has 7 Runs Saved, including a home run robbery. It’s been a while since Pham managed a full season of numbers that good. He had 11 Runs Saved as a left fielder in 2017.
    Honorable Mentions
    Twins left field
    -11 Runs Saved in 2024
    7 Runs Saved in 2025 (1 shy of MLB lead)
    The Twins took a good center fielder in Harrison Bader and moved him to left field. That fixed their defensive issues there. Bader has 5 Runs Saved in left field and 3 in center field filling in for Byron Buxton.
    Yankees pitchers
    -9 Runs Saved in 2024 (1 shy of our criteria)
    8 Runs Saved in 2025 (MLB leader)
    Bringing in Max Fried (3 Runs Saved) and Ryan Yarbrough (2) paid dividends. Fried has a strong defensive history. He won a Fielding Bible Award in 2020. Also, props to Carlos Rodon, who allowed 21 stolen bases against 4 caught stealing last season but has yielded only 2 stolen bases with 2 caught stealing in 2025.
  • Familiar Names atop Defensive Runs Saved Leaderboards

    Familiar Names atop Defensive Runs Saved Leaderboards

    5 past Fielding Bible Award Winners Currently Lead Their Position in Defensive Runs Saved.

    If you’re someone who looks at the Defensive Runs Saved player leaderboards this early in the season, you should know that the numbers have not reached any sort of predictive level yet.

    But if you look at the names of the early-season positional leaders, you might notice that the best defensive players of recent vintage are already the best defensive players in 2025, particularly in the infield and outfield.

    There are five past Fielding Bible Award winners currently leading their positions in Defensive Runs Saved. And those that aren’t past winners seem worthy of their top spot early-on in 2025.

    Here are the current positional leaders.

    MLB Defensive Runs Saved Leaders

    Position Name Runs Saved
    1st Base Matt Olson 5
    2nd Base Andrés Giménez 5
    3rd Base Matt Chapman 5
    Shortstop Taylor Walls 7
    Left Field Steven Kwan 7
    Center Field Ceddanne Rafaela 6
    Center Field Pete Crow-Armstrong 6
    Center Field Victor Scott II 6
    Right Field Fernando Tatis Jr. 6
    Catcher Carlos Narváez 6
    Pitcher Sean Burke 4

    Click the name to see an example of some good defense this season.

    Matt Olson is a four-time Fielding Bible Award winner at first base. Winning another would give him five, matching Albert Pujols for most at the position.

    Andrés Giménez has won the last two Fielding Bible Awards. The only second baseman to win three in a row is Kolten Wong (2018-2020).

    Matt Chapman has won three Fielding Bible Awards. Have you seen some of the throws he’s made this year???

    Taylor Walls doesn’t have any hardware, but he has the most Defensive Runs Saved of any shortstop since the start of the 2024 season, though he ranks 24th in innings played in that time.

    Steven Kwan has won two Fielding Bible Awards. He currently leads all outfielders with 6 assists.

    Ceddanne Rafaela, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Victor Scott II are the new kids on the block, so to speak. Crow-Armstrong and Scott each won minor league Gold Gloves. Rafaela twice won the Red Sox minor league defensive player of the year.

    Fernando Tatis Jr. won a Fielding Bible Award two years ago when he was the runaway leader in Runs Saved among right fielders.

    Carlos Narváez earned rave reviews from the Yankees for his defense prior to their trading him to the Red Sox this past offseason (Yes, the Yankees and Red Sox made a trade). We’ll see if he gets the playing time needed to stay atop the leaderboard with Connor Wong back from injury.

    Sean Burke went from unknown to Opening Day White Sox starter pretty quickly. He hasn’t allowed a stolen base in 39 1/3 innings and leads the AL with 11 assists.  

    A reminder that you can find all the defensive leaderboards at FieldingBible.com and past leaders at our archive site.

  • Harrison Bader, Pete Crow-Armstrong Named Defensive Players of the Month

    Harrison Bader, Pete Crow-Armstrong Named Defensive Players of the Month

    Twins outfielder Harrison Bader and Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong are the SIS Defensive Players of the Month for March/April.

    In his first month-plus with the Twins, Bader led all players with 7 Defensive Runs Saved and led all outfielders with 9 Good Fielding Plays.

    The Twins signed Bader this past offseason knowing that they could use him in a couple of ways. They could play him in left field, giving themselves a pair of highly-skilled outfielders if Byron Buxton stayed healthy in center field. And they knew that they could slide Bader over to center if Buxton had any issues.

    Thus far, though the team is struggling, Bader’s defense has given it a boost. He has 4 Runs Saved in 22 games in left field and 3 in six games in center field. His specialty has been coming in to make a diving catch, as he earned a Good Fielding Play for doing that 6 times (like this run-saving one).

    He has 5 Runs Saved for his range and 2 Outfield Arm Runs Saved, for plays like this one against the Mets.

    Crow-Armstrong finished April with 6 Runs Saved, the most by any center fielder. He’s tied with Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela with 17 Runs Saved for the most by anyone at the position since the start of last season.

    Crow-Armstrong has made a couple of nifty grabs on deep fly balls (like this one).

    He has 5 Runs Saved from his range and 1 Run Saved via a couple of assists (here’s one that wowed the announcers and was overturned to an out on replay review).

     

    Crow-Armstrong’s strong start on defense has helped the Cubs rank second in Runs Saved, trailing only the Rays. His strong start at the plate, with an OPS 170 points higher than his 2024, has buoyed the team as well.

    Other strong contenders for Defensive Player of the Month were Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez, who leads the position with 6 Runs Saved, shortstop leaders Anthony Volpe, Corey Seager, and Taylor Walls, left field leader Tommy Pham, and Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

    Sports Info Solutions has been naming Defensive Players of the Month since 2012 (with ESPN from 2012 to 2017 and then on its own since then), using a combination of statistical analysis and the eye test. Defensive Runs Saved has tracked MLB player defensive value since the 2003 season and is considered one of the industry-leading defensive stats.

  • Stat of the Week: Early Observations – Impressive Outfielders

    Stat of the Week: Early Observations – Impressive Outfielders

    We’re hesitant to make any proclamations about anything defense-related a few weeks into the season. But we like to honor defensive excellence regardless of what time of year it is. So we’ll point out a few things we’ve found notable. Here are a few of them from outfielders. We’ll try to look at infielders (and maybe catchers) next week.

    Mark April 24 on your calendar as it’s the day that Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong led the majors in a stat that our company invented some years back, Total Runs.

    Total Runs combines hitting, baserunning and defensive performance into one number in a manner similar to the run component used by Wins Above Replacement.

    And yes, it’s Crow-Armstrong, not Aaron Judge or Pete Alonso, who ranks No. 1 and defense is a part of that. Crow-Armstrong plays one of the most important positions on the field and he plays it like someone wanting to win a Platinum Glove. His 16 Runs Saved since the start of last season (including 5 in 2025) are tied for the most among center fielders.

    Shameless plug: He was one of a few topics of conversation on this week’s edition of The SIS Baseball Podcast.

    Most Total Runs – 2025 Season

    Total Runs
    Pete Crow-Armstrong 32
    Aaron Judge 31
    Fernando Tatis Jr. 30
    Corbin Carroll 30
    Pete Alonso 29

    Fernando Tatis Jr. is back to chasing down fly balls like he did two years ago when he co-led the majors with 27 Defensive Runs Saved. Former major leaguer and current ESPN broadcaster Doug Glanville said on our podcast that Tatis is a player who would most likely be a good gymnast too, because of his flexibility. He’s made five catches that earned “Good Fielding Play” tallies from our Data Scouts, including this one that Glanville loved.

    “He slid for the ball and he kept sliding, and while he was sliding he threw a rocket to first base,” Glanville said. “I was like ‘wait, how did he even get that ball?’”

    The Padres rank No. 2 in MLB in terms of turning fly balls hit to the outfield into outs (among balls that stay in the park), trailing only the Reds.

    Staying out West and staying in the outfield, Giants center fielders had the worst Runs Saved of any team in baseball in 2024. In fact, they were the worst defensively of any team at any position. But fan-favorite Jung Hoo Lee is healthy now after missing most of last season with an injury. And he’s good enough such that the negative Runs Saved total may turn positive for the Giants in 2025.