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  • Stat of the Week: Who were July’s top defenders?

    By Mark Simon

    The San Diego Padres have known thatĀ Hunter RenfroeĀ could hit for power since he made his big league debut in 2016. But after being known primarily as a home run hitter in the early part of his career, Renfroe is now known for something else: his defense.

    Renfroe is the Sports Info Solutions Defensive Player of the Month for July. He edged out Oakland Athletics utility manĀ Chad PinderĀ in a very close vote among SIS staff.

    Renfroe is the second consecutive Padres player to win Defensive Player of the Month this season. Padres catcherĀ Austin HedgesĀ took the honor for June. Brewers outfielderĀ Lorenzo CainĀ (March/April) and Dodgers outfielderĀ Cody BellingerĀ (May) are the other winners this season.

    Renfroe led all players with 13 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) for the month. He saved eight runs in right field, four in left field and one in center field. No other player finished the month in double figures in Runs Saved.

    Among Renfroeā€™s highlights wereĀ a diving grab against Alex VerdugoĀ andĀ a leaping catch against Joe PanikĀ of the Giants.

    As documented recentlyĀ on the Sports Info Solutions blog,Ā Renfroe has made significant defensive improvements this season. Heā€™s saved 17 runs overall and recently overtook Bellinger for the lead for most DRS as an outfielder this season. Renfroe has been excellent at both catching balls and deterring baserunner advancement. His five Outfield Arm Runs Saved are one shy of Bellinger for the MLB lead.

    ā€œI want to win a Gold Glove more than I want to win a Silver Slugger,ā€ Renfroe toldĀ The AthleticĀ about a month ago. Heā€™ll make an interesting candidate for ourĀ Fielding Bible Awards.Ā His nine DRS in right field rank fourth behind Bellinger. His seven DRS in left field are one off the MLB lead. He could be a candidate for theĀ Fielding Bible AwardĀ for best multi-position player.

    So could Pinder, especially given how he played in July. He saved at least one run as a left fielder (3), right fielder (1), second baseman (1), and third baseman (1). Sports Info Solutions Video Scouts credited him with eight Good Fielding Plays, one shy of the most by a non-first baseman (first basemen tend to have the most due to scooped throws). He did this while committing only one Misplay or Error.

    Pinderā€™s presence makes the Athletics a highly formidable defensive team along with first basemanĀ Matt OlsonĀ and third basemanĀ Matt Chapman.

    Among Pinderā€™s highlights this month were aĀ pretty good impersonation of ChapmanĀ at third base to take a hit away from Jorge Polanco, a diving catch in right fieldĀ to rob Eric Thames of extra bases,Ā as well asĀ this play in left fieldĀ to take a hit from J.P. Crawford.

    Left field is where Pinder fares best. He’s saved six runs in just over 200 innings there this season. But his ability to make plays at other spots adds considerably to his value.

    For more on defensive excellence, check out the upcoming episode of theĀ Sports Info Solutions Baseball PodcastĀ (available Monday). San Francisco Giants center fielder Kevin Pillar talks about the challenges of making the diving, sliding, and jumping catch.

  • Athletics got an ‘A’ for their shift defense in 2018

    By MARK SIMON

    The Athletics were one of the surprise teams in baseball last season, winning the second AL Wild Card and challenging the Astros for the AL West title.

    Chances are that you know the Athletics had the best defensive player in baseball last season in third baseman Matt Chapman. But they were also good at something that had almost nothing to do with Chapman.

    As you can see in the newly-listed numbers on Fangraphs, Oakland ranked second in MLB with 36 Shift Runs Saved, trailing only the 39 by the Diamondbacks. It’s largely the reason that the Athletics led the AL in overall Defensive Runs Saved.

    Most Shift Runs Saved – 2018 Season
    Diamondbacks39
    Athletics36
    Rays31
    Twins31
    Tigers30

    Those two teams used shifts at dramatically different volumes. The Diamondbacks ranked eighth in the number of shifts they used on balls in play with 1,391. The Athletics ranked 25th, utilizing 883. But the Athletics got great value out of the instances in which they did shift.

    So what were the characteristics of the Athleticsā€™ shift that allowed them to be so good despite the minimal usage, relative to the rest of MLB?

    Strategic Change

    In 2017, the Athletics used full shifts (ones with three infielders on the pull side) and partial shifts (two infielders on each side, but at least two fielders significantly deviating from normal positioning) about the same number of times (170 ground balls and short line drives into full shifts vs. 188 into partials). Thatā€™s a recipe for trouble. Full shifts are far more effective than partial shifts at thwarting base hits on grounders and short liners.

    Athletics Shifting Notes
    * Changed approach to use more full shifts
    * Switched up where Lowrie and Semien stood
    * Great vs. right-handed batters

    Case in point: the Athletics allowed a .182 batting average on those type of batted balls against full shifts that season and a .340 batting average on them in partial shifts.

    In 2018, the Athletics changed approaches. They used full shifts more than twice as often as partial shifts. Their success on full shifts continued. Opponents hit .162 against them on their grounders and liners, the second-lowest batting average allowed in MLB. And with greater selectivity on partial shifts, opponentsā€™ batting average came down as well (.257 on grounders and liners).

    Sure-handed Middle Infielders

    The Athletics did something a little different than most teams and different than they had in 2017, sometimes playing their shortstop, Marcus Semien, in shallow right field when they shifted a left-handed batter. They took second baseman Jed Lowrie out of that spot and moved him to a spot more in line with where a shortstop would play in the shift. Semien is five years younger than Lowrie and can cover more ground. The move worked well for both.

    Semien, a much-improved defensive player in 2019 in non-shift situations, was highly valuable in this defensive alignment. Of the Aā€™s 36 Runs Saved from shifts, 7 came from Semien, up from 2 the previous season.

    Similarly, the Athletics got 7 Shift Runs Saved on balls in which Lowrie was the primary fielder in a shift, up from -2 on a similar number of balls the previous season.

    Unrelated, but worth noting: The Athletics recorded only one run saved on balls hit to Chapman in shifts. This success was mostly about Lowrie and Semien (with a little help from Matt Olson).

    When shifting a righty, it almost always worked

    The Athletics were infrequent shifters of right-handed hitters, but when they used a shift, it usually did the trick. Righties who hit a ground ball against an Aā€™s shift had a .165 reached-base percentage (how often they reached on hit or error) on 79 ground balls. They reached 13 times when the average hitter would have reached 22.

    Thatā€™s not a large sample by any means, but it shows how the Athletics helped themselves in the stat by converting these outs.

    Outlook

    The Athleticsā€™ infield defense returns its two cornerstones in Matt Olson and Chapman at first and third, as well as Semien at shortstop. Theyā€™ll break in a new second baseman in Jurickson Profar, whose major league experience at the position consists of a little more than 500 innings. Heā€™ll replace Lowrie, who signed with the Mets this offseason.

    The things to watch will be whether Semien maintains his improvement and whether Profar is comfortable in Oaklandā€™s defensive alignments. Also worth keeping an eye on is the Athleticsā€™ shift usage, both in total and in how often they play three infielders on the pull side. Theyā€™ll likely need similar success to contend with the Astros again.

  • Matt Olsonā€™s quiet Gold Glove campaign

    By BRETT BITTIGER

    Few baseball pundits predicted that on August 16, the Oakland Athletics would be two games back in the AL West and in command of the second AL Wild Card spot.

    There has been ample coverage of several of the teamā€™s sources of insurgence: Matt Chapmanā€™s highlight reel has led an improved team defense; Blake Treinenā€™s turbo sinker and vanishing slider have headlined a superb relief corps; and Khris Davis and Jed Lowrie have anchored a productive lineup.

    But a main contribution has gone largely unnoticedā€”Matt Olsonā€™s defense.
    Corner-of-the-field defenders usually donā€™t earn the lionā€™s share of praise. Oakland is an exception, with their top three Defensive Runs Saved leaders all manning a corner spot: Chapman at third base (+24), Matt Olson at first base (+9), and Chad Pinder in left field (+7). Chapmanā€™s feats have been obviousā€”Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs recently analyzed them. Requiring a closer look, perhaps, is the fact that Olson is the teamā€™s second most valuable defender.

    On the surface, Olson ranks second among all first basemen on our Defensive Runs Saved leaderboard, topping the American League by a comfortable margin, and trailing only Brandon Belt overall.

    Most of this value comes from Olson’s ability to handle ground balls, especially to his glove side. In terms of range and positioning, only Belt, Joey Votto, and Freddie Freeman score higher on our leaderboard. Olson also has been very efficient on starting double plays, converting 10 out of 12 opportunities on the season. Beyond this, Olsonā€™s value can best be assessed in how he impacts his fellow infielders.

    Consider Marcus Semien, who currently ranks 12th on our shortstop DRS leaderboard with five runs saved. Semien also ranks 26th by our Good Throw Rate metric among those who have made at least 100 throws to first base. Good Throw RateĀ factors in throwing errors as well as good plays by first basemen (like scoops and good tag plays) to assess an infielderā€™s throwing efficiency.

    The numbers show that Semienā€™s above average DRS figure belies his subpar throwing ability. They also indicate that his success has been largely dependent on the ability of Matt Olson (the two recently combined for this nifty play). In fact, no other shortstop this season has been picked up by his first baseman more than Semien, who has received 17 such plays. If we look at last season, six of Semienā€™s seven throwing errors occurred without Olson manning first base.

    Matt Chapman, the more capable left-side infielder in Oakland, ranks 11th on our Good Throw Rate among third basemen, but still has been picked up ten times by Olson this season, good for second most at his position.

    Itā€™s also important to note that, while Olson leads the league in handling difficult throws in order to record outs (his current total of 33 easily outstrips Justin Smoakā€™s second-best figure of 25), his assistance to his infielders likely goes even further.

    Listed at 6ā€™5ā€, Olson stands counter to NL standout Freddie Freeman as the tallest AL regular at first base. With a large wingspan even for his sizable frame, and deft footwork around the bag, Olson is often able to avoid the need to leave the bag or pick a throw out of the dirt when shorter first basemen would need to go above and beyond to record an out.

    Ultimately, there were many potential scenarios that could have played out at the corner infield spots this season for the Aā€™s. Olson spent at least half of his minor league campaigns in 2015 and 2016 in right field, and Oakland received significant contributions at first base last year from Ryon Healy and Yonder Alonso.

    The Aā€™s could have held onto Healy and paired him with Olson in a platoon. They could have extended Alonso and encouraged Olson to keep developing his outfield defense. Instead, they cleared their corner infieldā€”realizing the obvious impact of Chapman and the subtler infield-wide buoying ability of Olsonā€”and committed wholly to them both.

    Though itā€™s still early in both of their careers, it is already clear that Oaklandā€™s front office deserves significant credit for their conviction.