Best Defensive Players of the Decade (Part IV)

This is the fourth and final installment of our "Best Defensive Players of the Decade" series. Previously we covered the infield and outfield. Now, we’ll finish with pitchers and catchers, two positions where we measure defense a bit differently. Each has some overlapping defensive evaluators with other positions—Bunts Runs Saved and Good Play/Misplay Runs Saved, for example—but pitcher and catcher also include components to account for run prevention in the running game and in pitch handling.

Here are the five best defensive pitchers of the last 10 years according to Defensive Runs Saved:

Widely known for his incredible play on Opening Day in 2010, Mark Buehrle has been both durable and consistent defensively. His 77 Defensive Runs Saved paces the pitcher position and has earned him four consecutive Fielding Bible Awards. Buehrle is well-balanced. He has tremendous range and hands to field groundballs and bunts around the mound, and he also completely shuts down the running game. Every year of his 10-year career, Buehrle has combined for at least five pitcher caught stealings and pick offs, with a career-best 11 in 2010.

Here is last position we are ranking, but arguably the first in terms of defensive importance. The five best defensive catchers of the last 10 years according to Defensive Runs Saved are:

Not to be out-done by Buehrle, Yadier Molina has won five Fielding Bible Awards—Albert Pujols is the only other player who shares that distinction—and it is easy to see why. Not only does his pace of 10 Runs Saved per 1,000 innings equal that of the best defensive-specialists like Jeff Mathis, he also has longevity. Molina has caught at least 850 innings in eight consecutive seasons. As with Buehrle, Molina is well rounded as a defender but especially excels in the prevention of the running game. Molina has thrown out 40 percent or more of attempted basestealers in 6 of his 9 seasons.

Recently I attended the SABR Analytics Conference held in Phoenix. There were about 25 teams in attendance along with many of the great minds in the baseball analytics world, including the original himself, Bill James. It was a tremendous event that I highly recommend. However, I was a little miffed when a few individuals suggested that the industry is not at the point yet where we have a good handle on measuring defense analytically. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In the last decade we have broken through the barrier. We have gone from the stone ages in measuring defense with tools such as errors and fielding percentage to advanced analytics like Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). Back in the day we were probably measuring about five percent of a player’s defensive value and skills with fielding percentage. Now we’re probably at the 60 percent level in capturing value and skill using Defensive Runs Saved. We’re not quite as good yet at measuring defense as we are at measuring hitting and pitching, but as we have seen quite well with this series, our defensive measures are clearly identifying the best players. These are players that are well recognized for their defensive ability from a scouting perspective. Defensive Runs Saved shows how many runs their defense is worth. But the real value of DRS is in evaluating other players who aren’t necessarily the best defenders, whose defensive contributions and skills are not as clear from visual observation alone.

Our holistic Defensive Runs Saved metric is made up of several runs saved components. Two primary components of Defensive Runs Saved include the Plus/Minus System, which evaluates the range of fielders at every position except for catcher, and Good Fielding Plays and Defensive Misplays. Defensive Runs Saved for pitchers also includes Bunts Runs Saved and Pitcher Stolen Base Runs Saved and for catchers also includes Bunts Runs Saved, Catcher Stolen Base Runs Saved, and Adjusted Earned Runs Saved.