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Who has the best infield defense?
Posted by John Dewan on Dec 16th 2015
January 27, 2006
Last week we did a preview on outfielders from our new book about defense in baseball, The Fielding Bible. Let's do infield this week. The new Plus/Minus System to evaluate defense has a plus/minus number associated with each player to indicate how many plays he made above or below the number of plays an average fielder would be expected to make.
Here are the infield leaders for the three-year period 2003-2005:
| First Base | ||
| Mark Teixeira | Texas | +53 |
| Doug Mientkiewicz | 3 teams | +32 |
| Albert Pujols | St. Louis | +25 |
| The Worst: Richie Sexson | 3 teams | -28 |
| Second Base | ||
| Orlando Hudson | Toronto | +77 |
| Marcus Giles | Atlanta | +38 |
| Adam Kennedy | LA Angels | +38 |
| The Worst: Bret Boone | Sea-Min | -54 |
| Third Base | ||
| Adrian Beltre | LAD-Seattle | +71 |
| David Bell | Philadelphia | +52 |
| Scott Rolen | St. Louis | +46 |
| The Worst: Ty Wigginton | NY Mets-Pit | -48 |
| Shortstop | ||
| Adam Everett | Houston | +76 |
| Jack Wilson | Pittsburgh | +50 |
| Jimmy Rollins | Philadelphia | +40 |
| The Worst: Michael Young | Texas | -73 |
The teams with the best overall infields for the 2005 season:
| Philadelphia Phillies | +107 | (Ryan Howard/Jim Thome, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, David Bell) |
| St. Louis Cardinals | +49 | (Albert Pujols, Mark Grudzielanek, David Eckstein, Abraham Nunez/Scott Rolen) |
| Los Angeles Angels | +46 | (Darin Erstad, Adam Kennedy, Orlando Cabrera, Chone Figgins/Dallas McPherson) |
| Houston Astros | +36 | (Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio, Adam Kennedy, Morgan Ensberg) |
| Oakland A's | +32 | (Dan Johnson, Mark Ellis, Bobby Crosby/Marco Scutaro, Eric Chavez) |
| The Worst: Kansas City Royals | -117 | (Matt Stairs/Mike Sweeney, Ruben Gotay, Angel Berroa, Mark Teahen) |