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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
Patrick Bailey Is A Defensive Difference-Maker
With all due respect to Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno and Mets catcher Francisco Álvarez, the best defensive catcher in a promising group of rookie catchers may be Patrick Bailey of the Giants.Bailey ranks tied for 2nd among catchers with 7 Defensive Runs Saved, one behind Moreno, despite playing in only 26 games this season. His [...]
Negative Nolan: What's Going On With Arenado's Runs Saved?
What Nolan Arenado did at third base from 2013 to 2022 was extraordinary. If it were easy to average 15 Defensive Runs a season at the hot corner, lots of players would do it. But Arenado stands alone with his skill and has the hardware in Gold Gloves (10) and Fielding Bible Awards (5) to [...]
What's Up With All The Home Run Robberies?
We normally bring up home run robberies at the beginning of the season and then again in The Bill James Handbook. But we have reason to bring them up again two months into 2023. Our company has been tracking home run robberies in detail since 2004. We take this seriously. Our Video Scouts discuss and [...]
Pitcher Injuries On Comebackers On The Rise
Pitcher injuries are always a frequent topic and 2023 is no different with Robbie Ray, Germán Márquez, and Drew Rasmussen all out with significant elbow injuries. Ray and Marquez will miss the season after Tommy John surgery. Rasmussen is out for multiple months with a strained tendon in his elbow. But there’s a different type of [...]
Which Teams Are Best At Supporting Their Pitchers Defensively?
In the fifth inning of Eduardo Rodriguez’s start against the Guardians on April 18, Josh Naylor hit a bolt to right field that looked like it was going to be a go-ahead home run. But Matt Vierling raced back, leapt, reached over the wall as he banged into the fence, and made the catch.Rodriguez ended [...]
Nick Gordon and Starling Marte Perhaps Deserving of a Better Fate
BY MARK SIMONLet me call your attention to two hitters whose numbers currently don’t match their track records and explain something that’s going on for each of them.Twins utility man Nick Gordon is 6-for-52 to start the 2023 season. In his first two years in the majors, Gordon hit .261 with a .711 OPS, the [...]
Brewers Living Up To Their Reputation
When we wrote our NL defense preview a few weeks ago, we referenced Brewers manager Craig Counsell’s and his high expectations for Brewers rookie second baseman Brice Turang.Turang has lived up to the billing so far – just check out the nice plays he made against Jared Kelenic on Wednesday (click here and here) and his relay throw to nail [...]
What We've Noticed On Defense In The Opening Week
BY MARK SIMONIt’s too early to draw conclusions from much of anything in small-sample-size land these days. So rather than write a highly-detailed analysis and extrapolation of anything, we’ll just point out some of the things we’ve noticed defensively from the first week of the season.* White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. has looked [...]
NL Team Defensive Previews
BY MARK SIMONContinuing what we started last week with the AL, we’ve got a stat-driven defensive theme or story to watch for each NL team. Play ball!Braves – We’re curious to see what Michael Harris II’s defensive ceiling is. Harris has already won a Minor League Gold Glove and at times showed the potential to [...]
2023 Defensive Preview: American League
BY MARK SIMONWith Opening Day approaching, we wanted to preview the 2023 season from a defensive perspective. So to be fair to all 30 teams, we’ve got a stat-driven theme or story to watch for each team. We’ll do the AL teams this week, the NL next week.Angels – The Angels have a good defensive [...]