Gloves

Hello all, I'm Tom and I'll be trying to help Adam out with this blog, giving my two cents whenever I can. I just started a new job, so I wanted to make a good impression. Good impressions do not include blogging from work while pouring over retrosheet data. My main goal is to educate and foster critical analysis of the Reds over the course of this blog. So here goes..

The glove, often overlooked in the clubhouse locker, is an integral part of the game of baseball. Most of the time its the bat that does the talking, gets people excited, and fattens the wallet. Fielding improves pitching, and wins more baseball games. I want to explore the fielding, and how the Reds' defense stacks up against other teams. For the most part when using figures I'll ignore the AL and their crazy DH and incompetent managers who can't pull off a nice double switch. The game is played differently in the AL, so when speaking of defensive metrics, I'll only use the NL.

Some basic knowledge to get down. Fielding % is the 3rd most useless statistic in baseball (behind pitching W-L and the RBI in my opinion), and I won't reference it to tout the laurels of a player, or detract from his abilities. I'll instead use some slightly newer metrics but still very viable.

Revised Zone Rating (RZR) is essentially the % of balls hit into a player's zone that he turns into outs. This doesn't take into account balls hit out of his zone, whether plays are made on them or not. Each position has the same size zone, which makes comparing across positions very easy. Brandon Phillips had the highest RZR among NL 2B last year, for those Hudson fans.

Outside of Zone (OOZ) is the number of outs made on balls outside of the player's specified zone. Balls that should fall for hits that are turned into outs comprise the OOZ number. OOZ is relative to innings, so keep that in mind. Orlando Hudson had the highest OOZ number amongst NL 2B last year.

The Reds had a team RZR of .812 and 338 OOZ plays. NL league average in both categories was .818 and 379 respectively. This doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know, the Reds are a below average defensive team. This is a glaring problem. Especially playing in GABP, you can't allow extra baserunners when those men are more likely to turn into runs for the opposing team. For those wondering, the best RZR was the Mets at .839 and the Braves made a whopping 454 plays outside of their zone. Both teams had winning records, needless to say. This means that the Mets on average fielded 2.7% more hit balls per player per position. That's an enormous difference over the course of a season. The Reds had the second worst RZR in the NL and the OOZ numbers were less than impressive, we all can agree they need to improve for 2008.

Individually, the Reds are very strong up the middle with both Gonzalez and Phillips playing with above average RZR and OOZ numbers. Hamilton has one of the highest RZR numbers in CF, while Freel has a very good OOZ number. These numbers agree pretty much with what you see with your naked eyes. Assuming no unforeseen moves, the Reds appear fairly set up the middle, with all four guys under contract next season. And these metrics don't even count the fantastic arms all three of the guys have.

At the corners is a different story. The platoon of Hatteberg/Conine was awful at 1b. Like David Ortiz awful, making 10% less plays in their zone than league average 1b. And don't even bring Derek Lee into the discussion, his defense blows them both out of the water. This looks to improve next season, and there is reason for hope. Joey Votto is likely to take over first base duties. Scouts say his defense is a "work in progress" but about average. He is a converted catcher and very athletic, so he has the potential to be much better defensively than the two-headed first basemen the Reds employed in 2007.

Edwin Encarnacion was vastly improved in 2007, especially once returning from his AAA stint. His plate patience was much better, and he finished the season with the highest batting average of any Reds regular. However, as bad as Conine/Hatteberg were, Encarnacion was much the same. He made a normal amount of outstanding plays outside his zone, but on average he made 8% less plays on balls in his zone. 2008 can only be an improvement. Double E is still young, and has the potential to be a league average 3B defensively. Ryan Zimmerman he will never be, but one can hope for middle of the road.

The corners in the outfield were an adventure to say the least. Griffey benefited health-wise in the move to RF, and he made some decent plays out there. His RZR was almost exactly league average, meaning he made the plays he was supposed to, the routine. However, his OOZ was one of the worst in the NL among everyday RF. For those wondering, the best statistical right fielder in the NL was former Dayton Dragon Austin Kearns. Too bad Kearns forgot his bat in 2006, posting only league average offensive numbers. Outlook for 2008.. bleak. Unless Griffey is moved (of which I'm a proponent), his Dr. Strangeglove act is only going to get worse. He showed a decent arm at times, even throwing a few guys out, but his legs aren't getting any quicker. If Griffey is traded, Hamilton would slide over to right, and the Reds would see a great improvement in overall team outfield defense, but that's unlikely to happen.

Now on to every one's favorite defensive player, the Big Donkey Adam Dunn. Donkey has been the butt of many jokes, especially at the hands of Marty Brennamen regarding his perceived lack of hustle in the field. Dunn was below average in 2007, but not as bad as people think. He made plays on 3% less balls in his zone than average, and about 4% less OOZ plays over NL left fielders. Those numbers aren't great, but they're not the butcher job being displayed at the infield corners. 2008 outlook, push. His defense improved in 2007, but I don't expect anything drastic to change. He'll never be average in LF, but that's not why he's on the roster.

The Reds need to look to improve their team defense in 2008 in order to be more successful. Under Mackanin, the team was seen taking fielding practice before a few games. Fielding practice is unheard of in MLB this day and age. It'd be nice to see more stress placed on it, but that is unlikely to happen. Instead, we as Reds fans can only hope for improvement from the young players and the aging players to just hold their ground. Remember, over thousands of innings of a baseball season, even a few percentage points of defensive improvement can mean the difference between the playoffs and being the Brewers.