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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Do teams put the better fielder at 2B or 3B?
A few years ago, MLB was filled with great fielding 3B. Lately, however, things have started to change back. I looked at the Fans Scouting Report, to see how the fans evaluated their team’s 2B and 3B. With only three teams did the fans strongly prefer the fielding talents of their 3B over their 2B:
Cleveland Indians
St. Louis Cardinals
Atlanta Braves
On the flip side however, there were 9 teams that strongly preferred their 2B to their 3B.
And how about on offense? Well, the shift has been so dramatic that the average 2B is a slightly better hitter than the average 3B! Just a few years back, MLB not only had the better fielder at 3B, but also the better hitter at 3B. Now, in 2011? A better fielder at 2B and just a shade of a better hitter at 2B, too!
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How about LF/RF? I noted in the past that the better fielder was by far in RF than LF. Is this still true in 2011? Only 1 team had the clearly better fielder in LF than RF (Yankees). On the flip side, there were 13 teams with the better fielder in RF than LF (with 8 of them being in the NL, a league that doesn’t have a DH, and so, may use LF as a DH-like spot).
How about hitting? Not only is the RF a far far far better hitter than the LF (average RF is a slightly worse hitter than the 1B), but EVEN THE CF is a (slightly) better hitter than the LF. The LF in 2011 is clearly the spot where teams “hide” or otherwise “play with” their players.
Never do what others have done in the past, and that is to “zero out” the stats such that the average LF (offense + defense) is considered equal to the average CF or average RF. This is clearly the wrong thing to do.