from Amazon
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Does Eric Hossmer play too close to the bag?
The stringer-collected data suggests so.
Zone Total GBs Outs by Hosmer Average Outs by IB Hosmer Out Diff
R 54 0 1.4 -1.4
S 61 4 4.9 -0.9
T 55 1 12.3 -11.3
U 62 16 26.5 -10.5
V 64 45 45.5 -0.5
W 59 54 51.6 2.4
X 14 12 9.8 2.2
Y 9 0 1.0 -1.0
Zones R,S,T,U are those closer to 2B. On balls hit there (or more precisely, on balls RECORDED to have been hit there), Hossmer started 21 outs, while an average 1B would have started 45 outs.
On the plus side, he makes more plays closer to the bag than the average 1B. The problem is that the balls he’s giving up on the 2B side is far greater than the balls he’s getting to on the line side.
This is why we want to record positioning, much like we’d record HR and walks for batters: by breaking it down into components, you can see where the strengths and weaknessed are, and you can get a more complete picture of why two different kinds of players can end up with the same wOBA or UZR. Fans think he’s got the tools to be a good fielder. Maybe what’s missing is his positioning.