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Friday, July 09, 2010
James Carroll loves UZR
He says:
“Taking a lot of groundballs over and over. I worked with a guy named Perry Hill [an infield defense specialist coach when Carroll was with the Expos] and he helped break it down. He made it as simple as possible. We would have us take groundballs everywhere.... He had a thing called the Six F’s of Fielding. It was simple stuff. It was a lot of preparation. The first one is Footwork, then Field, then get in Front of the ball, Footwork, Funnel the ball into the glove, then Fire and Follow-through. ... Well if you have a pitcher that’s throwing harder and a guy who’s not a pull guy, he’s gonna pitch the guy away–you’re not gonna shade as much on the pull. If a pitcher’s approaching [Ethier] I’ll take a step towards pull a little more. On off-speed pitches, more likely the guy’s gonna get out in front. In that chance, he’ll pull the ball a little more and I’ll anticipate it.”
...
After I explained about UZR and the idea of capturing a player’s total range, judging a player for his repertoire of complete defensive production, he immediately questioned it’s validity, asking how it accounts for defensive positioning. When I told him it didn’t (*), I added defensive statistics still have a long ways to go before they can be legitimized and he nodded, adding “I guess stats can evolve like that.”We ended on this note:
But UZR says you’re one of the better second basemen in the game.
Well then it’s a great stat! [Laughs]
(*) It DOES account for it, implicitly. If you position yourself better than someone else, then in a zone that someone will make an out 80% of the time, you will make an out 85% of the time.
***
What I also find interesting is Perry Hill. He’s from the Expos, and Neal Huntington was also with the Expos. And then they are both on the Pirates. I just find it interesting the way “your guy” follows you.
To you guys who are thinking of getting into MLB, then the best way is to make contacts with the assistants, and hopefully you can do good work for them. Eventually, those guys end up moving up, and they’ll be looking for their guys. I have to believe that the Hill/Huntington situation is simply a typical example of how things work. Not only in MLB, but in many places in corporate america.
Even my involvement with the Mariners followed a similar path. I found myself in touch with someone at MLBAM, which interestingly led to contact with a Mariners owner. And then Jack Z and Blengino came on board about 6-9 months later; I asked the Mariners owner to pass my info along. And that was it.
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