"[The] method involved looking at every ball put in play in major league baseball from 2002 through 2005 and recorded where the shots went. Researchers then developed a probability model for the average fielder in each position and compared that with the performance of individual players to see who was better or worse than average."
The best shortstop in MLB?
Alex Rodriguez.
And here's the stat that I love: Worst Shortstop in MLB?
Derek Jeter.
Shane Jensen, the Penn student/teacher/stat-nerd who led the study said, "[the information] suggests the Yankees have one of the best defensive shortstops playing out of position in deference to one of the worst defensive shortstops."
Sure this doesn't take into account intangibles like banging supermodels and Alyssa Milano and whatnot, but still.
And Tom Emmanski might want his endorsement money back. The worst first baseman?
Noooo! My childhood was a lie!
On a Reds note, we apparently got our money's worth with our newly locked-up second baseman Brandon Phillips, who ranked second overall at his position.
Also, on an semi-related topic, if you guys haven't read Jayson Stark's article on Dusty yet, I think it's pretty good. The video with Krivsky is boring and uninformative, but Dusty's got some things to say on videos at the Reds' official site.
In reference to something that was written in Stark's article, I also think this year's rallying cry should be "What's up, Big Daddy," which is way cooler and more indicative of the attitude of the team than the consummately queer "C you there" that currently dominates the web-page.
2 comments:
Now, I'll stand patiently by while you dog Roger Clemens and Derek Jeter. But don't you dare...don't you DARE impugn the esteemed Mr. E.
Who else do you know in the history of the civilized world that has developed a system that can fire a baseball into a trash can from shallow center field 62% of the time? Mighty Caeser? Your precious Joan of Arc? The incomparable Chang Kai Sheik?
According to wikipedia, Chang Kai Sheik DID in fact develop a system that could do fire a baseball into a trash can, though the accuracy was never proven to be higher than 58%.
The online public reference source also said his cat's name was "purple monkey dishwasher."
Post a Comment