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Who has
the best infield defense?
John Dewan's Stat of the WeekTM
January 27, 2006
Last week we did a preview on
outfielders from our new book about defense in baseball,
The Fielding Bible.
Let's do infield this week. The new Plus/Minus System to evaluate
defense has a plus/minus number associated with each player to
indicate how many plays he made above or below the number of plays
an average fielder would be expected to make.
Here are the infield leaders for the
three-year period 2003-2005:
| First Base |
|
|
| Mark Teixeira |
Texas |
+53 |
| Doug Mientkiewicz |
3 teams |
+32 |
| Albert Pujols |
St. Louis |
+25 |
| The Worst: Richie
Sexson |
3 teams |
-28 |
| |
|
|
| Second Base |
|
|
| Orlando Hudson |
Toronto |
+77 |
| Marcus Giles |
Atlanta |
+38 |
| Adam Kennedy |
LA Angels |
+38 |
| The Worst: Bret
Boone |
Sea-Min |
-54 |
| |
|
|
| Third
Base |
|
|
| Adrian Beltre |
LAD-Seattle |
+71 |
| David Bell |
Philadelphia |
+52 |
| Scott Rolen |
St. Louis |
+46 |
| The Worst: Ty
Wigginton |
NY Mets-Pit |
-48 |
| |
|
|
| Shortstop |
|
|
| Adam Everett |
Houston |
+76 |
| Jack Wilson |
Pittsburgh |
+50 |
| Jimmy Rollins |
Philadelphia |
+40 |
| The Worst: Michael
Young |
Texas |
-73 |
The teams with the best overall
infields for the 2005 season:
| Philadelphia
Phillies |
+107 |
(Ryan Howard/Jim
Thome, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, David Bell) |
| St. Louis
Cardinals |
+49 |
(Albert Pujols,
Mark Grudzielanek, David Eckstein, Abraham Nunez/Scott Rolen) |
| Los Angeles
Angels |
+46 |
(Darin Erstad,
Adam Kennedy, Orlando Cabrera, Chone Figgins/Dallas
McPherson) |
| Houston Astros |
+36 |
(Lance Berkman,
Craig Biggio, Adam Kennedy, Morgan Ensberg) |
| Oakland A's |
+32 |
(Dan Johnson, Mark
Ellis, Bobby Crosby/Marco Scutaro, Eric Chavez) |
| The Worst: Kansas
City Royals |
-117 |
(Matt Stairs/Mike
Sweeney, Ruben Gotay, Angel Berroa, Mark Teahen) |
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