De-Fense. Stomp. Stomp.
The results of the Fan Scouting Report are in and it's no surprise that Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearns were voted our best fielders. Nor is it a surprise that Dmitri Young is at the bottom -- one of a handful of the worst fielders in the game. Here are all the Nats.
The ratings scale you see sets 50 as an average. The standard deviation is 20, so Zimmerman is in the top 10% of all MLB players.
Few results jumped out at me...
Fans thought Flores' arm was just as strong as Schneider's, just not as accurate.
Among NL 3B, it's the half-dead Scott Rolen (booo!), the anonymous Pedro Feliz or Ryan Zimmerman for best fielder.
Ryan Church seems inexplicably low. He's got a much better arm than the fans said he does and he can battle CF to a draw. Of course, his overall ranking is only slightly below average, but he seems a bit better to me.
FLop is way too high. I'm not sure he does anything particularly well in the field. Even if you adjust for position neutrality, he should be lower. Terrible first step/instincts. Release and Accuracy seem about right.
Kearns as 3rd best NL RFer seems about right.
Belliard at exactly league average seems about right. Much was made about his ability to turn the 6-4-3 -- and he does do that well -- but I can't think of anything else he does above average. OK range. OK arm. Just kinda meh. Of course that's a huge step up over last year.
The ratings scale you see sets 50 as an average. The standard deviation is 20, so Zimmerman is in the top 10% of all MLB players.
Few results jumped out at me...
Fans thought Flores' arm was just as strong as Schneider's, just not as accurate.
Among NL 3B, it's the half-dead Scott Rolen (booo!), the anonymous Pedro Feliz or Ryan Zimmerman for best fielder.
Ryan Church seems inexplicably low. He's got a much better arm than the fans said he does and he can battle CF to a draw. Of course, his overall ranking is only slightly below average, but he seems a bit better to me.
FLop is way too high. I'm not sure he does anything particularly well in the field. Even if you adjust for position neutrality, he should be lower. Terrible first step/instincts. Release and Accuracy seem about right.
Kearns as 3rd best NL RFer seems about right.
Belliard at exactly league average seems about right. Much was made about his ability to turn the 6-4-3 -- and he does do that well -- but I can't think of anything else he does above average. OK range. OK arm. Just kinda meh. Of course that's a huge step up over last year.
posted by Chris Needham at
3:55 PM
13 Comments:
Any sense how Nats compared to other teams on ballots submitted?
(And if you want to smile, check out what Dodger fans said about their $45 million dollar man's arm.
(OK - only 14 more . . .)
By
Unknown, at 10/15/2007 4:24 PM
And how is this any different than All-Star balloting or a pre-season fantasy draft? In other words, why should we care?
By
An Briosca Mor, at 10/15/2007 6:55 PM
That's kind of obnoxiously put.
It is different from the things you reference in that it represents the results of an organized effort to get the impressions of a dedicated group of engaged fans who watch a lot of games and make a substantial commitment of time to participate in the survey. (Of course, this is all explained at the first link in the post.) And voters are given detailed instructions and urged to apply consistent standards unlike the AS ballot for example. You might feel like the effort is a failure, or the system isn't good, or whatever. But that's what it is, and it's something Chris has explained here before.
As to why you should care, I sort of thought blogs were more about what the blogger cared about. Readers who don't care can click on.
By
Unknown, at 10/15/2007 7:06 PM
This 'An Briosca Mor' character is an ass-obviously someone whose parents didn't pay enough attention to him as a child.
I found the post to be quite interesting Chris. Keep up the good work.
By
Anonymous, at 10/15/2007 7:21 PM
My only issue I have with 'survey' evaluations is that I feel like fans are biased towards the teams with better records, as well as a player's offensive ability, instead of just one individual's defensive prowess.
I don't understand how Flores has a higher CS% than Schneider, but BS' arm is more accurate??? And I feel like Guzman's arm is definitely better than listed here, but he still has that stigma of being a bad player because of his recent offensive output.
And on the topic, Ladson's mailbag has Zimmerman as the best defensive 3B that he's EVER seen.....Love the guy, but it's waaaaay too early for that kind of stuff.
By
Rob B, at 10/15/2007 7:41 PM
Guzman's arm might be good, but he IS a terrible defensive SS. He might be better than Lopez, but then so are about 1,400 other professional players.
OK, maybe terrible is a bit much, but he'd have to improve to be average.
By
Chris Needham, at 10/15/2007 8:41 PM
Well, Sam, that's kind of an obnoxious way to respond to an honest question from someone who maybe was looking for a reason to look through all the links and past blog history. So, based on your explanation, let me ask it this way: How is this different than the Gold Glove balloting? It's just opinion, right? And no matter how organized or engaged or committed the opinionaters are, we all know what everyone else has besides an opinion. So I ask again, hopefully not as obnoxiously, why should we care? (I mean, other than the obvious reason that a blogger can care about whatever the hell he wants to, that is.)
By
An Briosca Mor, at 10/15/2007 8:43 PM
I agree with the other commenters regarding An Briosca Mor. The more commentary i read from this particular person on this particular blog, the more i see that he/she seems to be someone who is less interested in presenting their opinions and more interested in bringing attention to themselves by providing obnoxious unneccessary commentary, much of it directed toward the contents of this blog. Dude, if you don't have anything useful to say, then do us all a favor and DON'T SAY IT!
By
Anonymous, at 10/15/2007 9:16 PM
Gee, how is my asking for a bit of clarification, perhaps because I don't immediately grasp the importance of what's stated here, considered to be me not having anything useful to say? How is my asking a question considered to be me presenting my own opinion? What is this, Bizarro World?
By
An Briosca Mor, at 10/15/2007 9:43 PM
Don't tase me, bro!
By
Anonymous, at 10/15/2007 9:48 PM
Wow,
awesome reference to the U of Florida incident!
By
Rob B, at 10/16/2007 8:22 AM
I have no real beef with Church's range, etc. But it seems as if every big throw he has (such as a play at the plate) goes straight into the ground.
By
John O'Connor, at 10/16/2007 8:34 AM
Wow - we are dominant - look at the numbers of ballots cast...most folks are in the range of the Nats...25-45 ish. Then there are the Red Sox: 150+ at the lowest (Mirabelli) to almost 270 for Coco Crisp. Only the M's have more balloteers.
The Phillies, meanwhile, have nobody higher than 25. Probably a reflection of how hard it is to use a computer when you lack opposable thumbs.
By
Anonymous, at 10/16/2007 9:17 AM
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