Bryce Harper, he of the 500+ foot home runs and 96MPH fastballs, doesn't stand a chance.
Thanks to the new age hype machine, he has no choice but to hit a home run every single at bat he takes. Be it for Team USA, College of Southern Nevada, or even just his BP showings. If he doesn't hit one Eleventy billion feet while farting pixie dust, all in attendance cry foul. Upon reaching the pro ranks, if he doesn't hit .330 with 20 home runs in Low-A while standing on his head, the angry chants will be as loud as Philadelphia Eagles fans when Santa walks by.
But is that fair?
And should expectations of his performances be taken back a notch?
I say no, and a resounding "absolutely".
In this age of instant gratification not being quick enough, we expect those hyped as great to be immediately so. No more are the days of learning on the job and minimizing weaknesses. If you are hyped, you better produce. And there are few sports that are harder for a young player to produce in than baseball, at least as a hitter. There's a reason baseball dogma states that most hitters don't reach their prime until their late 20's. It takes time to polish your skills, master your craft, and most importantly- trust yourself and everything you are doing.
You might see some 94 here and there on the showcase circuit, or an MLB caliber yellow hammer on a Team USA trip, but until you see that from every pitcher you face on a daily basis in the Major Leagues; it is not easy to master your skills and your swing to handle those type of pitches.
And yet, Bryce Harper will have to do that immediately. Without any hesitation. If not, he's a bum.
It's quite sad to read some of the internet jockeys' musings on Harper. "Bust" gets thrown around a lot. "Metal bat superstar" is another that is seen quite frequently. "O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D" is possibly the most common.
Apparently it is true that behind a computer it doesn't matter if you yourself couldn't hit water if you fell out of a friggin boat, you still have the right to decree who sucks and who doesn't. At least that's what the detractors think. I wonder if they would say the same thing to his face if given the opportunity.
I bet they would be smiling from ear to ear about the show he's putting on during batting practice.
Now that I'm done with that rant, let's take a look at his swing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1SMZocHF3E&NR=1
That is raw, unadulterated bat speed and barrel awareness ladies and gentlemen. You can teach a lot of things in this game, but bat speed is one thing you cannot. Increase it? Sure, some here and there. But plus bat speed is as God given as good looks. Some have it and some don't, and when you see it, you can't help but be impressed.
But there is a bit of concern in there. And mind you, most of them are easy fixes that come with strength, experience, and trust.
Taking his God given bat speed, Harper has maximized it with a super sized rear leg push and weight transfer. The boy simply does not get cheated and gives the baseball every bit of juice he's got. That's how he gets his giddy-up.
He starts with a bit of weight on his from leg, sways back, then pushes like all hell to get his lower body started before firing his hips. Explosive, but not well suited for handling pitches in all locations and speeds.
You rarely see that much of a push and transfer work at the Major League level. Once he gets some man muscles on him, he'll learn how to stay centered on his rear hip and how to push and thrust from there. Not early as he does now.
Here's another look at just how much of a transfer and push he has going on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYRAaiXE1YI
As for that upper body, a little long, and a little arm-ish. Again, something easily tightened up over time. From his swing pattern, it won't be that hard to turn into a hips and hands guy; different from the push/hips/arms/hands that he is now.
I see a lot of his future struggles in the same mold that Ian Stewart is going through. Both have TREE-MENDOUS bat speed and power, and both still have a ways to go in terms of harnessing and controlling it.
Fortunately for Harper, struggling could be a good thing. That is just about the only way for some players to learn what they are good at, and what they have to work on. His talents and passion are unquestioned. It's his skills that need to be harnessed.
Harper reportedly lost 25 pounds while playing pretty much all of the 2009 spring and summer, and it showed in his swing and Aflac Game performance. I've seen him start loaded on his rear leg and maintain that center of balance, he hammered the ball. When he was starting with his front leg loaded and pushed the rest of his weight to the front even more, he looked like all the internet tough guys wanted him to be; vulnerable.
Regaining that weight and remembering where to start with his weight will go a long way towards Harper playing up to his superstar potential. But there are going to be struggles. There are going to be learning pains. And with the coverage he will get, some will come out of the wood works to say "I told you so".
But since those guys, well, just plain suck at life in their own right; it's wise to just leave them be in their hating ways. Bryce Harper will be just fine. It's just going to take longer than some expect it to.
But when that day comes, the game will have another true superstar hitter. And that has never been a bad thing for the game.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Rookies Of The Year
I spent most of the drive home after work and lifting thinking of witty remarks about Gordon Beckham and why I want to dislike him, yet can't. I want to hate Beckham with every part of my soul. It seems every time I look up, he is breaking my heart.
From the Miami-Georgia debacle at the 2008 College World Series, to Beckham hitting a walk off double against the Cubs this season, and to (what I falsely presumed) Beckham winning the 2009 AL Rookie of The Year over my pick, Elvis Andrus.
Despite all that, I can't hate Gordon Beckham. He just has to pretty of hair. And I cannot hate a man who has good hair. Also cannot hate a young player who has as a swing as good AND as good looking as his hair.
And then Andrew Bailey won the award.
And my witty remarks had to be shelved, for the most part anyway.
I said last time that Bailey should at least get an honorable mention for this award, partly because only "5" people noticed what kind of terrific year he had.
As it turns out, 13 people voted him as their 1st place pick just among the voters. Seems more paid attention than I originally thought. But as it stands, I'm thrilled with Bailey being voted as the 2009 AL ROY.
Not only was he one of the best relievers in baseball period, but he went ahead and led all AL rookie pitchers in VORP.
Would have liked to see Andrus get his due, but Bailey was lights out this year.
Over in the NL, things are a bit more controversial.
Andrew McCutchen seems to be the more popular choice among writers and bloggers. Given credit for playing at least average centerfield defense by UZR (and terrible according to the Fielding Bible), McCutchen seems to hold the defensive advantage in this voting. This is compounded by Coghlan playing below average defense in left field.
But what about Coghlan never really playing there before? He was out of position all year by team necessity. Would have been nice to see him play better out in left, but he merely did what's best for the team by moving there and leaving the mini-lumber jack Dan Uggla at 2nd base.
And since most metrics can't agree on whether or not McCutchen was a plus or a negative on defense, let's just take defense out of the equation.
.372/.423/.543
.322/.427./.582
Two sets of 2nd half triple slash lines there. Who can guess which one is Albert Pujols, and which one is Chris Coghlan? Most of you have already heard about Coghlan hitting .372 in the 2nd half of the season, so it should be an easy one.
Coghlan's second half hit total was 113. That's more than Mauer, Jeter, Pujols, and even Ichiro. Yes, that means Coghlan led the Majors in hits post All-Star break. 94 of them came in August and September alone.
Wowza.
As much as I like McCutchen over Coghlan for the long term, there just is no denying how incredible Coghlan was with the bat in the 2nd half of the 2009 season.
For once, I'm quite satisfied with these two awards.
But that is subject to change with Greinke vs. the World coming up tomorrow afternoon.
From the Miami-Georgia debacle at the 2008 College World Series, to Beckham hitting a walk off double against the Cubs this season, and to (what I falsely presumed) Beckham winning the 2009 AL Rookie of The Year over my pick, Elvis Andrus.
Despite all that, I can't hate Gordon Beckham. He just has to pretty of hair. And I cannot hate a man who has good hair. Also cannot hate a young player who has as a swing as good AND as good looking as his hair.
And then Andrew Bailey won the award.
And my witty remarks had to be shelved, for the most part anyway.
I said last time that Bailey should at least get an honorable mention for this award, partly because only "5" people noticed what kind of terrific year he had.
As it turns out, 13 people voted him as their 1st place pick just among the voters. Seems more paid attention than I originally thought. But as it stands, I'm thrilled with Bailey being voted as the 2009 AL ROY.
Not only was he one of the best relievers in baseball period, but he went ahead and led all AL rookie pitchers in VORP.
Would have liked to see Andrus get his due, but Bailey was lights out this year.
Over in the NL, things are a bit more controversial.
Andrew McCutchen seems to be the more popular choice among writers and bloggers. Given credit for playing at least average centerfield defense by UZR (and terrible according to the Fielding Bible), McCutchen seems to hold the defensive advantage in this voting. This is compounded by Coghlan playing below average defense in left field.
But what about Coghlan never really playing there before? He was out of position all year by team necessity. Would have been nice to see him play better out in left, but he merely did what's best for the team by moving there and leaving the mini-lumber jack Dan Uggla at 2nd base.
And since most metrics can't agree on whether or not McCutchen was a plus or a negative on defense, let's just take defense out of the equation.
.372/.423/.543
.322/.427./.582
Two sets of 2nd half triple slash lines there. Who can guess which one is Albert Pujols, and which one is Chris Coghlan? Most of you have already heard about Coghlan hitting .372 in the 2nd half of the season, so it should be an easy one.
Coghlan's second half hit total was 113. That's more than Mauer, Jeter, Pujols, and even Ichiro. Yes, that means Coghlan led the Majors in hits post All-Star break. 94 of them came in August and September alone.
Wowza.
As much as I like McCutchen over Coghlan for the long term, there just is no denying how incredible Coghlan was with the bat in the 2nd half of the 2009 season.
For once, I'm quite satisfied with these two awards.
But that is subject to change with Greinke vs. the World coming up tomorrow afternoon.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
On Griffey Jr. and Retiring
Ken Griffey Jr. is not a young man at this stage of his playing career. No longer is he the best player in the game. He's quite the opposite. A .214 average and most of the year spent as a DH in their age 39 season would make any image and stat concerned player tell the world thanks for coming out to see him before running for the hills.
But not The Kid.
And rightfully so.
Griffey has earned the right to do basically whatever he wants. 600 home runs and being the face of baseball for practically an entire decade gives you that right. If he wants to keep playing, then we should be ecstatic. We get just a few more looks at not only one of the greatest players ever to put on a pair of cleats, but one of the true class acts. (Honestly, name one person who has ever said something bad about Junior. You can't.)
And yet, his return for the 2010 season has drawn the ire of several writers and bloggers.
But why?
Is it the fear of possibly peeking through your fingers when watching him play because he is embarrassing himself? Is it the thought that the images from your childhood of Griffey covering more ground in Center than an F-22 Raptor being replaced with watching him Kirk Gibson-it up to the plate (minus the dramatic home run and fantastic Vin Scully call) on a daily basis too much to stomach? All of the home runs robbed and the massive moon shots hit being nothing more than an afterthought?
Blech.
So what if some still hold the memory of Junior racing around the bases in what seemed to be 1.5 seconds when Edgar hit "The Double" as their lasting impression of him and want it to remain that way. When Griffey goes into the Hall with Eleventy Billion percent of the vote, that video will be shown so much that your unborn children will be have that as their first documented memory. It's simple osmosis, really.
It's understandable to think that the Mariners could find a better player to fill that DH slot. It's understandable that his return is possibly not in the best interest of the team winning.
But let's face it. The Mariners are several big contracts coming off the books away before being legitimate AL West contenders. They are still in the building process of having a stable and winning franchise. Having the player most associated with your team in the dugout for one last go round is nothing to be ashamed of when you still have a 3rd place team.
Having Griffey around is good for the fan base. Had Griffey not been around in 2008, the total ticket sales for Mariners game would have been far less than they were. The economy caused a drop off from 2007 to 2008, and yet, some of that was alleviated thanks to his presence. The difference from 07' to 08' would have been quite a drastic difference sans Junior.
Fans who wouldn't even regularly watch a Mariners/Royals game on TV would gladly drive 300 miles to Kansas City just to see Griffey take a few swings. Is that a bad thing?
Is his clubhouse presence a bad thing? Franklin Gutierrez has become the best defensive Centerfielder in baseball. Think Griffey hasn't helped him, or possibly can make him even better?
His contract is not huge and unfavorable. He's not a high maintenance player. He's great for the youth movement that is happening in Seattle. The fans will always come to see The Kid one last time before he hangs em' up. Can you spot the problem there?
Ahh yes. His performance. 19 home runs say there still is a little juice in his bat. A little bit of luck from the baseball God's in staying healthy, and Griffey still can be (kind of) productive with the bat. But everything else he brings offsets what he doesn't do at the plate.
Just enjoy the ride baseball fans. You get one more season of watching Ken Griffey Jr. play baseball. That is a treat regardless of how he's playing. Not to mention that when he retires, that officially means an entire generation of fans has gotten old. Some aren't ready to accept that yet.
Some still want to watch the man who mesmerized them as a child on the field and in his Hall of Fame video game. Some still want to feel like they did many moons ago while they are now watching The Kid give it one last hurrah.
There is no shame in that.
But not The Kid.
And rightfully so.
Griffey has earned the right to do basically whatever he wants. 600 home runs and being the face of baseball for practically an entire decade gives you that right. If he wants to keep playing, then we should be ecstatic. We get just a few more looks at not only one of the greatest players ever to put on a pair of cleats, but one of the true class acts. (Honestly, name one person who has ever said something bad about Junior. You can't.)
And yet, his return for the 2010 season has drawn the ire of several writers and bloggers.
But why?
Is it the fear of possibly peeking through your fingers when watching him play because he is embarrassing himself? Is it the thought that the images from your childhood of Griffey covering more ground in Center than an F-22 Raptor being replaced with watching him Kirk Gibson-it up to the plate (minus the dramatic home run and fantastic Vin Scully call) on a daily basis too much to stomach? All of the home runs robbed and the massive moon shots hit being nothing more than an afterthought?
Blech.
So what if some still hold the memory of Junior racing around the bases in what seemed to be 1.5 seconds when Edgar hit "The Double" as their lasting impression of him and want it to remain that way. When Griffey goes into the Hall with Eleventy Billion percent of the vote, that video will be shown so much that your unborn children will be have that as their first documented memory. It's simple osmosis, really.
It's understandable to think that the Mariners could find a better player to fill that DH slot. It's understandable that his return is possibly not in the best interest of the team winning.
But let's face it. The Mariners are several big contracts coming off the books away before being legitimate AL West contenders. They are still in the building process of having a stable and winning franchise. Having the player most associated with your team in the dugout for one last go round is nothing to be ashamed of when you still have a 3rd place team.
Having Griffey around is good for the fan base. Had Griffey not been around in 2008, the total ticket sales for Mariners game would have been far less than they were. The economy caused a drop off from 2007 to 2008, and yet, some of that was alleviated thanks to his presence. The difference from 07' to 08' would have been quite a drastic difference sans Junior.
Fans who wouldn't even regularly watch a Mariners/Royals game on TV would gladly drive 300 miles to Kansas City just to see Griffey take a few swings. Is that a bad thing?
Is his clubhouse presence a bad thing? Franklin Gutierrez has become the best defensive Centerfielder in baseball. Think Griffey hasn't helped him, or possibly can make him even better?
His contract is not huge and unfavorable. He's not a high maintenance player. He's great for the youth movement that is happening in Seattle. The fans will always come to see The Kid one last time before he hangs em' up. Can you spot the problem there?
Ahh yes. His performance. 19 home runs say there still is a little juice in his bat. A little bit of luck from the baseball God's in staying healthy, and Griffey still can be (kind of) productive with the bat. But everything else he brings offsets what he doesn't do at the plate.
Just enjoy the ride baseball fans. You get one more season of watching Ken Griffey Jr. play baseball. That is a treat regardless of how he's playing. Not to mention that when he retires, that officially means an entire generation of fans has gotten old. Some aren't ready to accept that yet.
Some still want to watch the man who mesmerized them as a child on the field and in his Hall of Fame video game. Some still want to feel like they did many moons ago while they are now watching The Kid give it one last hurrah.
There is no shame in that.
NL Gold Glove Winners
I'm really starting to believe that Chase Utley is the Rodney Dangerfield and Boise St. of Major League Baseball. Regardless of what the guy does, he just can't get the respect he deserves.
Now I love Orlando Hudson. High enthusiasm, good bat, good defense; a guy you want on your team. He's a glue guy, but not a traditional "glue guy". Those who usually referred to as such, get those accolades because it's a nice way of saying that he's valuable. Pretty much akin to saying "she's got a good personality". Instead, O-Dawg is a glue guy that you actually want on your team, even in a perfect world. I'll take 9 guys who play like him everyday.
But Utley is an all-time gamer and glue-guy type that plays far better defense than O-Dawg. It turns out I was crazy to think that the voters would redeem themselves after giving the 2008 award to Brandon Phillips. Who is a fine defender, and came in 2nd via Fangraphs' UZR and UZR/150 last season. But 2nd place last year was exactly half of what Utley did.
Instead, Utley is as forgotten as Brandon Wood on the Angels depth chart.
Utley turns in yet another outstanding fielding season (oh yea, he was pretty good in the World Series. Irrelevant to this topic, but I could talk for days about the show he put on by hitting 5 home runs against the Yankees).
Utley was the only player to break double digits in both UZR and UZR/150 in 2009. The only player to break double digits in 1 category was Freddie Sanchez. But he did that in less than 1000 innings. Not the quality, nor the quantity of Utley.
O-Dawg? Negatives on both ratings. Not terrible, but not Gold Glove worthy.
And you can't make the Jeter argument about O-Dawg being smarter than most NASA scientists and having immeasurable intangibles. Because Utley has the market cornered on baseball intelligence and downright hard nosed defense. He could field a rolling ball of knives as if it were a sponge ball only seen in tee-ball games.
It's Ok Chase. The Fielding Bible loves you. And if they did it by league, Chase would have that title to put (rightfully) on display.
At Short Stop we have (now) 3 time winner Jimmy Rollins taking home the title. A fine choice in 2008, but in 2009... eh not so much. Another winner on reputation. Furcal and clap-clap, clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap-clap TU-LO have just as big of an argument here.
And that Jack Wilson guy had he stayed all year in the NL.
In case you haven't noticed, I think Jack Wilson is good at fielding baseballs.
Going to 3rd Base, hats off to you Ryan Zimmerman. Proof that being a professional every day despite your teams atrocious record and channeling your inner Brooks Robinson will get you well deserved accolades.
And the outfield. Oh the outfield. Kemp and Victorino are fine defenders. But Nyjer Morgan was out of his mind this year. Too bad he got hurt. Bourn is a fine choice, and hats off to the voters for having the balls to vote for a guy who isn't nuthugged by every media outlet.
Would have loved to see Randy Winn get one here. But not having a large fan following and making Sportscenter's Top 10 is a sure way to get less than you deserve. Anytime a 35+ year old outfielder drops a 36.6 total rating via UZR and UZR/150, you should get it just on merit.
Or when you are also far and away ahead of everybody else in both categories, sans the aforementioned Morgan, like Winn was this year. That's always nice too.
And now we go onto the Rookie of The Year awards. These are wide open, and sure to cause some interesting reviews. I say Coghlan or McCutchen had the best debuts in the NL, but voters are sure to love Mr. Filthystuff Tommy Hanson.
In the AL we could see Pretty Hair Gordon Beckham. Pretty Hair is fairly good at baseball activities. But he ain't named after The King. Hopefully Elvis has a reason to put on a nice suit and accept his award this time.
Honorable mention to Andrew Bailey, who was unconscious this season. Unfortunately, only about 5 people noticed.
Now I love Orlando Hudson. High enthusiasm, good bat, good defense; a guy you want on your team. He's a glue guy, but not a traditional "glue guy". Those who usually referred to as such, get those accolades because it's a nice way of saying that he's valuable. Pretty much akin to saying "she's got a good personality". Instead, O-Dawg is a glue guy that you actually want on your team, even in a perfect world. I'll take 9 guys who play like him everyday.
But Utley is an all-time gamer and glue-guy type that plays far better defense than O-Dawg. It turns out I was crazy to think that the voters would redeem themselves after giving the 2008 award to Brandon Phillips. Who is a fine defender, and came in 2nd via Fangraphs' UZR and UZR/150 last season. But 2nd place last year was exactly half of what Utley did.
Instead, Utley is as forgotten as Brandon Wood on the Angels depth chart.
Utley turns in yet another outstanding fielding season (oh yea, he was pretty good in the World Series. Irrelevant to this topic, but I could talk for days about the show he put on by hitting 5 home runs against the Yankees).
Utley was the only player to break double digits in both UZR and UZR/150 in 2009. The only player to break double digits in 1 category was Freddie Sanchez. But he did that in less than 1000 innings. Not the quality, nor the quantity of Utley.
O-Dawg? Negatives on both ratings. Not terrible, but not Gold Glove worthy.
And you can't make the Jeter argument about O-Dawg being smarter than most NASA scientists and having immeasurable intangibles. Because Utley has the market cornered on baseball intelligence and downright hard nosed defense. He could field a rolling ball of knives as if it were a sponge ball only seen in tee-ball games.
It's Ok Chase. The Fielding Bible loves you. And if they did it by league, Chase would have that title to put (rightfully) on display.
At Short Stop we have (now) 3 time winner Jimmy Rollins taking home the title. A fine choice in 2008, but in 2009... eh not so much. Another winner on reputation. Furcal and clap-clap, clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap-clap TU-LO have just as big of an argument here.
And that Jack Wilson guy had he stayed all year in the NL.
In case you haven't noticed, I think Jack Wilson is good at fielding baseballs.
Going to 3rd Base, hats off to you Ryan Zimmerman. Proof that being a professional every day despite your teams atrocious record and channeling your inner Brooks Robinson will get you well deserved accolades.
And the outfield. Oh the outfield. Kemp and Victorino are fine defenders. But Nyjer Morgan was out of his mind this year. Too bad he got hurt. Bourn is a fine choice, and hats off to the voters for having the balls to vote for a guy who isn't nuthugged by every media outlet.
Would have loved to see Randy Winn get one here. But not having a large fan following and making Sportscenter's Top 10 is a sure way to get less than you deserve. Anytime a 35+ year old outfielder drops a 36.6 total rating via UZR and UZR/150, you should get it just on merit.
Or when you are also far and away ahead of everybody else in both categories, sans the aforementioned Morgan, like Winn was this year. That's always nice too.
And now we go onto the Rookie of The Year awards. These are wide open, and sure to cause some interesting reviews. I say Coghlan or McCutchen had the best debuts in the NL, but voters are sure to love Mr. Filthystuff Tommy Hanson.
In the AL we could see Pretty Hair Gordon Beckham. Pretty Hair is fairly good at baseball activities. But he ain't named after The King. Hopefully Elvis has a reason to put on a nice suit and accept his award this time.
Honorable mention to Andrew Bailey, who was unconscious this season. Unfortunately, only about 5 people noticed.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
It's Awards Season In The MLB
Today marked the unveiling of the American League Gold Glove Winners. As is the case every year with these awards, there is always some sort of overlooking of deserving players by the voters. Reputation as a "good" fielder is a great way to win one of these fine mantle pieces, as is having an outstanding bat. Because we all know wthat success at the plate does, in fact, mask any defensive shortcomings when it comes to defensive awards.
So there are always some very good hitters with reputations as "good" defensive players who take home some hardware. Deserved or undeserved, this happens every year.
Rather than take the over the top hyperbolic approach of stating Player-X over Player-Y is a "travesty", "abomination", or "embarrassment" that most writers would do so to grab headlines; it is much simpler to just point out how very flawed the voting system is.
Today Derek Jeter was awarded the 4th Gold Glove of his career, receiving the nod over Elvis Andrus. Normally any self respecting writer would shout from the rooftops. "Voting was rigged!", they would exclaim. "Popularity should not reflect awards based on performance!", as a follow up. "Pasta Divingjeter is what Adam Everett eats for breakfast!" as the finisher.
But that won't happen here. I have long defended Jeter as a player (except his defense, it's always been pretty brutal) against the stat heads. The very same people who's sole existence is defined as basically trying to destroy all things Jeter.
However, this years voting is just too much to look away from. Past defensive shortcomings by Jeter will not be brought up here. ( -68 in +/- from 2006-2008. Dead last of all Short Stops. Can't forget negative ratings in all years from 2002-2008 via Fangraphs...err wait, what did I say about past defensive ratings...) Instead, credit will be given where credit is due. Jeter played an above average defense this year by any scouting or advanced metric. Spending all off-season working on his lateral agility certainly paid dividends to that cause.
But last time I checked, above average does not rate higher than Plus on the scouting scale. And in this case, "Plus" refers to Elvis Andrus of the Texas Rangers. (As an aside, had Jack Wilson played all year in the AL, all would be well, and we would be congratulating Captain Jack on his well deserved award.)
Unfortunately, the ever so unquantifiable "intangibles" will not be represented here. Since they are 80% made up dogma and 20% pure baseball intelligence, it's hard to say how much on player has and one player doesn't. Everybody knows that Jeter can do quantum physics while getting a full head of steam to throw out a speeding Gerald Laird, but what about Andrus? Can anyone quantify his "intangibles"? Nope? Ok, so let's just throw non-anecdotal evidence on the scrap heap.
Simple metrics will be used to show the differences between Mr. Jeter, and Mr. Andrus. Most of them will come from Fangraphs for easy comparison's sake. Feel free to look elsewhere, you'll find similar results all around.
UZR-
Jeter- 6.6
Andrus- 10.7
6.6 is nothing to scoff at. But 10.7, well that's just spectacular.
UZR/150-
Jeter- 8.4
Andrus- 11.7
The gap is smaller, but it still stands. Should be noted that of all the short stops to play 1,000 innings in one league (again, sorry Jack Wilson), Andrus is the only one to top double digits in both UZR and UZR/150.
RngR-
Jeter- 3.7
Andrus- 11.7
Small gaps, but gaps nonetheless (Ok, huge gaps in RngR. But at least now you have the reasoning for Andrus having more errors and the lower FP%. Andrus has almost 3X the range of Jeter). Almost every other metric comes up with similar findings.
As some of you may recall, there was some hub-bub in the 2009 offseason about Michael Young refusing to move to 3rd base per the Rangers request. They wanted to do so partly because they didn't have a consistent third basemen with Hank Blalock consistently being injured. But the main reason was to get Andrus' glove on the field and help shore up the Rangers infield defense.
Last time I checked, Michael Young was the 2008 Gold Glove winner at short stop. And yet, he got moved off the position in favor of a better fielder. Pretty simple math says Andrus is automatically the front runner for the Gold Glove in the AL. That simple math was eventually confirmed by more advanced math, I.E. all the metrics.
Young won it last year, Andrus bumped him off because he is the better defender, Andrus played the best defensive SS all year in the AL.... see where I'm going with this.
Is Jeter a terrible choice? Absolutely not. Reason to be outraged over? Not in the slightest. But in the interest of fair and rightful award distributing, yet another small market player was passed over by the big name superstar. Something that happens every year, and something that will continue to happen until all voters take metrics and scouting into their votes. Doing so brings clearer results than relying on batting average and reputation.
Now, not to continue piling on top of Jeter like yet another fine specimen from Maxim's Top 100 list, but it seems that contesting anything pro-Jeter is akin to slapping the Pope while taking a dump on a picture of Mother Teresa.
We're talking full on blasphemy here. No one can even imagine saying such a thing, like Jeter not deserving this award. Sorry everyone, stats and metrics back this up.
Instead of simply stating a rational and thoughtful case, saying anything that can be construed as Anti-Jeter (note*- Anti-Jeter is also in the same spectrum as Anti-Tim Tebow and Anti- Composite Chuck Norris/Jesus) is the equivalent of saying he is the worst player ever (Aaron Miles says hello). At this point, all rational goes flying out the window with a hint of Jeter's new cologne. Simply calling a spade a spade, like I am trying to do, is not a crime. But exaggerating a player's true worth because A) You don't know any better, B) You can't understand metrics, and C) He looks good in tight pants also does a disservice to the fandom of players.
Keep in mind, I am far from a Metric lover, and rely on my own two eyes more than anything. And yet here we are, breaking down quantified equations because the voters can't make good judgment decisions.
Instead of Aaron Hill representing 2B this year, we get Placido Polanco. A fine choice, but only if Aaron Hill and Dustin Pedroia played in the NL. In the outfield, Adam Jones, a fine young player with a superstar future, somehow gets the award over Carl Crawford despite Jones' negative defensive value. Franklin Gutierrez goes home empty handed, despite dominating pretty much every defensive stat you can find in the outfield. Does a 30.5 point advantage in UZR and 30.2 point lead in UZR/150 over Torii Hunter sound like domination? Does to me.
I'm sure the NL Gold Gloves will be no less interesting.
The real test will come for the AL Cy Young. Will the voters have the balls to vote Pro Greinke? Only time will tell.
So there are always some very good hitters with reputations as "good" defensive players who take home some hardware. Deserved or undeserved, this happens every year.
Rather than take the over the top hyperbolic approach of stating Player-X over Player-Y is a "travesty", "abomination", or "embarrassment" that most writers would do so to grab headlines; it is much simpler to just point out how very flawed the voting system is.
Today Derek Jeter was awarded the 4th Gold Glove of his career, receiving the nod over Elvis Andrus. Normally any self respecting writer would shout from the rooftops. "Voting was rigged!", they would exclaim. "Popularity should not reflect awards based on performance!", as a follow up. "Pasta Divingjeter is what Adam Everett eats for breakfast!" as the finisher.
But that won't happen here. I have long defended Jeter as a player (except his defense, it's always been pretty brutal) against the stat heads. The very same people who's sole existence is defined as basically trying to destroy all things Jeter.
However, this years voting is just too much to look away from. Past defensive shortcomings by Jeter will not be brought up here. ( -68 in +/- from 2006-2008. Dead last of all Short Stops. Can't forget negative ratings in all years from 2002-2008 via Fangraphs...err wait, what did I say about past defensive ratings...) Instead, credit will be given where credit is due. Jeter played an above average defense this year by any scouting or advanced metric. Spending all off-season working on his lateral agility certainly paid dividends to that cause.
But last time I checked, above average does not rate higher than Plus on the scouting scale. And in this case, "Plus" refers to Elvis Andrus of the Texas Rangers. (As an aside, had Jack Wilson played all year in the AL, all would be well, and we would be congratulating Captain Jack on his well deserved award.)
Unfortunately, the ever so unquantifiable "intangibles" will not be represented here. Since they are 80% made up dogma and 20% pure baseball intelligence, it's hard to say how much on player has and one player doesn't. Everybody knows that Jeter can do quantum physics while getting a full head of steam to throw out a speeding Gerald Laird, but what about Andrus? Can anyone quantify his "intangibles"? Nope? Ok, so let's just throw non-anecdotal evidence on the scrap heap.
Simple metrics will be used to show the differences between Mr. Jeter, and Mr. Andrus. Most of them will come from Fangraphs for easy comparison's sake. Feel free to look elsewhere, you'll find similar results all around.
UZR-
Jeter- 6.6
Andrus- 10.7
6.6 is nothing to scoff at. But 10.7, well that's just spectacular.
UZR/150-
Jeter- 8.4
Andrus- 11.7
The gap is smaller, but it still stands. Should be noted that of all the short stops to play 1,000 innings in one league (again, sorry Jack Wilson), Andrus is the only one to top double digits in both UZR and UZR/150.
RngR-
Jeter- 3.7
Andrus- 11.7
Small gaps, but gaps nonetheless (Ok, huge gaps in RngR. But at least now you have the reasoning for Andrus having more errors and the lower FP%. Andrus has almost 3X the range of Jeter). Almost every other metric comes up with similar findings.
As some of you may recall, there was some hub-bub in the 2009 offseason about Michael Young refusing to move to 3rd base per the Rangers request. They wanted to do so partly because they didn't have a consistent third basemen with Hank Blalock consistently being injured. But the main reason was to get Andrus' glove on the field and help shore up the Rangers infield defense.
Last time I checked, Michael Young was the 2008 Gold Glove winner at short stop. And yet, he got moved off the position in favor of a better fielder. Pretty simple math says Andrus is automatically the front runner for the Gold Glove in the AL. That simple math was eventually confirmed by more advanced math, I.E. all the metrics.
Young won it last year, Andrus bumped him off because he is the better defender, Andrus played the best defensive SS all year in the AL.... see where I'm going with this.
Is Jeter a terrible choice? Absolutely not. Reason to be outraged over? Not in the slightest. But in the interest of fair and rightful award distributing, yet another small market player was passed over by the big name superstar. Something that happens every year, and something that will continue to happen until all voters take metrics and scouting into their votes. Doing so brings clearer results than relying on batting average and reputation.
Now, not to continue piling on top of Jeter like yet another fine specimen from Maxim's Top 100 list, but it seems that contesting anything pro-Jeter is akin to slapping the Pope while taking a dump on a picture of Mother Teresa.
We're talking full on blasphemy here. No one can even imagine saying such a thing, like Jeter not deserving this award. Sorry everyone, stats and metrics back this up.
Instead of simply stating a rational and thoughtful case, saying anything that can be construed as Anti-Jeter (note*- Anti-Jeter is also in the same spectrum as Anti-Tim Tebow and Anti- Composite Chuck Norris/Jesus) is the equivalent of saying he is the worst player ever (Aaron Miles says hello). At this point, all rational goes flying out the window with a hint of Jeter's new cologne. Simply calling a spade a spade, like I am trying to do, is not a crime. But exaggerating a player's true worth because A) You don't know any better, B) You can't understand metrics, and C) He looks good in tight pants also does a disservice to the fandom of players.
Keep in mind, I am far from a Metric lover, and rely on my own two eyes more than anything. And yet here we are, breaking down quantified equations because the voters can't make good judgment decisions.
Instead of Aaron Hill representing 2B this year, we get Placido Polanco. A fine choice, but only if Aaron Hill and Dustin Pedroia played in the NL. In the outfield, Adam Jones, a fine young player with a superstar future, somehow gets the award over Carl Crawford despite Jones' negative defensive value. Franklin Gutierrez goes home empty handed, despite dominating pretty much every defensive stat you can find in the outfield. Does a 30.5 point advantage in UZR and 30.2 point lead in UZR/150 over Torii Hunter sound like domination? Does to me.
I'm sure the NL Gold Gloves will be no less interesting.
The real test will come for the AL Cy Young. Will the voters have the balls to vote Pro Greinke? Only time will tell.
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