A.L. Teams That Can Pick It
Posted by Steve L. on July 4th, 2012 · Comments (5)
Defensive Efficiency Record is the rate at which balls put into play are converted into outs by a team’s defense. Here’s where A.L. teams were ranked in this heading into the games of July 4th (this season):
| Tm | #Fld | R/G | DefEff 6 | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OAK | 43 | 3.72 | .712 | 82 |
| CHW | 34 | 4.10 | .710 | 80 |
| SEA | 32 | 4.27 | .710 | 83 |
| LAA | 36 | 3.85 | .707 | 81 |
| TOR | 38 | 4.73 | .703 | 81 |
| BOS | 42 | 4.42 | .698 | 81 |
| CLE | 34 | 4.88 | .697 | 80 |
| LgAvg | 36 | 4.37 | .695 | 81 |
| TEX | 32 | 4.27 | .694 | 81 |
| TBR | 39 | 4.15 | .691 | 81 |
| BAL | 36 | 4.56 | .690 | 80 |
| MIN | 38 | 5.25 | .687 | 80 |
| NYY | 33 | 4.04 | .687 | 80 |
| KCR | 38 | 4.51 | .674 | 79 |
| DET | 41 | 4.53 | .670 | 81 |
| 507 | 4.37 | .695 | 1130 |
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Seeing this, it’s no secret why the A’s allow less than 4 runs a game on average.
Specific to the post… I still think the defensive stats are shaky. The Yankees and Twins, apparently field the ball at about the same level, yet the Twins yield 1.20 runs a game more than we do? The White Sox field much better than we do and give up slightly more runs/game? I think scoring tends to be low in Oakland because it’s a huge park. prone to wind, and has a lot of foul territory. My eyes tell me our infield defense is at or above (well above at 1st base and probably at 2nd base) average (though A-Rod looks wobbly in the last 2-3 weeks – man, he looks old and stiff at both the plate and in the field). Our outfield defense is not what it can be, once Gardner returns. When Gardy is in place, I think our defense is fine.
Somewhat on (and off) topic… We all gave Jorge a lot of grief for not keeping the Rays in check on the bases. Maybe we 1) owe him an apology and/or 2) need to start looking at how our pitching staff holds runners. The Rays are manufacturing runs and scoring opportunities against us and giving other teams a blue print for how to attack the Yankees.
1) You don’t think the A’s ballpark has much to do with it, Steve? I do.
2) This highlights how good the Yanks’ pitching has been this year so far. Their defense hasn’t been nearly as good as the A’s. Yankee Stadium is much, much tougher park to pitch in. Yet the Yankees allow only 0.35 runs more per game than the A’s.
oh, and 3) It also shows how big an impact Gardner has had on the overall Yankee defense, as the only key difference between last year and this is Gardner out, Ibanez/Jones/Wise/Nix in.
4) It also shows how much teams have gone away from sluggardly sluggers and to better defenders in the post-PED era. The overall league numbers are measurably higher than they were 3-4 years ago. This could explain a lot of the drop in overall BAVG in MLB, and in runs scored.
Did anyone notice that the Yankees are SECOND in the American League in runs against? This despite playing there home games in a park way tougher to pitch in than Oakland. This despite having a bunch of players ‘who can’t move or field’. So either the pitchers are a really, really good, or the Yanks defense is better than advertised. Another thing, the Yanks are second in the league in striking out the opposition which would help to negate their ‘statuesque’ defenders. Any thoughts?