+/-, RZR, and New Fielding Stats

There have been a few changes to the fielding sections of the site.

The biggest change is that John Dewan’s Fielding Bible +/- runs saved is now available on all the player pages and leaderboards going back to 2003. The stats that are associated with +/- runs saved are:

All in Runs Above Average:
rSB – Stolen Base Runs Saved (Catchers/Pitchers)
rBU – Bunt Runs Saved (1B/3B)
rGDP – Double Play Runs Saved (2B/SS)
rARM – Outfield Arms Runs Saved
rHR – HR Saving Catch Runs Saved
rPM – Plus Minus Runs Saved
DRS – Total Defensive Runs Saved

We’ve also added Revised Zone Ratings, which The Hardball Times used to carry. I’ll quote from THT:

Revised Zone Rating is the proportion of balls hit into a fielder’s zone that he successfully converted into an out. Zone Rating was invented by John Dewan when he was CEO of Stats Inc. John is now the owner of Baseball Info Solutions, where he has revised the original Zone Rating calculation so that it now lists balls handled out of the zone (OOZ) separately (and doesn’t include them in the ZR calculation) and doesn’t give players extra credit for double plays (Stats had already made that change). We believe both changes improve Zone Ratings substantially. To get a full picture of a player’s range, you should evaluate both his Revised Zone Rating and his plays made out of zone (OOZ). You can read more about the Revised Zone Ratings in this article.

BIZ – Balls in Zone
Plays Made – Total Plays Made
OOZ – Plays Made out of Zone

Then there’s some other fielding stats that were added such as:

FE – Fielding Errors
TE – Throwing Errors
DPS – Double Plays Started
DPT – Double Plays Turned
DPF – Double Plays Finished
Scp – First Baseman Scoops

Everything is available in the player pages and leaderboards and will be updated nightly.

This season’s UZR updates will be coming soon and we’ll have more on that later.