Archive for Shortstop

When the Indians selected Francisco Lindor 8th overall in the 2011 draft, he possessed a high floor and upside. Drafted out of Montverde, Florida, he was an accomplished shortstop but questions about how long it would take his bat to develop surrounded the young Puerto Rican. In his full season, Lindor has put rest to any doubt whether he will be one of the game’s brightest stars. Coming into 2013 he was ranked 20th by Marc Hulet, 9th by my colleagues at Bullpen Banter, and 8th by myself and early returns suggest he has staked his claim on next year’s top spot.

Lindor projects to be an elite defender, if he isn’t already. While not he’s a burner – his time from home to first is consistently a shade below four seconds, great but not excellent for the position – his defensive range can be attributed to the quickness of his first step, not his speed. His ability to covers yards of dirt in a single step is bolstered by his confidence using his backhand on balls hit towards third base. At 19 years old, his instincts actions at shortstop are remarkable making Mike Newman’s nickname for him – “Bruce Lee Lindor” – oddly fitting.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first two-and-a-half weeks of the season have been a struggle for Red Sox prospect Xander Bogaerts. Last year, the shortstop excelled in the Eastern League and earned his place as one of baseball’s elite prospects. But his return to Double-A Portland has been underwhelming thus far. Against New Britain, Bogaerts went 0-for-6 with a strikeout, a walk and a groundball double play. His frustration was palpable. But there were still plenty of positives too.

Read the rest of this entry »

Trevor Story is one of the minor league’s best shortstops. Today, elite shortstop prospects are plentiful. As they develop, the next generation of Major League shortstops could be spectacular. Jurickson Profar is a blemishless prospect, the perfect blend of tools and ability. Carlos Correa, last June’s top draftee, is joined by Xander Bogaerts, Javier Baez and Addison Russell to form a cadre of shortstops who could reintroduce offense to the position. Trevor Story rarely appears in the discussion, but he should. Read the rest of this entry »

Our look at the free agent class of 2009 ends with a trip to Jeterville, AKA shortstop, a position once filled with some of the best offensive and defensive players in the sport. The players about to hit the market have a similar theme amongst themselves: unusually good or bad seasons in certain regards that are bound to regress moving forward. We have two of the top ten fielders at the position in 2008, as well as a player who is used to topping everyone in fielding at the position. Additionally, there are a few players that should not be playing the demanding position anymore as well as two players with seasons on offense moving in different directions.

The youngest of the group is Cesar Izturis, who, in 135 games with the Cardinals produced a -1.71 WPA/LI on the heels of a .263/.319/.309 line. His OPS has been fairly consistent over the past three seasons meaning he just is not very valuable on offense. His defense, however, earned him the #4 spot at the position this season, at +19 plays above average. At 29 years old, Izturis could realistically sign a two or three year deal somewhere, based on his defense, but his offense could be a very big problem. If there is anything he can take away regarding his offensive production this season it would be that his walk rate was higher than ever before.

The elder statesman of the group is Omar Vizquel, who, at 42 years old, still has “it” in the field. In 92 games, Omar was +9 plays above average defensively, good for eighth at the position. He has a 5.2 mm option on his contract for next season, but can be bought out for $ 300,000. If the Giants choose to move in a younger direction, which I thought was the reason for not bringing Barry Bonds back, and buy Vizquel out, I would hope he hangs up his glove rather than stick around until his only solid skill deteriorates. Offensively, he was worth over two wins less than an average player, so defense is all he has left.

Aside from these two, the remaining seven players range from 30-34 years old. Juan Uribe is 30, and spent most of this season at third base due to Joe Crede’s injuries, but was a +3 and a -7 at shortstop in 2006 and 2007. He also ranged from 16-23 home runs from 2004-07, before hitting just 7 this season. At .247/.296/.386, Uribe had a WPA/LI of -0.66, which, coupled with his declining fielding skills, just does not make him a very attractive commodity. I would expect him to have a job next season, but as more of a platoon player or pinch-hitter/defensive replacement on an NL team.

Rafael Furcal is 31, and is going to get a big payday, even though his ridiculously productive 36 regular season games are a very small sample and largely unsustainable. He hit .357/.439/.573, and was worth almost 1.5 wins above average despite playing in April and then the final week of September. His .217 ISO was the highest it has ever been, but his numbers were built upon a .380 BABIP, which will not repeat. Defensively, the injuries have hurt him recently, but he was the definition of league average this season. In the previous two seasons, however, he registered a +4 and +6. Expect him to land a big 4-yr deal, with the offense declining and the defense impoving.

Adam Everett, 32, is everyone’s favorite saber-darling, since his average or below average offense is more than made up for by his incredible defense. In 2006, the guy was +41 plays above average. That fell to +18 in 2007, before this season’s -1 in Minnesota. He played just 48 games, but it is somewhat clear that his fielding skills are not what they once were. If he cannot get back to that +10 to +15 range, he will not be worth much.

At 33 years old we have Alex Cora and Edgar Renteria, one valued for his defense and leadership and another coming off of an extremely disappointing season. Cora was a -3 in the field and about a half-win less effective offensively than an average hitter. With a .270/.371/.349 line, it is clear that Cora has the ability to hit and get on base, but he does not combine that with any semblance of power. Renteria has seen his ISO fall from .144 to .111 over the last three seasons, a mark not much higher than Cora’s .079. A .270/.317/.382 line might be acceptable if you were Everett and significantly better in the field than anyone else, but Renteria has gone from a +6 to a -1, to a -9 this season. His reputation will land him a job somewhere else, and he couldn’t possibly be worse than this season, but it’s pretty evident that the Braves won that trade.

Lastly, we have David Eckstein, who was also profiled in the second base edition of this series. He cannot field anymore at shortstop, at 12 plays below average, and he really cannot hit much either, as his -0.70 WPA/LI explains. He does not strike out much, and his 8.7 BB% is the highest of his career, but a switch to second base should be mandatory if he wants to stick around. He should not be the starting SS for any team serious about contending. Furcal and Renteria will likely get the hefiest paychecks of this group, but guys like Cora, Izturis, and Everett will still be able to contribute.

With first basemen in the books and our look at keystone cornermen last night, our attention will now turn to shortstop, a position once populated with mega-stars such as Cal Ripken, Alex Rodriguez, and Nomar Garciaparra. Now, we have the new breed of shortstops, all of whom play in the NL East, with last names beginning with same letter: Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, and Jose Reyes. Rollins took home the NL MVP award last season, in a much-debated race. Ramirez is probably the most underrated player in the game of baseball right now. And Reyes is one of the most exciting and talented players in the game.

Offensively, Hanley Ramirez is in a league of his own, with a 4.24 WPA/LI, just about two wins better than closest competitor JJ Hardy of the Brewers. Hardy checks in with 2.27, just ahead of Reyes and his 2.20. Jimmy Rollins places fourth, over a full win less than Reyes, at 1.02, with Christian Guzman slightly behind at 0.96. Rollins did have a disappointing season in 2008, in which he saw his power output diminish. He also missed some time early in the year due to injury, which is uncharacteristic of his career. His value extended beyond just the regular forms of evaluated offense this year, however.

On the basepaths, Bill James’ baserunning score placed him fifth in the entire major leagues with a +46. This metric adds one point for each steal while subtracting two for each time caught stealing, and factors in how often a player was able to get from first to third, second to home, first to home, and avoid double plays. No other shortstop ranked in the top ten. Looking solely at the stolen base portion, Jose Reyes finished sixth, but he could not capitalize enough on the base advancement factors to earn a spot in the top ten.

Additionally, Rollins led all shortstops with a +23 in the field, making him this year’s best fielding shortstop. Yunel Escobar of the Braves finished slightly behind Jimmy, at +21, with JJ Hardy and Cesar Izturis tied for third place at +19. Jack Wilson rounded out the top five with a +16. All of this does not push Rollins into the same area as Ramirez, by any stretch, but serves as an important reminder of why more factors other than offense need to be taken into account when evaluating a season.

Yunel is a pretty neat example of a role reversal. Last year, in half a season with the Braves, he was well above average with the stick, but scored a 0 in the +- fielding system, making him the epitome of a league average shortstop. This year, his WPA/LI deemed him a league average hitter, yet he was the second best fielding shortstop. Oh, how things change.

On the opposite of the effectiveness spectrum, Bobby Crosby’s -2.56 WPA/LI was by far the worst in baseball for shortstops, a full win worse than Yuniesky Betancourt. In the field, Crosby was a -13, with Betancourt a -19, so it is not as if Crosby played gold glove caliber defense. He had a dreadful season. Orlando Cabrera (-1.43), Edgar Renteria (-1.40), and Miguel Tejada (-1.27) round out the bottom five.

Stephen Drew led the pack with 44 doubles, with Jose Reyes topping everyone with his 19 triples. Hanley Ramirez led with 33 home runs, 92 walks, and a .940 OPS. Albert Pujols should win the MVP award this year in the National League, but based on how long the Marlins stayed in the race, Hanley Ramirez should not go unnoticed at all. His fielding has improved as well, with a +3 this year compared to a -37 in 2007. Yuniesky struck out the least, just 42 times. Rollins swung the least often, offering on just 39.7% of the pitches thrown his way. Despite that, he made contact on 90.8% of those swings, a rate topped only by Ryan Theriot and Marco Scutaro, who also found themselves at the top in percentage of pitches seen in the strike zone.

We also cannot forget Troy Tulowitzki, who had an injury-plagued sophomore campaign after proving himself as quite capable offensively and a wizard with the glove in 2007. Or even Rafael Furcal, who had a scorchingly hot April before going into hibernation only to return just in time for the division series. With Troy, Jose, Hanley, and perhaps Yunel on the rise, with veterans like Furcal, Rollins and Guzman still remaining valuable, this position might lack the star power of the A-Rod days, but it is still very talented.