It’s Time to See More Ryan Kreidler

[Greggory Masterson]

Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Since Opening Day, the Twins’ shortstop position has been in flux. The club has already had four players play shortstop more than 10 times this season: Brooks Lee, Tristan Gray, Ryan Kreidler, and Orlando Arcia. Lee was the team’s Opening Day shortstop, but he played his way off the position and has not appeared there for over a month.

Gray, Kreidler, and Arcia have been fighting for time there since, though Arcia has been designated for assignment and returned to St. Paul, effectively creating a timeshare between Gray and Kreidler at the position. The two inexperienced, though not young, form a natural platoon—Gray is a lefty and Kreidler is a righty—and the Twins have held firm to that setup. They have played Gray at shortstop in every game a righty started since May 23, a game he missed on paternity leave.

I’m not one to call for sweeping changes, but is it time to end this type of usage?

Gray is not playing like an everyday shortstop. Kreidler probably isn’t an everyday shortstop either, but he can at least defend like one.

In May, Lee was moved off the position he had held since last July (when Carlos Correa was traded) due to his defense. And rightly so—Lee was, by some metrics, the worst defensive shortstop in baseball. Even if you don’t trust defensive metrics, which is justifiable, watching him told you that, at a minimum, he was not a good defender.

At the time of his move off of shortstop, by defensive runs saved (DRS), he was a league-worst -7. His outs above average (OAA) and fielding run value (FRV) told a similar story, -6 and -5, respectively. The average is 0 on these metrics. In 44 games, he’d only committed two errors, but there were head-scratching plays galore, and many balls he simply could not get to because of his range.

Gray has played 24 games at shortstop this season (184 innings), and wouldn’t you know, after Friday night’s game, he’s accumulated -8 DRS, -6 OAA, and -6 FRV. Those figures are as bad or worse than Lee’s, but they’re counting stats. He would be on pace to have accumulated -17 DRS, -13 OAA, and -13 FRV by the time he reached Lee’s 390 total innings (that’s not exactly how it works, but you get the point). If you’re an errors person, he’s already racked up six this season, committing one for every four games he plays at shortstop.

Part of the reason Lee was moved to third base was that he isn’t a long-term shortstop, so it was sensible to move him to a place that better suited his skillset. Another part of that move was to help improve the team’s defense today.

And they replaced Lee with an even worse defender at shortstop.

Kreidler is clearly the superior defender out of the group of four Twins shortstops. He’s made a couple of mistakes defensively this season, including miscommunicating on a pop-up that resulted in Luke Keaschall knocking the ball from his glove, but he remains an at minimum average defender.

He’s had only 61 innings at the position this season, but he has been an average defender by DRS and has accumulated 1 OAA and 1 FRV. He came to the Twins with a reputation for excellent play in the field, and compared to Lee and Gray, it’s a night-and-day difference.

The issue with Kreidler is his hitting, though.

Or, at least, that was the issue with his reputation.

Kreidler has not played terribly often this season. He’s only accumulated 80 plate appearances. But he’s hit well enough in that time, slashing .243/.338/.486 (.823), about 20% better than league average. A lot of that is buoyed by his four home runs and 10 walks, and his .383 OPS (yes, OPS, not OBP) casts a cloud over anyone who wants to believe that he’s a competent hitter.

 

But he’s hit enough to at least give him a look at more regular playing time.

Kreidler has been slightly better against lefties than righties this season (.821 vs. .809 OPS), though his performance against righties is a bit inflated because three of his four home runs have come against same-handed pitchers (he has a .256 OBP but a .553 SLG against right-handed pitchers). In reality, he’s probably meaningfully better against lefties than righties, which isn’t great for an everyday shortstop candidate whose performance against southpaws also probably isn’t sustainable.

However, it’s not as if Gray has lit the world on fire in his platoon-aided appearances.

Gray has 126 plate appearances against righties this season, and he’s slashed .252/.294/.365 against them. He had a hot start to the year and was one of the early-season fun stories, slashing .269/.316/.462 (.777) overall through the end of April with three home runs and 13 RBI in 58 plate appearances. Since then, though, he’s cooled off considerably, slashing .222/.261/.296 (.558) overall, and his performance against righties has been just higher, his .608 OPS about 35% below league average.

Twins fans (and managers, and front office members) should be under no impression that either Gray or Kreidler is a good hitter, or even an average hitter over a full season. But if neither of them is going to be good, why not play the only player on the team who wouldn’t be in competition for the worst defensive shortstop in baseball?

Shortstop is an incredibly important defensive position, and the Twins have largely played poor defenders there. At some point, you have to give the guy who can field the position a shot. Of course, hopefully at some point within the next month, Twins Daily’s #2 prospect, Kaelen Culpepper, will be in that spot. But for now, I feel like I speak for a lot of people when I say that I’m growing weary of watching what’s going on at shortstop.

Gray could have a role as a utility infielder, giving the Twins’ bevy of right-handed infielders a day off against same-sided pitching, but we’ve probably seen enough from him as the primary shortstop.

Please, just play the sure glove.

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[DJL44]

Agree that Kreidler deserves more playing time at SS. They can have him replace Gray on defense more often and get more starts. Gray will still be available to pinch hit for Kreidler if the situation calls for it.

I think they should be done playing Kreidler anywhere except SS. They have better options for CF.

[CRF]

Kreidler has to be the guy playing ss right now. Hands of stone Gray can ride the pine and pinch hit.

[Jeff K]

And Kriedler had a great game last night.  I would like to see a comparison of defensive metrics for Gray & Arcia.  The eye test says Arcia fields the position better than Gray.

[Senior Softball Guy]

Great article! I was just thinking that having Kreidler everyday is the way to go. You get your runs from the other positions. SS and catcher are defensive positions.

[Linus]

I believe Kreidler is 28 so he’s not some ancient guy out there. May be part of the improvement in hitting is opportunity. Some

guys that can’t hit have bad swings and fundamental flaws: Kreidler actually looks like a hitter from the standpoint that his swing is sound. Run him out there and see what we have. 

[Saxophone Joe]

Team Kreidler for the win! Liked him ever since I saw him play in Mankato for the MoonDogs.

I just like the way he goes about his business…Cory Provus mentioned earlier in the season that Kreidler was none too pleased at starting the season in Triple A, and told Shelty as such. Now, he’s earned a place as the everyday SS. Love to see it. 

[tony&rodney]

Ryan Kreidler is a big man and very athletic. His defense is good everywhere and might even improve if he were an everyday player. The problem has been that Kreidler doesn't hit enough to hold down a regular spot. The Twins are going to promote Kaelen Culpeppper when he is ready, which may have been delayed due to his recent injury. In the meantime Twins fans will need to hope that Kreidler hits enough to get his name on the lineup card more often. Last night was a good start. The play to nip Corbin at first base was a pitcher's best friend gift. 

[mnfireman]

Wrong thread...

[Coach JT]

Time to DFA gray and let’s take a look at Gonzalez . Play Kreidler everyday at Ss and you can always send Lee over for a day off and Lewis can play 3B if a break is needed . 

[saviking]

Can't believe the Twins won't bring up Culpepper right after the all-star break. All these other guys are bandaid's

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, saviking said:

Can't believe the Twins won't bring up Culpepper right after the all-star break. All these other guys are bandaid's

Why wait? What does Culpepper have to do to prove he’s ready?

[High heat]

Yes Kriedler as the everyday SS. His bat speed has increased significantly and the defense alone makes up for any bat deficiencies.