First SDI Rankings Highlights Twins' Defensive Highs and Lows

Time for some reliable statistics, if you found numbers rating Julien as "above average" defensively...

The eyeball test says he is lacking (i.e. definitely not above average) in range, glove and arm (accuracy and surely strength).  His "instincts" are not near good enough to make up foe his physical shortcomings. 

Keep coming up with such stats, and I may start to think this analytics craze might not be all that is advertised!!!

I think our defense in pretty solid, aside from second base and left field. I think we'll be fine at second once Lee gets his call up. Wallner will likely be our left fielder. Not the greatest fielder but has a cannon of an arm to make up for it  I also think Martin should be getting more time in the outfield. These really young guys need to be playing everyday if we want them to finish their development properly.

5 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

I think our defense in pretty solid, aside from second base and left field. I think we'll be fine at second once Lee gets his call up. Wallner will likely be our left fielder. Not the greatest fielder but has a cannon of an arm to make up for it  I also think Martin should be getting more time in the outfield. These really young guys need to be playing everyday if we want them to finish their development properly.

Wallner has better range than he looks; he's a player that might not pass the eye test but is actually respectable enough out there. he'll be far better in RF where he belongs, though.

Ratings seem about right overall. Correa won't rate as highly as he used to because of the rule changes that don't let him play as far back as his arm would normally allow but he's still a quality defender at SS. Julien was trending up towards average to me, but I have no illusions that he's a plus defender. I expect to see Buxton ranking fairly well next time these are published?

It'll be interesting to see how Lewis does. he seems to have the tools but needs more time so that they can play up and he doesn't have to think as much but react and go more. not sure where his ceiling is defensively. but betting against Royce Lewis seems like a fools errand...

I was a little surprised at CC rank and numbers.  You can clearly tell he is doing better this year than last.  When I read how they come up with the number, "The SABR Defensive Index draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted ball location-based data and those collected from play-by-play accounts, including data from MLBAM’s Statcast, Sports Info Solutions, and STATS Perform."  I wonder, how much the battle ball data effects things based on shift done by team.  Does it equal out, or not?  Meaning, in a traditional defense, a ball hit in the slightly to the right of SS would be an out most of the time, but if that defender is shifted up the middle, a ball hit in same spot will not be defended, but reverse where ball hit right up middle used to be a hit, now is an out.  How much does positioning take into account?

Additionally, how much does a nice tag on a player account, as the article points out.  CC does a crazy job of tagging the head first slider, on the leg or even foot well away from the base than to try to meet the slider at the base, sometimes allowing for a swim move. 

I have not watched every game super close, but I do not feel like CC defense is negative, at least from what I have seen.  Again, eyes can get it wrong though, it is very possible it is lower range that hurts him. It seems like these numbers can change quickly based on how quicky guys moved up at times.    

2 hours ago, Trov said:

I was a little surprised at CC rank and numbers.

That's what makes me doubt these SDI rankings. The eye test doesn't agree with CC's SDI.

3 hours ago, Bodie said:

Time for some reliable statistics, if you found numbers rating Julien as "above average" defensively...

The eyeball test says he is lacking (i.e. definitely not above average) in range, glove and arm (accuracy and surely strength).  His "instincts" are not near good enough to make up foe his physical shortcomings. 

Keep coming up with such stats, and I may start to think this analytics craze might not be all that is advertised!!!

The problem with eye tests are twofold. One is that you don’t see what other players do so how can one say for this year he is better or worse than the other second basemen this year. Second thing is the eyes are attached to something that has bias and short term memory losses 

3 hours ago, Bodie said:

Time for some reliable statistics, if you found numbers rating Julien as "above average" defensively...

The eyeball test says he is lacking (i.e. definitely not above average) in range, glove and arm (accuracy and surely strength).  His "instincts" are not near good enough to make up foe his physical shortcomings. 

Keep coming up with such stats, and I may start to think this analytics craze might not be all that is advertised!!!

What is your "eyeball test" on every other second baseman in baseball? It's important to determine what MLB average is at a defensive position before determining Julien is below average.

IMO Correa should be higher, Julien lower & Santana lower & who cares? I'm still scratching my head over Guerrero's GG selection.

I’m skeptical of defensive metrics in general and really skeptical for middle infielders. There is so much going on that will never be included in a metric. How you turn the double play how you feed the double play handling cutoffs and tags. These are all areas where Correa excels and Julien doesn’t. 

One thing we need to take into consideration is that these stats are based on the average defense production of all the players that play that position. When looking at a 1Bman practically no team put any importance on defense, instead how many HRs the guy can hit (IMO rightfully so). Many teams during the "shift era" would hide their defense-deficient power hitters at 2B & have yet evolved them out for more range-proficient ones. Thus creating a poor defense pool, the bar is lower & the completion is less, hopefully, the Twins can change this "shift era" type of thinking to become more competitive.

While at the prime positions of catcher, SS & CF, defense is crucial & the defense pool quality is much higher raising the bar & competition for that position. Also, it's futile to gauge the players at this point because there some players who really work to get their defense stats up but they aren't able to sustain that performance throughout the year.