The article is behind a paywall so I haven't read it. Is the above a direct quote from it? If so, I have to suspect the writer has misunderstood something about this research. It may be true that 24% are likely hits and 62% are likely outs, leaving 14% as essentially go-get'em balls. But not all the 62% of outs are cans of corn, and when there are runners on base there will be significant opportunities for fielders to distinguish themselves. Likewise not all the 24% hits are Texas Leaguers where the outfielder retrieves the ball and underhands it to a middle infielder - if the ball is hit a long way, there is scope for a Ben Revere to do less with it than someone with a major league arm, for example. Cans of corn, with nobody on base? Routine singles, and even certain kinds of doubles, with nobody on base? Deep fly with a man on third, so that even God himself couldn't save the run? Home runs? Sure, they happen a lot. It does represent a reduction to the value of seemingly non-SSS quantities of fielding chances. The problem with assessing defense is indeed the radically fewer true chances, compared with the thousands of pitches that a batter sees each season. But simply tallying the initial touch of a ball in play, which is what these raw percentages imply to me, leaves an awful lot of defensive skill un-assessed. I hope the researchers didn't fall into that easy trap.