One thing I said last night that I thought Tucker’s defense has improved this season. I’m not Tucker’s biggest fan, but his defense has improved a lot.
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Agreed
I think both Tucker and Straw have improved, but both are below MLB average, IMO. Brantley is average. In short, the Astros outfield defense went from one of the best in baseball with Springer and Reddick to the bottom half. They’re not awful, but they are not really good either.
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I very much disagree with below MLB average for either.
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I don’t recall Springer being above avg either. Maybe in RF but not in CF.
I probably need a definition of average. To me, that means makes all the routine plays with an occasional good to great one.
And the occasional bad read as well.
Yep, but very occasional for them.
I would like to say
I have looked up whatever fielding stats/ratings I could find ( excluding 2020)
Not much on Springer because Marisnick played more innings ( in CF) than him in most years but:
George’s ratings/stats look to be clearly above average.
Straw is significantly better than average at this point of the 2021 season.
Average means the middle guy in MLB. If there are 30 everyday CFers, who are the top 15? Is Straw one of them? I guess technically that’s the median. Either way, I don’t think Straw is in the top half of defensive center fielders.
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There are 4 or 5 CFers whose defense stands out above the rest. Starling Marte is one of them. I think he might be available.
Well, I’m an idiot. Marte has played more games in his career at LF than at CF
That’s because he played several years with Andrew McCutcheon.
I am not a big fielding stats guy but here is what I found.
2021 only.
Straw: 786.2 innings , 0 errors 5 assists
2 defensive runs saved above avg
3 defensive runs saved above avg / yr (1200 in)
Marte: 498.1 inn. 2 errors 5 assists
3 defensive runs saved above average
7 defensive runs saved above avg/yr
Kiermaier: 506.2 inn. 1 error 1 assist
5 defensive runs saved above avg
12 defensive runs saved abovevavg/yr
Bradley Jr. 558 inn, 0 errors 1 assist
4 defensive runs saved above avg
9 defensive runs saved above avg/yr
Trout: 295 inn 0 errors 0 assists
-3 defensive runs saved above avg
-12 defensive runs saved above avg/yr
Laureano: 602.1 inn 2 errors 4 assists
1 defensive run saved above avg
2 defensive runs saved above avg/yr.
Anyone else you want me to look at?
I would say Straw is above average defensively.
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I just have a hard time watching them play and concluding that Straw is a significantly better defensive player than Mike Trout. But if you think that, so be it.
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Pillar?
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Pillar 266.1 inn 0 errors 3 assists
O defensive runs saved above avg
0 defensive runs saved above avg/yr.
I’m not saying Straw is a better defensive player than Trout.
The stats simply say Trout had a tough start to the year defensively before getting hurt.
Straw had a bad start too.
You’re saying you’re looking at those stats and conclude that Straw is above average. Those stats show Trout is clearly a disaster in the field. I don’t buy either of those conclusions.
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Straw stays on the field though. Hard to make a play from the DL.
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