FanPost

Ian Kinsler and +/-

Please don't flame.

 

In the Josh Hamilton and Fun with Numbers post, zkmavz asked:

Any chance you can post some of those fielding stats… mainly focusing on Kinsler compared to other 2B?

 

He was talking about John Dewan's +/- defensive numbers from Bill James Online. Since I got myself a subscription, I thought I'd answer the question, since Adam didn't (not to step on your toes, AJM).

Kinsler, to this point, ranks 29th among all second basemen with -9, indicating he has failed on nine more plays than the average second baseman would this season.

He has been exactly average on balls hit straight to him and balls to his right. He has a -10 on balls hit to his left. He has a +1 on balls hit in the air, giving him the -9.

This would seem to bear out what we think. His glove work, for whatever reason this season, has been fairly poor, and he's had trouble going towards first. He has the range to many directions, particularly those hit in the air, to make up for it to a degree, though.

Last season he was 9th with a +7. And even in 2006 he was better than this. And, of course, the season is only a bit more than half over. I think it's undeniable that Ian is having a bad season defensively so far, but, just like hitting, players have slumps, sometimes extended slumps.

I also think it's undeniable that he can play second, and he showed last year he can play second very well.

 

As far as the second part (how he compares to other 2B), he obviously ranks 29th, and here are the top 10 in baseball:

1 Chase Utley +29
2 Mark Ellis +24
3 Adam Kennedy +15
4 Dustin Pedroia +10
5 Brandon Phillips +10
6 Jamey Carroll +4
7 Placido Polanco +3
8 Dan Uggla +3
9 Robinson Cano +2
10 Kelly Johnson +1