Running 2015 MLB Regular-Season Thread

I think the word ELITE should make everyone groan these days, but Desmond is generally considered, I thought, to be one of the best, no? He typically gets off to a rough start then settles down. Three Silver Sluggers. No gold gloves, though.

 

White Sox finally get a hit off Bauer.

 

There is some statistical gobbledygook that can justify Desmond in the upper tier if you're really trying, but he typically is among the league leaders in errors. On BB-Ref he is -18 fielding runs for his career and goes from slightly negative to slightly positive by season.

 

It's not just Desmond. The reliever had a killer error in that rally and the day before the Nats let a fly drop in the outfield when both guys lost the ball in the sun. They look like they spent spring training on barstools in Key West.

 

Damnit! My dream of Bauer going an entire season without allowing a hit quashed.

 

Of course Desmond is one of the best shortstops in the game. He's slightly below average defensively for his career, but nothing like the liability he's been thus far.

 

Overall or fielding?

I'm digging a little deeper now and looking at BB-Ref's year-by-year Top 10 in Total Zone Runs. He has never been on there. For range factor, he finished seventh once.

Meanwhile his rank in SS errors the last five years: first, third, 10th, third, first.

"Slightly below average defensively" is pretty charitable.

 

His dWAR hasn't been in the negative since his first full season and he was in the positive in Total Zone Runs Above Average in both 2012 and 2014.

Ian Desmond Batting Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Ian Desmond Fielding Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

 

It's cool that baseball honors Jackie Robinson every April 15. But the sportswriter in me wonders ... does EVERY player have to wear No. 42?

Since the number's retired for all teams, couldn't the players pick one person on their team to honor Robinson by wearing No. 42 on his day?

 

People (especially kids) notice when everyone wears No. 42. They would need advance knowledge to pick up on just one player doing it.

It's a very cool day.

 

I know this ranks among the tops on the being anal list, but the ball's already in his glove.

 

We might be looking at it differently. I don't think zero defines "average."

He was ninth of 15 N.L. shortstops last year in Total Zone Runs, and that was in a "good" defensive year. The year before that he was 13th in the N.L.*

*Numbers slightly subjective to account for how much guys played, but I'm talking about people who played 75 or more games.