John Dewan on SS Defense

markj111

http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view/20220313in_field_jeters_no_2_stat_guru_ny_star_falls_short/srvc=home&position=also

An excerpt from the above article:

Let’s start there. With both Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes members of the Marlins team that visited yesterday, talk turned to bad defensive shortstops. It turns out that by Dewan’s plus/minus metrics, each cost his team 13 runs last year at short. That tied for second worst in the league, two runs behind — you guessed it — Captain Intangibles himself.

“Jeter is the worst,” Dewan said. “His biggest problem is his arm. For an average baseball player, he has a pretty good arm. For an average person in the population, he has a great arm. For an average MLB shortstop, that’s his biggest problem.

“He can’t play deep enough. He can’t make that throw from the hole. He makes that jump-throw, which looks good and gets the job done once in a while, but it ain’t like other shortstops who plant and gun that ball to first.”

Dewan compared the Yankees captain to the shortstop he rated as the best in baseball last year — Seattle’s Brendan Ryan, who saved the Mariners 18 runs. By breaking down where both players fielded the ball, he reached a fascinating conclusion: The 33-run differential between them, which is the equivalent of three wins in a season, is due almost entirely to the sliver of space to their right.

PowderedH2O

I am curious, at what point did Jeter become a defensive liability? I only watch the Yankees a handful of times each year, so I don't see him on a per game basis. Was he ever a great defensive shortstop? Did he just decline with age? I really don't have a feel for it. Someone educate me.

lanemyer85

Jeter has always been below average to terrible to liability (aside from 2009 for whatever reason). He had two other individual seasons where he was around league average, but advanced defensive metrics need to be weighed over a 3 year period given the sample sizes. Regardless, either way you analyze them, single season or as a whole, he's the worst defensive SS of all-time. The main reason Jeter is so historically bad is because the Yankees have placated his ego for all of these years. Any other team would have moved him off of SS. Jeter's main competition for defensive ineptness were Toby Harrah and Michael Young, but they were both moved off of SS before they approached Jeter's level of defensive deficiency. Of all the fWAR SS qualifiers with at least 25 wins, Jeter stands at -119.9 while only Michael Young (-71.6) and Toby Harrah (-97.0) (Harrah spent more time at 3B) have worse than a -50 run value for defense.

Jeter also currently occupies 5 of the top 10 worst individual defensive seasons among SS according to FRAA (Fielding Runs Above Average)

1. Derek Jeter -24.4 (2000)
2. Derek Jeter -24.3 (2002)
3. Rafael Ramirez -23.4 (1989)
4. Derek Jeter -23.1 (1999)
5. Pat Meares -22.7 (1996)
6. Derek Jeter -22.0 (2003)
7. Larry Bowa -21.7 (1974)
8. Derek Jeter -21.6 (2001)
9. Ernie Riles -20.3 (1986)
10. Jackie Gutierrez -20 (1984)

Other metrics

-141 career Total Zone rating

-132 career Defensive Runs Saved

-48.9 career Ultimate Zone rating

-14.7 Defensive WAR

markj111

A blast from the past-Rafael Ramirez. At least Jeter can hit.