Could Mike Trout outproduce a tanking team's entire lineup? Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers (1981-88), New York Yankees (1989-91), Chicago White Sox (1992-93), Oakland Athletics (1994), Stats: 8,624 chances, 3,617 putouts, 4,817 assists, 190 errors. When you look at DRS, you see that the Phillies rank poorly in both areas. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Edwin Encarnacion 1 of 40 Career Fielding Percentage: .934 League Average 3B: .956 Career dWAR: -6.3 Career Rtot: -61. Just for fun, lets run through the Phillies various positional ranks. As mentioned before, catcher Mike Piazza might not quite be regarded as the worst defensive catcher in historybut he's pretty darn close. | Glossary", "What is a Defensive Runs Saved (DRS)? Fielding Bible Top 100 Players All-Time Top 100 Players . He tried first base, third base, outfield and even catcher. A third defensive metric that I'll mention in the piece below is ultimate zone rating, available at FanGraphs. It would be years before Sax finally figured out his mechanical issues, but the damage had already been done. Kirby Puckett, CF, 1993 Twins (minus-29 runs), This one seems a little odd considering Puckett had won a Gold Glove the previous season. In left field, he made 1.80 plays per game while teammate Josh Willingham -- hardly known as a plus fielder himself -- made 2.17. The A's tried to make Picciolo the man at shortstop for his first two seasons, and he coughed up balls at an alarming rate, with 21 errors in 1977, his first season, and 17 errors in 1979, his second season, as a full-time shortstop. No matter where he played, Samuel was a liability on the field. However, defensively, Bichette was easily one of the most challenged of players. Jason Giambi was the 2000 American League Most Valuable Player while with the Oakland Athletics, then cashed in with a seven-year, $120 million contract with the Yankees in 2001. If you've ever loved baseball, at any level, you know the guy when you see him. The tradeoff? The Phillies will need to evaluate whether they already have the right personnel. He also was one of the worst fielders ever to be jammed onto a lineup card. Cap Anson played in the dead ball era, where errors were out of control, but theres still no way to get around his 976 errors. And JDMs 124 RBI will mean absolutely nothing in an MVP conversation. While Nolan Ryan may be in the Hall of Fame, have seven no-hitters to his credit and be the all-time strikeout king, he will never be compared to either Jim Kaat or Greg Maddux in terms of defense. Hell, he doesnt even have 2018s worst DRS! His longevity definitely wasn't tied to his ability to field the ball. But watching Bernie Williams play center field for the Yankees for almost two decades was a study in perseverance. And if his unremarkable hitting wasn't enough, his defensive stats certainly don't suggest that LeMaster was being kept around for his defensive prowess, either. Im older than him, and I can barely catch the TV remote when my roommate tosses it to me (from a couple of feet away mind you lol). Teams: Detroit Tigers (199295), Florida Marlins (1995), Oakland Athletics (199699), Baltimore Orioles (200004), New York Yankees (2005), Arizona Diamondbacks (2005), Stats: 117 chances, 25 putouts, 85 assists, 5 errors. Which is bad. Usually, teams realize these defenders are significantly costing the team runs, and the offending player is moved to another position or benched altogether. Who had the worst defensive season ever? - SweetSpot- ESPN This one may be a bit surprising as Young was regarded as a solid shortstop and even won a Gold Glove in 2008. Defense, in 2018, was the ballclubs biggest detriment. by Retrosheet. He was bad wherever teams tried to put him, and that's most evident when you look at his eye-popping 330 career errors. Andujar probably needs to be moved to a different corner, because he is an absolute butcher at third. Sheesh! Derek Jeter is Statistically the Worst Fielder in Baseball History All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. Just take a look at the photodoes that look like a man who's confident he can field that grounder? Bogaerts rates six runs worse than average, 23rd among 24 qualified shortstops. MLB - 2022. Madlock's zone rating and other defensive variables were far below that of the league average, and in a report that measures Total Zone ratings for players between the years 1956 and 1986, Madlock places dead last among all third basemen. However, as a third baseman, Bonilla's deficiencies were in plain sight. Nowhere was his awful defense more pronounced than when he played second base, where he started over 1,000 games, and his total zone runs allowed went to -89. Fielding Bible While early pro baseball was plagued by errors (just look at the career lists for MLB), Browning's 414 errors in 13 seasons still stand out. Simply put, Knoblauch could no longer throw successfully to first base. UZR had Kemp at minus-26 runs that . Polanco was the American League starter at shortstop in the 2019 All-Star Game just one year after a lengthy suspension for performance-enhancing drugs and his fielding statistics should be alarming for Twins fans. Unfortunately, as a fielder he could boot a ball a country mile as well. UZR had Kemp at minus-26 runs that year, the worst total it has ever given a center fielder going back to 2002, so by all accounts Kemp was awful. At the time, the Phillies told themselves Santana was too good of a deal to pass up. It's a good thing they don't look at defense. His Rtot and dWAR numbers certainly suggest that a minor league replacement player would have put up a better defense at first than Giambi, known to have limited range and mobility, and hands that were not exactly soft in nature. Check. Even a few Hall of Famers. Gross was so bad in his time with the A's that he was named to the Athletics' All-Time All-Iron Glove team in ESPN writer Rob Neyer's "Big Book of Baseball LIneups" in 2003. worst defensive runs saved all time. We all have at least one great "Oh, Manny!" How did Duane Kuiper play 10 seasons in the majors? Just cant field em. But Santana hasnt quite been that effective at the plate, while Hoskins, in the field, has been a massive liability. He made 658 of those errors playing first base, which is the major league record for first basemen. Fans who sat behind the first base area at Dodger Stadium were known to wear helmets, not knowing where Sax's throws would land. Bonilla could've been on this list as a third baseman, but that almost seemed too easy. Sanchez, who relies on unbelievable power at the plate to change games, improved on blocking pitches in 2019. Sandwiched around this all-time bad season are two Gold Glove honors in 2009 and 2011. . While his fielding improved over the course of his career, you can point directly to his early struggles in the outfield as one of the reasons the Oakland A's traded him after three seasons and an average of approximately -20 total zone runs allowed in that span. For example, if a ball hit to the center fielder is expected to be caught 30 percent of the time, the fielder will lose .3 points if he does not catch it, or will gain .7 points if he does catch it. Entering Memorial Day in Cincinnati, they had the fewest defensive runs saved in the majors (minus-26), according to Sports Info Solutions, and were tied with the Reds for last in Statcast's outs above average (minus-17). The Phillies havent done enough hitting, and so theyll go into the offseason looking to make a major splash. But the numbers don't lie. As a hitter, Babe Herman had an outstanding career, hitting .324 in 13 seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers. We hate to put Frank Thomas on this list. Worst Defenses, 2003 - 2018 There are three teams in there from this season alone. It's time to unveil the 2022 MLB All-Underrated Team. Dave Kingman was bad at three different positions, posting double-digit error seasons at third base, first base and left field, and he was average at the other position he played, right field. For those of you who dont know, DRS stands for Defensive Runs Saved. Worst MLB Defensive Catchers of All Time - msn.com Rafael Palmeiro won the American League Gold Glove Award in 1999 while playing only 28 games all year at first base, so controversy abounds concerning criteria for Gold Glove Award winners. Spahn's defensive struggles seemed to be mostly early in his career, with a few blips as it went on. Flynn won two World Series titles as a backup infielder on the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976, his first two seasons in the majors, and spent the rest of his career living off that. MLB - 2022. He didn't make his major league debut until he was 26 years old and ended up pitching in the majors until he was 40 years old. While we're comparing the two players, we'll also watch out for any reasons to doubt the data we're using. And teams have done a really good job at that. Its totally fair to question the latter, since the numbers at Baseball Prospectus think the Phillies catchers have been slightly above-average, but I led with DRS, so thats the main focus. That honor belongs to Eddie Taubensee. For a while, the Phillies made it work, but ultimately, they just didnt get enough in return for the sacrifice. Throwing out only 23 percent of would-be basestealers during his career, Taubensee also was way below the curve in passed balls, wild pitches and many other defensive metrics used for the catching position. Maybe thats worth talking about another day. Hippo Vaughn only played 13 seasons but led the National League in errors five times. So all the metrics agreed that he just didn't have much range in this year. The MLB All-Underrated Team for 2022 - MLB.com Had it not been for two truly awful seasons in 2008 and 2009, Brad Hawpe probably would've been able to avoid this lineup. Overall, things have worked out okay, but they havent worked out well enough to win, and win consistently. Team Defensive Runs Saved - Fielding Bible Pierzynski when Barrrett was with the Cubs and a fight with Cubs teammate Carlos Zambrano in their own dugout. Dunn recently confirmed his retirement and I'll miss a guy who had a unique career in major league history. But Anson could hit (.334 lifetime batting average), and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. Kids, this is what happens when you don't work on your defense in practice. However, Madlock's prowess at the plate did not transfer to the field very well at all. For many years with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators, Frank Howard was one of the premier power hitters in the game, leading the league twice in home runs and swatting 382 during his 16-year career. The division was already more or less decided, but an unlikely Phillies sweep couldve at least brought it down to the wire. Browning was a raging alcoholic who regularly played games drunk. . Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. While the general belief is that Mike Piazza is the worst defensive catcher, that would not be the case, at least according to FanGraphs. worst defensive runs saved all time. Groom's fielding percentage hovered around or below .900 for most of his career and finished at an atrocious .940 in 13 seasons. Only the . First baseman/outfielder Brad Hawpe went down last year in June and required Tommy John surgery. Gleyber will be fine. Teams: Colorado Rockies (2004-10), Tampa Bay Rays (2010). But I probably won't miss his defense. Teams: Minnesota Twins (199197), New York Yankees (19982001), Kansas City Royals (2002), Stats: 6,821 chances, 2,852 putouts, 3,844 assists, 125 errors. The official scorer of the game took pity on Jolley, actually only giving him two errors. Check. They also rank 19th in actual wOBA on contact, with the second-greatest difference between the numbers in the league. These are the worst glovemen of all time at every position. Boston Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts' defense isn't so bad is it Anyway, Young had come up as a second baseman and moved to shortstop in 2004 and in 2005 he made 4.41 plays per nine innings versus the MLB average of 4.60 (his fielding percentage was about league average). Dahlen still holds the record for total chances by a shortstop, and oftentimes led the league in putouts and double plays as well. The Worst DRS We've Ever Seen | FanGraphs Baseball His work has been featured on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, SF Gate, CBS Sports, the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Chronicle. Jedlovec included Ryan's best and worst plays from 2011-12, too. Teams: New York Highlanders (1908, 1910-12), Washington Senators (1912), Chicago Cubs (1913-21), Stats: 906 chances, 92 putouts, 740 assists, 74 errors, Caught stealing percentage: .519 (incomplete). Or write about sports? Well, he hadn't played the position much before that and isn't exactly quick to begin with, so it's easy to assume he combined a lack of range with a lack of experience. His defensive WAR of -19.7 is stunningly bad, and one can't help but wonder if years of rampant steroid use and performance-enhancing drugs contributed to Giambi's lack of mobility. He's the guy you definitely don't want the ball hit to when your team is pitching. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. However, during the opportunities when he did play first base, it became clear why Thomas was a DH. Individual Player Totals Team Defensive Runs Saved Defensive Runs Saved Leaderboard DRS Components In-Depth Team Fielder Totals Total Runs Old School Data DRS Pre-2020 Historic Win Shares Find our Data. In his 11-year career, seven with the Cincinnati Reds, Taubensee was literally brutal behind the plate. Position Player WAR Calculations and Details - Baseball-Reference.com Just to give some kind of a clue at just how bad Marv Throneberry was as a fielder, former manager Casey Stengel, who Throneberry played for with the expansion New York Mets, said to Throneberry on his birthday, "We was going to get you a birthday cake, but we figured you'd drop it.". Where Meyer was truly terrible was in the field. Here, then, is a list of 40 of the worst defensive players in MLB history. Look at the total zone runs allowed. Soriano's Rtot in nine years at second base was -78, so his transition to the outfield has actually helped, although you would no doubt find many Chicago Cubs fans who would dispute that notion. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. Next years going to come with greater expectations. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. Teams: Boston/Milwaukee Braves (1942, 1946-64), New York Mets (1965), San Francisco Giants (1965), Stats: 1,279 chances, 222 putouts, 999 assists, 58 errors. Throughout his career, Encarnacion has managed to make the most basic of fielding plays turn into an adventure, leaving fans breathlessly anticipating what will happen when the ball is hit his way. He was an All-American forward at Ohio State selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the fifth round of the 1958 NBA draft. Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt certainly presents an interesting case this year. It speaks more to the talented teammates he had around him that his total zone runs allowed isn't higher, but his -16.7 defensive wins above replacement seem to tell the real story. Jolley committed 44 errors in just four seasons, and was once credited with three errors on the same play, having the ball actually go through his legs twice on the same batted ball. Throughout major league history, some players have built their entire careers on hitting, despite some, ahem, major defensive deficiencies. Teams: Chicago White Sox (1990-2005), Oakland Athletics (2006, 2008), Toronto Blue Jays (2007-08), Stats: 8,487 chances, 7,910 putouts, 497 assists, 80 errors. His fielding percentage, which seems normal, is deceiving because he had such little range. His errors doubled to 26 in 1999, and in 2000, his continued struggles ultimately forced his move to left field. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of his defensive prowess. Freddy Peralta thrills family with dazzling debut, Real or Not? Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates (2005-09, 2012), Atlanta Braves (2009-11), Baltimore Orioles (2012-13), Washington Nationals (2014), Stats: 1,820 chances, 1,780 putouts, 23 assists, 17 errors. By 1993, Puckett was 33 and had put on some weight; it's perhaps instructive that the Twins moved him from center field to right field after the All-Star break. Defensive Runs Saved - Wikipedia Teams: Milwaukee Brewers (1988-91), San Diego Padres (1992-93), Florida Marlins (1993-98), Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2001), Atlanta Braves (2002-03), New York Yankees (2004-06), Detroit Tigers (2007-08), New York Mets (2009), Stats: 4,686 chances, 3,275 putouts, 1,240 assists, 171 errors. Doug Flynn's 1980 Gold Glove is one of those times. San Diego Padres (2011), Los Angeles Angels (2013), Stats: 1,816 chances, 1,695 putouts, 87 assists, 34 errors. The last third baseman to put up equally putrid numbers was Ryan Braun in 2007 (-32 in comparable innings). However, the Brewers saw just how bad Sheffield was there, and moved him to third base. By any reliable metric, to say nothing of the old-fashioned eye test, the Phillies have the majors' worst defense. You just had to hope and pray that the other team didn't hit the ball back to him. But wait, there has to be a logical explanation for this. But he got worse at framing pitches and is costing his team more in that area. Barrett's career became known much more for his scraps: two fights with pitcher Roy Oswalt in 2004, a legendary brawl with White Sox catcher A.J.

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