Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Look At GG CF's

This is another of those somewhat opinionated write ups of what makes a Gold Glove Center Fielder and what has transpired so far this season. To begin with a good CF will have the following defensive skills, 85/85/60/65 as suggested, to make the comparison.

NL frontrunners are:

Robinson Montgomery, Houston: Has great Range, Glove and Arm are both under the suggested marks however. Has amassed 12 plus plays and only 3 errors in 75 starts. Too bad he can't play 2B.

Carlton Saunders, Florida: Good Range, Glove is under and Arm is under. Has amassed 8 plus plays, 1 minus play and 4 errors in 115 starts. Could play 2B also.

Felipe Peralta, New York: Range is good, Glove is well under, arm way over. Has amassed 8 plus plays and 4 errors in 78 starts. Can play 2B  but is actually better at 3B.

Pat Belle, St. Louis: Range is just a little under, glove is way over while the arm is a little under. Has amassed 1 error and 8 plus plays in 102 starts.

Claude Chatwood, Chicago: Range and Glove are over while Arm is under. Has amassed 4 plus plays and 6 errors in 103 starts. Could play 2B also and maybe better.

Carl Browning, New York: Range is great, Glove is under and Arm is Great. Has amassed 5 plus plays and 1 error in 33 starts. Can play anywhere and does.

NL analysis: While Range appears to make the plus plays, it seems the Arm lessens errors committed better than Glove. Does this also hold true in the AL?

AL frontrunners:

Shayne Marte, Baltimore: Range is almost maxed, Glove is under while Arm is over/under. Has amassed 20 plus plays and 3 errors in 101 starts.

Tomas Ramirez, Texas: His Range equals Shayne while Glove is under and arm is over/under also. Has amassed 20 plus plays and 6 errors in 115 starts.

 Clark Parrish, Kansas City: Range is great, Glove is under while the Arm is under/over.  Has amassed 12 plus plays and 5 errors in 113 starts. Last years GG winner at 2B.

Arthur Donatello, Boston: Range is great, Glove is under while Arm is over. Has amassed 9 plus plays and 4 errors in 115 starts.

Clayton Tice, Detroit: Range is great, Glove and Arm is under. Has amassed  9 plus plays and  6 errors in 82 starts. Can play a good 2B also.

AL analysis: Range is definitely the factor for Plus Plays while Glove and Arm is the leading factors for errors.

Looking at the overall picture, going with uber range coupled with a decent glove which isn't too far under and a good arm is the way to go.

So basically I was wondering if Claude Chatwood was getting cheated somewhat in his fielding abilities. Out of all the Center Fielders looked at, he has the worst arm of the bunch but the best Glove. He is tops in the NL for PO's  so he gets lots of chances. My thinking is a couple more plus plays maybe but it is evident the over Glove does not hide the small hand and weak arm.








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