Saturday, July 12, 2008

Semi casual study of Ian Kinsler as a fielder

Link

Ian has the best range factor of any second baseman in baseball, including over the last three seasons cumulatively.

Comparing Kinsler to Soriano: Kinsler gets to one more ball per 9 innings than Soriano did. That is huge-mongous.

Kinsler does play behind more sinkerball pitchers than Soriano did. But, still, even if you take away 2/3 of Kinsler's one per game more than Soriano extra tracked grounder: Kinsler still tracks down 54 more ground balls per season than Soriano. I'll wild guess that Soriano would need to hit around .400 to make up for the defensive difference via offensive performance - except Soriano didn't walk as much as Kinsler. Therefore, I wild guess Soriano would have to hit about .420 to make up the defensive difference on the offensive end.

Regarding Kinsler's leading all of baseball in range factor:
1) playing behind sinkerballers helps him have chances at grounders, HOWEVER
2) playing on Rangers Ballpark in Arlington's superfast and hardpacked infield grass hurts his chances at getting to ground balls.

So, with everything factored in: we can be confident Kinsler does have excellent range, even if playing behind sinkerball pitchers has skewed statistics somewhat in his favor.

Slight frown: if, however, playing behind sinkerballers helps a middle infielders stats, why does Michael Young not also appear at the top of range factor stats? Does Michael have the range of a statue?

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