The Defense Thread, 2015

[Can_of_corn]

Great catch and tag by Schoop on this play, which caused the announcers to say that he's been learning from JJ.

The O's have played some very good defense lately. Only two unearned runs during all of July. Manny has made a passel of good plays lately, and the Jones/Schoop Wieters relay on Friday night was one of the best relays you'll ever see. The Jones to Wieters throw and catch on Sunday also was spectacular.

And Hardy hasn't made an error since May 12 (70 errorless games since).

Schoop came up as a good tagger.

[Aristotelian]

8/4/2015 @ Oakland Athletics

On a shallow pop fly to left, Travis Snider completely lost the ball in the lights. Threw his hands up in the air and stood there. Fortunately AJ was hustling to back up on the play, recognized that Snider was in trouble, and came all the way over from center to make the catch. Box score simply reads "Brett Lawrie flies out to center fielder Adam Jones", but does not tell the full story.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v332400283/baloak-jones-bails-out-snider-with-catch-in-center/?c_id=mlb

Adam Jones also made a diving catch fully extended to rob Coco Crisp of a base hit early in the game.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v331843183/baloak-jones-robs-crisp-with-great-diving-catch/?c_id=mlb

[Frobby]

In the 8/4 game, there also was a play where a ball dropped in front of Snider and he chose to throw behind a runner who was advancing to 3B from 1B. Thorne said it was a wise decision, but on replay from the LF view it looked to me like an OF with a decent arm would have been able to cut the runner down rather easily.

Also, there was a play where Jones threw home on a single, but the ball hit the upslope of the mound and bounced about 10 feet in the air. Wieters made a really athletic grab at full extension to keep the ball from going to the back wall, but the batter advanced to 2B on the throw.

[OFFNY]

o

(vs. RED SOX, 9/26)

Horrible defense today.

6 of the 8 runs that the Red Sox scored were unearned.

[Frobby]

o

(vs. RED SOX, 9/26)

Horrible defense today.

6 of the 8 runs that the Red Sox scored were unearned.

I could argue that both of the two "earned" runs could have been prevented by better defense in LF. The first scored when Flaherty took a pretty long time to retrieve a double that went off the wall in the corner and then his throw home was a little wide of home plate. Then the next run was after Castillo hit a line drive that aflaherty took a bad angle on and it went over his head and ricocheted past him off the wall for a double, and then Castillo later scored. All in all, a poor defensive game. Not to mention that we were shut out.

[El Gordo]

I could argue that both of the two "earned" runs could have been prevented by better defense in LF. The first scored when Flaherty took a pretty long time to retrieve a double that went off the wall in the corner and then his throw home was a little wide of home plate. Then the next run was after Castillo hit a line drive that aflaherty took a bad angle on and it went over his head and ricocheted past him off the wall for a double, and then Castillo later scored. All in all, a poor defensive game. Not to mention that we were shut out.

Why is Flash playing LF in Fenway. We'd have been better of with Parra there and Flash in RF.

[OFFNY]

o

Overall, the 2015 Orioles' defense was ......

I'll let everyone else chime in (if you all care to.)

[Frobby]

o

Overall, the 2015 Orioles' defense was ......

I'll let everyone else chime in (if you all care to.)

Decent but not great. Few errors, but fewer excellent plays and more mental mistakes than in 2014.

[Can_of_corn]

o

Overall, the 2015 Orioles' defense was ......

I'll let everyone else chime in (if you all care to.)

Inadequate in the task of supporting the pitching staff in the goal of run prevention.

[weams]

o

Overall, the 2015 Orioles' defense was ......

I'll let everyone else chime in (if you all care to.)

Too many people, including Manny, playing out of position or hurt.

[Aristotelian]

Fewest errors in the league, actually fewer (77) than last year (87), although not quite as good as 2013, which was truly transcendent (54). Led MLB in OF assists.

Until the injuries, Adam Jones was having his best year in centerfield, in my opinion. Full year of Manny playing gold glove level plus Schoop. Improved to some extent by attrition without Cruz.

On the other hand, JJ was not as great as last year but still solid. Big drop in double plays turned. There was a thread on that with some ideas, but I don't think there was ever a conclusive explanation. I think it had more to do with pitching because I really don't remember a ton of missed opportunities.

I don't know, we lost more games than last year but I don't think it was because of our defense. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that our defense was actually slightly better this year. Unfortunately, the pitching was a heck of a lot worse.

[Babypowder]

The metrics say the Orioles were much much worse on defense. That may have contributed to the decline in the pitching. DRS had them drop from +49 to -7. UZR/150 had them fall from 10.9 to 3.8. By Fangraphs defensive value stat they went from 55.4 to 9.5.

[Aristotelian]

The metrics say the Orioles were much much worse on defense. That may have contributed to the decline in the pitching. DRS had them drop from +49 to -7. UZR/150 had them fall from 10.9 to 3.8. By Fangraphs defensive value stat they went from 55.4 to 9.5.

Interesting. I wonder how many of those stats accrued while Hardy and Jones were out. Hardy definitely took a step back this year, but my eye test says that everybody else was as good as last year, and Jones was better, at least when healthy.

How would UZR and DRS be affected if the pitchers were getting hit harder?

[Can_of_corn]

Interesting. I wonder how many of those stats accrued while Hardy and Jones were out. Hardy definitely took a step back this year, but my eye test says that everybody else was as good as last year, and Jones was better, at least when healthy.

How would UZR and DRS be affected if the pitchers were getting hit harder?

You don't think Schoop took a step back defensively?