The Defense Thread, 2024

[HowAboutThat]

On 5/15/2024 at 7:18 AM, Frobby said:

Some defensive numbers at the quarter pole:

Henderson +4 Rdrs, +4 Rtot, +4 OAA, -0.1 UZR

Mountcastle +4 Rdrs, 0 Rtot, -1 OAA, -0.6 UZR

Mateo +3 Rdrs, +4 Rtot, -1 OAA, 0.0 UZR

Rutschman +2 Rdrs, +3 Rtot, -1 CS, -1 FR, +1 BL

Mullins +2 Rdrs, -1 Rtot, +2 OAA, +1.4 UZR

Urias +1 Rdrs, -1 Rtot, 0 OAA, -0.5 UZR

Westburg +1 Rdrs, -1 Rtot, +1 OAA, -0.3 UZR

Cowser 0 Rdrs, +1 Rtot, +4 OAA, +1.5 UZR

O’Hearn 0 Rdrs, -2 Rtot, 0 OAA, -0.6 UZR

Santander -2 Rdrs, +1 Rtot, 0 OAA, -0.2 UZR

Hays -2 Rdrs, -2 Rtot, -1 OAA, + 0.4 UZR

McCannn -4 Rdrs, -1 Rtot, 0 CS, -2 FR, -1 BL

Cano +2 Rdrs

TEAM: +11 Rdrs (11th in MLB) +5 Rtot (10th), +9 OAA (6th),+0.6 UZR (13th)

 

If I read this correctly, Henderson‘s only ding is that he’s not quite as mobile as… Well as the average? I guess all these are on a scale measured against the league average at the time?
 

Anyway, I’m very surprised that Westburg is only marginally better than Urias. I thought it would be a much larger gap.
 

Overall, it seems that if we get to the ball, we make the play.

haha Cano at +2 DRS. Maybe he can moonlight at shortstop.

[emmett16]

31 minutes ago, Philip said:

If I read this correctly, Henderson‘s only ding is that he’s not quite as mobile as… Well as the average? I guess all these are on a scale measured against the league average at the time?
 

Anyway, I’m very surprised that Westburg is only marginally better than Urias. I thought it would be a much larger gap.
 

Overall, it seems that if we get to the ball, we make the play.

haha Cano at +2 DRS. Maybe he can moonlight at shortstop.

Cano’s nickname should be El Gato.

[RZNJ]

I saw some of the game last night but just watched the condensed version.   Huge play to start the 8th inning.  Gunnar ranges to his left to get the grounder and does the 360 thing.  He makes a bad throw that O’Hearn can’t handle.   How is that not a throwing error?   It’s not routine but it’s a play that should be made.   A good throw easily gets the runner.   It’s not like he had to dive for the ball.    Does doing the 360 mean no error can be charged?    That’s a rhetorical question.

[Frobby]

49 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I saw some of the game last night but just watched the condensed version.   Huge play to start the 8th inning.  Gunnar ranges to his left to get the grounder and does the 360 thing.  He makes a bad throw that O’Hearn can’t handle.   How is that not a throwing error?   It’s not routine but it’s a play that should be made.   A good throw easily gets the runner.   It’s not like he had to dive for the ball.    Does doing the 360 mean no error can be charged?    That’s a rhetorical question.

That was an extremely difficult play. I had a very good view from behind 1B.  Momentum going into the OF and a very fast runner so no time to load up.  The throw was perfectly on line to 1B.  O’Hearn should have handled the hop.  I’d put more blame on O’Hearn than Gunnar but the “hit” ruling was not at all surprising to me.  

[Just Regular]

Gunnar with the long body for the toe touch on a double play as the bullpen was melting down in the 7th a big play.

Cowser in RF with a web gem helping Irvin start his 8th.    OAA today has Cowser as the only corner outfielder in the top 10 among MLB's best by that metric.

Julio and Michael Siani who we will see in St. Louis are two of the CF ahead of him.

[AdamK]

20 hours ago, Just Regular said:

Gunnar with the long body for the toe touch on a double play as the bullpen was melting down in the 7th a big play.

Cowser in RF with a web gem helping Irvin start his 8th.    OAA today has Cowser as the only corner outfielder in the top 10 among MLB's best by that metric.

Julio and Michael Siani who we will see in St. Louis are two of the CF ahead of him.

Gunnar made several impressive plays yesterday, from that bare-handed double play, to his signature 6-3 double play he takes to second base himself. He's done that a handful of times in the past year and half and it must be imposing to the baserunner to see the kid sprinting at you.

Cowser's catch in right was awesome too. He covered a lot of grass to get there and it seemed he never doubted he'd make the play when he jumped to his right to get there. He was also a part of the Cowser to Mateo to McCann play at the plate.

Was a good game to see in person (and then relive through the highlights). 

[Pickles]

7 minutes ago, AdamK said:

Gunnar made several impressive plays yesterday, from that bare-handed double play, to his signature 6-3 double play he takes to second base himself. He's done that a handful of times in the past year and half and it must be imposing to the baserunner to see the kid sprinting at you.

Cowser's catch in right was awesome too. He covered a lot of grass to get there and it seemed he never doubted he'd make the play when he jumped to his right to get there. He was also a part of the Cowser to Mateo to McCann play at the plate.

Was a good game to see in person (and then relive through the highlights). 

That was actually a very poor play by Cowser.  Firstly, he fumbled the ball in the corner (likely the only reason they even sent the runner) and then he made a very bad throw to Mateo that Mateo bailed him out on by jumping 11 feet in the air to catch.

[Frobby]

20 hours ago, Just Regular said:

Gunnar with the long body for the toe touch on a double play as the bullpen was melting down in the 7th a big play.

Cowser in RF with a web gem helping Irvin start his 8th.    OAA today has Cowser as the only corner outfielder in the top 10 among MLB's best by that metric.

Julio and Michael Siani who we will see in St. Louis are two of the CF ahead of him.

I’m still not sure Gunnar had his toe on 2B when the ball finally arrived.  Sloppy toss by Mateo.

Gunnar’s subsequent unassisted DP was his 6th of the year, tying him for the major league lead.  He led the majors last year with 13, despite starting only 64 games at short (playing another 19 as defensive sub).   His rate per game of unassisted DP’s is down, but he’s on pace for about 22 which would smash last year’s league-leading total.   Gunnar loves to call his own number.

 

[interloper]

I love the Gunnar signature "I'll do it myself" double play. Plenty of SS will do that on occasion, but he really seems to just prefer to do it all himself unless he really needs to feed the ball to the 2B. 

[AdamK]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

I love the Gunnar signature "I'll do it myself" double play. Plenty of SS will do that on occasion, but he really seems to just prefer to do it all himself unless he really needs to feed the ball to the 2B. 

When he did this in one of his first starts at SS last year I was really surprised by his footwork + speed to field it, find the bag, change his route and still make the throw on time to 1st. It feels like his "signature" or "special move" (for the kids/gamers out there). If Jeter has claim to the jump throw (puked a little bit there -- okay now), it feels like Gunnar may come to be known for this DIY-DP. 

I wouldn't want to try and break that up. Must be 10x more imposing than sliding into Schoop.  

 

[AdamK]

14 minutes ago, Pickles said:

That was actually a very poor play by Cowser.  Firstly, he fumbled the ball in the corner (likely the only reason they even sent the runner) and then he made a very bad throw to Mateo that Mateo bailed him out on by jumping 11 feet in the air to catch.

I must admit, by the time it got to the corner it seemed just out of view to my seats. Thanks. Seattle used all fields to stay in the one.

Guess his diving catch was redemption.

[RZNJ]

28 minutes ago, Pickles said:

That was actually a very poor play by Cowser.  Firstly, he fumbled the ball in the corner (likely the only reason they even sent the runner) and then he made a very bad throw to Mateo that Mateo bailed him out on by jumping 11 feet in the air to catch.

The replay is hard to tell but what makes you think Mateo had to jump 11 feet in the air?    With how quickly the catch and throw were by Mateo, my feeling is that he barely left his feet if at all.

https://www.mlb.com/video/corbin-burnes-in-play-out-s-to-luke-raley?q=GamePk %3D [747035] AND PitchSpeed %3D {{ 36%2C 105 }} Order By ExitVelocity DESC&cp=MIXED&p=0

Edited May 20 by RZNJ

[lfallo1]

25 minutes ago, Pickles said:

That was actually a very poor play by Cowser.  Firstly, he fumbled the ball in the corner (likely the only reason they even sent the runner) and then he made a very bad throw to Mateo that Mateo bailed him out on by jumping 11 feet in the air to catch.

The fumbling with the ball was bad, but the throw (while a little high) was a rope, glove side.  Mateo made a little jump, but didn't think that throw from RF was bad... i do wonder if the M's would've sent the runner if Cowser hadn't bobble it.

[Aristotelian]

36 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

The replay is hard to tell but what makes you think Mateo had to jump 11 feet in the air?    With how quickly the catch and throw were by Mateo, my feeling is that he barely left his feet if at all.

https://www.mlb.com/video/corbin-burnes-in-play-out-s-to-luke-raley?q=GamePk %3D [747035] AND PitchSpeed %3D {{ 36%2C 105 }} Order By ExitVelocity DESC&cp=MIXED&p=0

Better view of it from this (incredible) camera angle. Mateo played it beautifully as he used the momentum from jumping for energy to put on the throw. Aside from the slight bobble I don't think it was a bad play by Cowser:

 

 

[Pickles]

I guess the throw wasn't as bad as I initially saw it, but it wasn't a good throw and definitely caused Jorge to go in the air to catch it.