Where does Cozart rank among defensive SS?

[jredmo2]

As a guy who, unfortunately, has only had the time to watch the occasional 2-3 Reds games per week, I haven't had the chance to really see who the really great defensive shortstops are around this year. But Cozart is really, really good I feel. I know his stick isn't great (not terrible either), but is there a chance people are underestimating his glove? How good is it?

[RadfordVA]

According to Fangraphs he is 8th out of 16 qualified SS in fielding.

UZR he is 10th
UZR/150 he is 7th

[Kc61]

UZR is fourth best among 12 qualified NL shortstops and tied for ninth-tenth best among 23 qualified MLB shortstops this year. His range is tied for sixth-eighth in the UZR components for all qualified MLB shortstops. Cozart is excellent defensively.

And as the post above says, he is seventh in UZR/150 for all qualified MLB SSs.

[RadfordVA]

I see Cozart as a nice fit for a team with enough offense in other spots. Which the Reds are this season. He isn't going to make a lot of plays that show extreme range but is steady enough on the routine plays to live with.

[DocRed]

top 10 IMO

[Kc61]

I see Cozart as a nice fit for a team with enough offense in other spots. Which the Reds are this season. He isn't going to make a lot of plays that show extreme range but is steady enough on the routine plays to live with.

I agree with your term "extreme range". He has very good range, not elite. But Cozart is a very fine defender. His hitting numbers would be fine too, but he just doesn't walk.

[remdog]

At SS you want someone that makes the plays you expect them to make and an occasional outstanding play. Not the other way around. I think Cozart does that.

Rem

[mth123]

Cozart is not the problem on this team. His OPS is in the range of other SS like Jimmy Rollins, Asdrubel Cabrera, Alexi Ramirez, Elvis Andrus, Starlin Castro and Erick Aybar.

It's nice to wish for a SS with an .850 OPS, but there are only a handful of threats at SS. Only 6 qualifiers have an OPS above .700, only 4 above .750 and only 1 above .800. There are a couple others )Tulo, HanRam maybe Peralta who don't have enough PAs who would be better, but people need to adjust their expectations fro the offense coming from SS IMO. I'd love to have Barry Larkin in his prime like everybody else, but the team can make real imnprovements elsewhere rather than chasing the hypothetical SS who is a big improvement over Cozart.