Kudos on Defense

[Guacarock]

To the Reds pitching staff, who stand alone among their NL Central competitors in having yet to commit a fielding error. Special honors to Brandon Claussen, who is scooping up dirt like a Kirby.

Also playing error-free ball to date:

Austin Kearns, for 238 innings in RF.

Ryan Freel, for 201 innings, split between CF (164 innings) and 2B (37 innings).

Rich Aurilia, for 147 innings, including stints at 1B, 2B, SS and 3B. Not too shabby for a grizzled, groin-challenged vet. Scrappy, if you ask me, never mind the detractors.

[big boy]

Austin Kearns, for 238 innings in RF.

AK has dropped 2 or 3 fly balls that weren't scored as errors. He should have made that play last night in Denver.

[cincy09]

AK has dropped 2 or 3 fly balls that weren't scored as errors. He should have made that play last night in Denver.


At least they didn't conk him on the head :bang:

[TeamBoone]

AK should have made that play last night in Denver.

I thought so too... at first. But when they showed it on the replay, I changed my mind.

He really was about a half step away from it being a sure thing. He stretched to reach the ball at the last second and wasn't quite close enough (and he was running all out just to get to it); the ball wasn't in his glove but rather glanced off the edge of it.

[2001MUgrad]

People can say what they want to about Freel, but his defense in CF has been a life saver. Not only has he caught things rather easily that Jr. wouldn't have gotten to, he also helps cover up that blackhole in LF. Just from memory I'm going to guess that Freel has caught at least 10 balls that Jr. wouldn't have. That's just from memory, it could be 8 or 20, who knows. But that adds up as the season goes on. Just like the Reds can't afford to give away outs, its an extra bonus when they get "free" outs.

[SeeinRed]

The only knock I can think of with Freel in CF is his arm. Not saying he can't play there because of that though. I also wonder if all that running out there is wearing him down a little. He has been struggling at the plate, and we all know that he is an energy oriented player. Could all that running be hurting him at the plate? Especially when you figure in that you run hard for a play, then may just stand out there for a while before having to run agian. That really wears on a person. Just a thought that I've had.

[PuffyPig]

There's often little correlation between fielding % and great defense.

[Guacarock]

There's often little correlation between fielding % and great defense.

That's true. Encarnacion's a much tougher defender, for instance, than his fielding % suggests. He makes more errors than other players because he aggressively pursues the ball. Ocassionally, he's going to flub these difficult plays.

So you can't rely on fielding % alone to calculate a player or a team's defensive skills. Still, it's a measurement worth tracking, and taken in tandem with other measurements, it can be meaningful.

In the case of the Reds, I do think it's fair to qualify Freel (in the OF), Kearns and Aurilia as plus-defenders, and nice to see the pitchers holding their own.

[buckeyenut]

I assume you mean Aurillia at 1B as a plus defender. He certainly isn't anywhere else. Phillips is a plus defender, he would be the one guy you missed, and LaRue might be depending on how you judge catching defense (much harder).

[RedFanAlways1966]

Also playing error-free ball to date:
Rich Aurilia, for 147 innings, including stints at 1B, 2B, SS and 3B. Not too shabby for a grizzled, groin-challenged vet. Scrappy, if you ask me, never mind the detractors.

I may be wrong, but I thought Rich had a throwing error in the loss in game one at Colorado. It was when they had Freeman picked-off 1st and Rich's throw to Lopez at 2nd hit Freeman and allowed him to advance to third. It was the start of a 3-run inning (the only runs scored all night!).

:confused:

[Hap]

My apologies to the originator of this thread, but tonight's game makes me chuckle at the title of this thread.

[toledodan]

My apologies to the originator of this thread, but tonight's game makes me chuckle at the title of this thread.



amen to that. i thought i was watching the bad news bears during that inning.:help:

[savafan]

What, no mention of Scooter Hatteberg? :eek:

I'm shocked! ;)