This is the second of my 5th annual “2013 By the Numbers”. I recently posted the first segment of the series centered around pitching. Now, let’s take a look at the fielding of the newly released disk.
Let’s start with the best at each position.
The Best of the Catchers
Yadier Molina, Joe Mauer and Matt Wieters are among the ample number of those rated Catcher-9 in the 2013 set.
| Catchers | Fielding Rating |
| Matt Wieters | 9 |
| Joe Mauer | 9 |
| Ryan Hanigan | 9 |
| A.J. Ellis | 9 |
| Yadier Molina | 9 |
| Drew Butera | 9 |
The Best of the Firstbasemen
Veterans Helton, Teixeira, and Morneau retain their 1B-5s
| Firstbasemen | Fielding Rating |
| Eric Hosmer | 5 |
| Carlos Pena | 5 |
| Lyle Overbay | 5 |
| James Loney | 5 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 5 |
| Todd Helton | 5 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 5 |
| Justin Morneau | 5 |
| Mark Teixeira | 5 |
The Best of the Secondbasemen
Again, it was a large class for the 2B-9s. I remember seasons when there were just one or two.
| Secondbasemen | Fielding Rating |
| Alexi Casilla | 9 |
| Dustin Pedroia | 9 |
| Brian Dozier | 9 |
| Ben Zobrist | 9 |
| Darwin Barney | 9 |
| D.J. Lemahieu | 9 |
| Mark Ellis | 9 |
The Best of the Thirdbasemen
For third base and shortstop though, it was slim pickings for top fielding ratings. Each position could claim just one player each. From what I was reading from APBA fans, it wasn’t too much of a surprise who got the superior ratings.
| Thirdbasemen | Fielding Rating |
| Manny Machado | 6 |
The Best of the Shortstops
| Shortstops | Fielding Rating |
| Andrelton Simmons | 10 |
If I’m not mistaken, Scott Rolen was given the last 3B-6 by APBA.
Fielding Rating Distribution
Here’s a quick run-through of fielding rating distribution for each position. All players are included in this datasets including players who have secondary positions listed.
Out of all the positions, catcher seems to have the most perfect bell curve. There are 36 above average and 36 below average.
| Catchers | Distribution |
| Catcher-9 | 6 |
| Catcher-8 | 30 |
| Catcher-7 | 44 |
| Catcher-6 | 29 |
| Catcher-5 | 7 |
Now theoretically, 1B-3 is considered Fielding Two. The high number of 1B-2s can be attributed to a fair amount of designated hitters who get that rating by virtue of playing that position in the past.
| Firstbasemen | Distribution |
| 1B-5 | 9 |
| 1B-4 | 21 |
| 1B-3 | 69 |
| 1B-2 | 76 |
Noteworthy: all the secondbasemen rated 5 were not rated there as their first position.
| Secondbasemen | Distribution |
| 2B-9 | 7 |
| 2B-8 | 21 |
| 2B-7 | 80 |
| 2B-6 | 36 |
| 2B-5 | 8 |
Unlike catcher, thirdbasemen have the most imperfect bell curve. In fact, it’s more like a slope. This isn’t unusual; this is how they’ve been distributed for years.
Personally, I see a big perception gap between 3B-4 (a good and acceptable fielder) and 3B-3 (the bottom of the barrel). Time to (re-)introduce the 3B-2?
| Thirdbasemen | Distribution |
| 3B-6 | 1 |
| 3B-5 | 8 |
| 3B-4 | 52 |
| 3B-3 | 99 |
Like the secondbasemen, there were no SS-6 who had that position listed as their primary position.
| Shortstops | Distribution |
| SS-10 | 1 |
| SS-9 | 12 |
| SS-8 | 51 |
| SS-7 | 37 |
| SS-6 | 18 |
The OF-1 were also plentiful due to allocation to designated hitters.
| Outfielders | Distribution |
| OF-3 | 53 |
| OF-2 | 127 |
| OF-1 | 118 |
Miscellaneous Master Game Ratings
A few other ratings pertaining to fielding need tending to. First up, here are the highest rated MG arm ratings among outfielders.
| Outfielder | Highest Arm |
| Yasiel Puig | 38 |
| Rick Ankiel | 38 |
Also, here are the catchers with the highest MG Th ratings. It’s worth noting that all four listed are C-9.
| Catcher | Highest Th rating |
| Joe Mauer | 6 |
| Ryan Hanigan | 6 |
| A.J. Ellis | 6 |
| Yadier Molina | 6 |
You can find all articles in the 2013 By the numbers series posted here. I’ll be working on the Offense portion of this series in the next couple of days. That one is a lot of fun to do and hopefully to read. Keep an eye out for that.
I’m surprised the Pirates Russell Martin isn’t a C-9 Th+6.
I always wonder, “what if” the Pirates had drafted Weiters instead of Moskos and Machado instead of Taillon.
Mel
Manny Machado is a 6?! The fact that he’s naturally a SS makes this more amazing! Yes, Scott Rolen was the last 6 I believe, but there has been more 6?s in the past than people realized sometimes people make it like there has only been like 4 or 5 ever. It’s more around 10 from everything I gathered.
are the disk numbers same as the cards