In <C5JJrJ.EM3@cs.uiuc.edu> steph@cs.uiuc.edu (Dale Stephenson) writes:  >Compiled from the last five Defensive Average reports, here are the career >DAs for the individual players in the reports.  Stats are courtesy of >Sherri Nichols.  Players are listed in descending order.  And some comments, with some players deleted.  >Third Basemen >-------------  >Name                 1988  1989  1990  1991  1992   88-92 >Mitchell, Kevin      .690  ----  ----  ----  ----   0.690 Yep, that Kevin Mitchell.  I never would have expected him in the #1 spot.  >Gonzales, Rene       .685  ----  ----  ----  ----   0.685 It's no accident that the first two names are 1988 only.  As with first and second base, 1988 was the year of the glove.  Average DA was 20 points higher in both leagues than any other year.  >Leius, Scott         ----  ----  ----  .653  .680   0.672 Looks good.  Too bad he's moving to short.  >Pendleton, Terry     .692  .685  .631  .689  .634   0.667 Highest five-year regular, though he's only had one year as good as Kevin Mitchell :->.  >Ventura, Robin       ----  ----  .641  .647  .677   0.657 >Wallach, Tim         .728  .674  .600  .630  .665   0.657 >Gruber, Kelly        .717  .657  .580  .630  .664   0.650 The other elite fielders in the league.  >Pagliarulo, Mike     .631  ----  .575  .744  ----   0.649 This is an interesting line.  His 1988 figure was slightly below average. His 1990 was pathetic, and his 1991 was the next best year by anybody.  Part of that may be his mobility.  1988 was with the Yankees.  1990 was with the Padres, who appear to have a rotten infield.  1991 was with the Twins, and judging by Leius and Gaetti, the Metrodome may be a good place to play third.  >Williams, Matt       ----  ----  .633  .653  .656   0.647 Add another to the elite fielders list.  >Caminiti, Ken        ----  .675  .630  .653  .596   0.642 >Sabo, Chris          .751  .626  .616  .613  .575   0.642 Too fielders whose career average may overstate their value.  I don't know what happened to Caminiti -- judging by the three previous years, his low 1992 may be a fluke.  Sabo is merely average, however.  His incredible 1988 (best year ever) brings his average up a lot.  >Buechele, Steve      .647  .616  .647  .681  .599   0.635 Strange last two years.  >Schmidt, Mike        .628  ----  ----  ----  ----   0.628 According to reputation, one of the best fielders ever at third base. But at the end, he was below average.  (Average in 1988 was .643).  >Boggs, Wade          .643  .659  .550  .653  .634   0.626 Boggs has been pretty good.  I don't know what happened in 1990, but every other year he has been above average, usually by quite a bit.  >Martinez, Egdar      ----  ----  .621  .645  .599   0.624 Last year -- a fluke or a portent?  >*NL Average*         .643  .625  .602  .623  .603   0.619 >Seitzer, Kevin       .654  .583  .593  ----  .635   0.616 >*AL Average*         .641  .612  .604  .620  .602   0.615 Why is it that the two leagues usually have defensive averages very close to one another, but very different from year to year?  Any ideas?  >Jacoby, Brook        .624  .621  .600  ----  .597   0.613 Brook  is declining.  >Hansen, Dave         ----  ----  ----  ----  .611   0.611 >Magadan, Dave        ----  ----  ----  ----  .609   0.609 >Jefferies, Greg      ----  ----  ----  ----  .606   0.606 Three first-time regulars, above average in 1992.  I'm not sure why Jefferies gets all the grief about his fielding.  He's never had a good year, but while at second he improved to become an average fielder, and is an average fielder at third.  >Zeile, Todd          ----  ----  ----  .614  .593   0.605 Zeile, on the other hand, is a below average fielder.  Each year he's about 10 points below average.  And it's probably not just the park, since Terry Pendleton had excellent DAs in the three years before this.  >Baerga, Carlos       ----  ----  ----  .604  ----   0.604 Moving back to second was a good idea.  >Hayes, Chris         ----  .601  .622  .606  .574   0.602 So why is Hayes supposed to be good defensively?  He's had a grand total of one year above the league DA, and was pretty bad last year.  >Johnson, Howard      .628  .549  .611  .573  ----   0.588 >Lansford, Carney     .620  .578  .594  ----  .550   0.587 Howard Johnson and Carney Lansford -- separated at birth.  To his credit, HoJo did have one above average year (1990).  Lansford couldn't even break the .600 mark without the help of the year of the glove.  >Hollins, Dave        ----  ----  ----  ----  .577   0.577 Good hitter, but his fielding needs work.  >Sheffield, Gary      ----  ----  .584  ----  .567   0.575 Not a good fielder.  >Blauser, Jeff        ----  .573  ----  ----  ----   0.573 >Fryman, Travis       ----  ----  ----  .571  ----   0.571 Both are better off at shortstop.  >Gomez, Lee           ----  ----  ----  .551  .542   0.546 Two consecutive horrible years for Leo.  Camden Yards doesn't seem to have helped his fielding any.    >Palmer, Dean         ----  ----  ----  ----  .520   0.520 Texas slugger debuts with not only the lowest career DA, but the lowest DA at third ever.  Congratulations, Dean. --  Dale J. Stephenson |*| (steph@cs.uiuc.edu) |*| Grad Student At Large