Atlanta Braves Among the Best Up the Middle

A lot is made of “defense up the middle”. A lot is being made this year about the Braves’ defense up the middle.  But is it really true that good?  And more importantly, will it matter?

The Atlanta Braves are looking to start 2017 with a new shortstop and new second baseman.  They bring back a Gold Glove laden center fielder.  We’ve seen some of the things they can do.

So how much does that matter over an entire season?

The players handling these three positions – for any team – will have the greatest range of any fielders on the club.  So it doesn’t matter whether the ball is hit to them.  It matters whether they can retrieve is and make a play.

This chart is voluminous, and I will leave you to peruse it at your leisure, but here’s the Cliff Notes version:

When you check the hitting  spray charts for every team, they show you that the majority of batted balls end up within the range of these 3 glove men.

The raw numbers back this up, too.  Here is a list of the Top 15 fielders from 2016 in terms of numbers of plays handled:

Obviously, the middle infielders are the most important aspect of the defense with the center fielder right there with them.

The Best Middle Men

Using Fangraphs’ total defensive ratings and setting a minimum of 400 innings at the position in 2016 (about 1/4th of the season), here’s what we’ve got:

SECOND BASE

• Cesar Hernandez (PHI), 15.6
• Dustin Pedroia (BOS), 14.8
• Neil Walker (NYM), 10.9
• Ian Kinsler (DET), 10.8
• Jason Kipsnis (CLE), 9.5

Brandon Phillips came in at 18th (-0.1).  Through 2014, though, he had actually posted numbers that met or exceeded all of those listed above.  Whether he bounces back (some injuries may have contributed) with his new team remains to be seen, but there’s been a substantial dropoff in 2015-16.

SHORTSTOP

This will be tricky, of course, since Dansby Swanson has barely cracked the league and thus doesn’t have consistent numbers to show yet.  Also, there are some really good shortstops on the list ahead of him now as the league is now ripe with glove specialists.

• Brandon Crawford, 28.0
• Francisco Lindor, 27.8
• Freddy Galvis, 22.0
• Addison Russell, 21.9
• Andrelton Simmons, 20.8

In looking at the rest of the chart and trying to gauge Swanson by what we’ve seen thus far, my own projection would probably put him somewhere between Adeiny Hechavarria (14.6) and Troy Tulowitzi (10.8).  He could end up being a bit higher or lower than these, certainly, but that feels like a fair comp at this point.

CENTER FIELD

Here’s where I got into a twitter argument yesterday over the 2017 rankings of the game’s best Center Fielders with a list published from MLB Network Radio (on Sirius/XM).  Their ranks completely dismissed defensive contributions of players, and thus the two reigning Gold Glove CF’s – Ender Inciarte and Kevin Kiermaier – failed to make their Top 10.

Well, this list is entirely defensive-based:

• Kevin Pillar, 23.6
• Billy Hamilton, 14.9
• Kevin Kiermaier, 13.8
• Ender Inciarte, 13.4
• Travis Jankowski, 12.2

(None of these were in that MLB Network Top 10, by the way).

I would argue that Inciarte’s number is actually low.  He had a slow-ish start in 2016, both offensively and defensively, and clearly got much better as the year went on.  It would thus surprise me if he didn’t exceed 15 this season – despite the new ballpark that he’ll have to get used to.

Mound Presence, Too

For the Braves in 2017, there’s a bit of a bonus as well:  their starting pitchers are actually skilled at handling plays as well.

Fangraphs doesn’t have many fielding metrics for pitchers, and certainly there are a lot of factors involved, including whether you have somebody who pitches to contact or is a strikeout pitcher.

Still, we can make some guesses from the raw numbers.  Out of 742 pitchers in the majors in 2016, here’s those with the most Putouts and Assists:

• 2nd – Bartolo Colon (52 chances executed; 3 errors)
• 20th – Julio Teheran (40, 1 error)
• 32nd – Jaime Garcia (35, 3 errors)
• 36th – R.A Dickey (34, 1 error)

Additionally, Colon and Dickey ranked 1st and 5th overall in Pitcher Defensive Runs Saved.  Not only can they eat innings – they can field their positions, too.

By the way:  even Mike Foltynewicz, in only 123 innings last year, ranked in a (large) tie for 23rd in Pitcher DRS.  So he didn’t hurt himself, either.

So Which Team is Best?

More from Tomahawk Take

• Braves News: Atlanta makes a pair of trades, prospect debuts, more
• Atlanta Braves History: How the Red Stockings became the Braves
• Braves News: Atlanta Braves acquire Eli White from the Texas Rangers
• Atlanta Braves Swing Trade with the New York Yankees for Lucas Luetge
• Atlanta Braves 2012 Top Prospects Review: Zeke Spruill

• BOS is strong with Pedroia, Bogaerts, and JBJ.  Probably the best overall.
• CLE could be best in the infled with Kipnis and Lindor, though less so with Tyler Naquin in CF.
• PHI can make a good case with their trio of Hernandez, Galvis, and Herrera.
• The Dodgers’ acquisition of Logan Forsythe helps them with Seager and Pederson; however, this is still much more offensively focused, with Seager being the only ‘premium’ defender.
• The Cubs are lacking a bit in CF, but with Jason Heyward in RF, their CF can afford to ‘cheat’ a bit… and probably needs to if Kyle Schwarber is over in LF.  Still, they will have some issues.
• HOU?  Not with Springer in CF.
• The Nationals will bring in a revamped middle with Murphy, Turner, and Eaton.  Murphy may be the near-MVP, but his weak link is defense.

But the Braves will be right there with the best of them.  Adding in the pitcher support and I believe you can make the case that Atlanta’s middle is roughly Top 5 in baseball since they will have a 2B/SS/CF combination that doesn’t include a weak link at all.

Next: Braves Sign A Chief

Those pitchers will certainly love having that behind them.