House That Hank Built
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The defense of the Atlanta Braves has not been the same in 2019

By Jake Mastroianni

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 03: Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after making an error on Todd Frazier #21 of the New York Mets groundball in the ninth inning at Citi Field on August 3, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 03: Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after making an error on Todd Frazier #21 of the New York Mets groundball in the ninth inning at Citi Field on August 3, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves
SAN DIEGO, CA – JUNE 4: Dansby  Swanson #7 of the Atlanta Braves makes a diving stop on a ball hit by Hunter Renfroe #10 of the San Diego Padres during the eighth inning of a baseball game at PETCO Park on June 4, 2018 in San Diego, California. Swanson got the out at first base. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

Diving into the metrics

I know what I said earlier, but I’ll do my best to dive into the metrics to see if what my eyes are telling me is true.

We’ll start with the most obvious stat, and that’s the error.

The Atlanta Braves have committed the 17th most errors in baseball this year with 19 and they rank 12th with a fielding percentage of .985.

So they’re averaging half an error a game, which isn’t terrible.

If you look at MLB.com’s Defensive Efficiency Ratio, the Atlanta Braves rank 20th in the league at .696.

Last the year the Braves ranked second in this category at .710, so you can see there is a definite drop off, but maybe not as significant as what I’m seeing on the field.

Baseball Reference has a similar stat called Defensive Efficiency Rating, and the Braves ranked second in it last year as well at .709.

This year they rank 19th in that category at .693, which is just below the league average.

FanGraphs shows that the Atlanta Braves have saved 11 runs on defense (DRS) this year, which ranks 16th in baseball. Last year they ranked fourth in this category with 59.

Inciarte (11), Freeman (12), and Swanson (10) were tops on the team last year in DRS.

Swanson leads the team this season with four, while Freeman is at one and Inciarte is at zero.

It’s not just my eyes deceiving me, this defense has been mediocre at best in 2019.

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