Fielding Stats: a new approach?

Sorry I clicked the post now button too soon. to continue:
The book can also be ordered from [EMAIL]actasports.com[/EMAIL] which also has a lot of new and old Bll James books. So, who is the best fielding shortstop and why?

TW344

I recall reading somewhere former Astro now Twin Adam Everett was the top SS based on a formula that considered RANGE.

The three best fielding systems available, which not coincidentally is based on play-by-play event files are: Lichtman (MGL)'s UZR, David Pinto's PMR, and John Dewan's Plus/Minus.

There's plenty written about all three, so you should be able to google.

Adam Everett is indeed the best SS in baseball. Troy Tulowitzki may usurp him very soon. Jeter ranks poorly in all 3. I wrote an article in the Hardball Times 2008 Annual which also looked the the event files, and came away with the same assessment of Everett and Jeter.

I also run a fan assessment at my site, and Everett and Tulo rank at, or right near, the top:
http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/pos2007_SS.html

Basically, when the stats and the eyes see the same thing, it is.

Interesting stuff.

Curious, who is grading things like instincts, first step, hands, etc. Are these one man's opinion, compiled from pro scouting reports, or collected from fan balloting? How are these things measured. Is strength arm strength? Are these mph readings or are they subjective evaluations by someone? Thanks.

All subjective, from hardcore fans. The "Ballots" column tells you the number of fans. Anything above 15 ballots will be highly representative of the fans I'm reaching. (Might be biased, but it will be consistent.)

I've been running it for 5 years now, and you can read about it here:
http://tangotiger.net/scouting/

Seeing how well the subjective results measure up to the more advanced measures, it gives us some good confidence on it.


Tom