Tiger Tales: A Detroit Tigers Blog

In previous posts, I took the Revised Zone Rating (RZR) and Out-of-Zone Plays (OOZ) metrics listed at FanGraphs and converted them to runs based on an algorithm developed by Colin Wyers a few years ago.  Links to these posts are provided below:

• Overview of RZR, OOZ

• Conversion of RZR, OOZ to runs

• Shortstops 

• Second basemen

• Third basemen

• Center fielders

• First basemen 

• Right fielders

Now, I'm going to to do the run conversion for left fielders.  Table 1 below contains the following information for 15 MLB left fielders with 800 or more innings in 2012:

• Inn = Innings

• RZR = Revised Zone Rating

• OOZ = Out-of-Zone Plays

• PIZAA =  Plays in Zone Above Average

• OOZAA = Out-of-Zone Plays Above Average

• PMAA = Total Plays Above Average

• RSAA = Runs Saved Above Average 

Twins left fielder Josh Willingham led the majors with +9 Runs Saved Above Average.  He was followed by Alex Gordon of the Royals and Desmond Jennings of the Rays at +8.  The worst left fielder by this metric was Matt Holliday of the Cardinals (-20).  No Tigers are included in the table because they did not have anyone with played 800+ innings.  For what it's worth with such a small sample size, Andy Dirks (+2) and Quintin Berry (+1) were right around average on this metric in under 500 innings.   

Table 1: Runs Saved by MLB Left Fielders According to RZR, OOZ, 2012


Data source: FanGraphs.com 

In previous posts, I took the Revised Zone Rating (RZR) and Out-of-Zone Plays (OOZ) metrics listed at FanGraphs and converted them to runs based on an algorithm developed by Colin Wyers a few years ago.  Links to these posts are provided below:

• Overview of RZR, OOZ

• Conversion of RZR, OOZ to runs

• Shortstops 

• Second basemen

• Third basemen

• Center fielders

• First basemen

Now, I'm going to to do the run conversion for right fielders.  Table 1 below contains the following information for 18 MLB right fiielders with 800 or more innings in 2012:

• Inn = Innings

• RZR = Revised Zone Rating

• OOZ = Out-of-Zone Plays

• PIZAA =  Plays in Zone Above Average

• OOZAA = Out-of-Zone Plays Above Average

• PMAA = Total Plays Above Average

• RSAA = Runs Saved Above Average 

Alex Rios of the White Sox led the majors with +26 Runs Saved Above Average.  He was followed by Braves right fielder Jason Heyward at +26.  The worst right fielder by this metric was Jeff Francoeur of the Royals (-25). 

When the Tigers acquired Torii Hunter earlier this off-season, they saw him as an upgrade both offensively and defensively.  The Tigers' most frequent right fielder last season was Brennan Boesch who cost the Tigers an estimated -11 runs defensively according to RSAA.  In contrast, Hunter was an estimated +11 runs better that the average right fielder.  If his defense is the same in 2013, that would be a +22 run or two win improvement over Boesch.

What is interesting is how the two outfielders got to their final run saved/cost figures.  According to these zone rating statistics, Boesch was actually better than Hunter on in-zone plays last year (+5 versus -1).  However, Hunter was a stunning 32 plays better outside the zone (+13 versus -19).  So, we can expect Hunter to cover a lot more ground in the outfield in 2013 than Boesch did in 2012. 

Table 1: Runs Saved by MLB Right Fielders According to RZR, OOZ, 2012


Data source: FanGraphs.com