UZR Data Released for 2003-2007 (baseball defense stats)

[mo42nyy]

well as a left handed thrower i can tell you its doable to played 3rd on rare occasions and suicide to play 2nd

[kyleb]

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Kyle, I'm surprised you feel this way. I too have played both positions and find third much easier. Fielding bunts is obviously difficult, though.

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I have a really quick release but not the strongest arm in the field overall. I've also spent most of my HS/college career as a position player at second base, but I've played a bunch at third and I really don't think I could get accustomed to it.

[TheRover]

Stop letting your personal biases get in the way of analyzing things n00b.

Don't most SS prospects that grow too much/kinda suck at fielding get moved to 2B instead of 3B?

Still shocked at Jeromy Burnitz having the 49th best fielding season by total runs saved on the list.

[rwperu34]

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Watching him everyday, Beltran is overrated.

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hes overrated by a massive sample size of an unbiased fielding metric?

i am serious when i ask, how is that even possible?

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It's also weird since every other person who's watched Beltran play on a regular basis thinks he's great.

[kyleb]

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Don't most SS prospects that grow too much/kinda suck at fielding get moved to 2B instead of 3B?

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Shortstops who grow too much usually move to third base in my experience.

[MinRaise]

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LOL Sizemore is top 5 and only been in the league since 04 and even then only 42 games. Sick sick super sick. The player you start a franchise right now.

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I was under the impression that a lot of metrics have Sizemore as a poor or average fielder. Interesting that this metric puts him among the elite.

[SL__72]

I always though third was more difficult but 2nd required more athleticism if that makes any sense. At third you have to make a lot of snap decisions, diving stops, long throws and field bunts. At 2nd you need to run around a lot more and turn double plays.

[vhawk01]

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I always though third was more difficult but 2nd required more athleticism if that makes any sense. At third you have to make a lot of snap decisions, diving stops, long throws and field bunts. At 2nd you need to run around a lot more and turn double plays.

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I'm with kyle, I played 3B in HS, and got moved to 2B in college. 2B is a lot easier, IMO, and I'm surprised to find out that the data/ranking systems disagree.

[Thremp]

All,

I think there is something about distribution of hits on HBT or something that shows in the infield where most balls are hit. What was interesting is the amount of hits were almost equal for 2B and SS.

NB: Maybe it was on a different site, but I'm fairly sure HBT. Also, I'm on the side that 2B is clearly more difficult than third but requires a slightly different skillset.

[kbfc]

I'm not going to make any claims about which position is harder to play. I haven't played organized baseball since little league, and I caught, so I have no clue.

The main factor, though, is the amount of plays at each position. Even if 3rd is slightly tougher, you get more value out of a good fielder at 2nd, by pure volume.

I ran over to BP and did a quick sanity check:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
AGE YEAR TEAM POS G PO A E DP
MARK ELLIS 30 2007 OAK-A SB 78 147 263 4 55
ERIC CHAVEZ 29 2007 OAK-A TB 79 64 157 6 15
</pre><hr />

I just chose the A's because they're the first team that came to mind as having a stable 2nd/3rd combo this season. 3rd base would have to be incredibly tougher than 2nd to overcome this difference in volume.