Defense in the outfield isn't just about how well you track flyballs. Once an outfielder has the ball way out there in the pasture, he has to get it back in to keep baserunners from advancing. It’s not just about throwing out baserunners and earning assists. Preventing a runner from advancing from first to third on a single and holding the lead runner at second base, and other situations like this, are important aspects as well. These are skills that we at Baseball Info Solutions quantify with our Outfield Arms Runs Saved metric.
Outfield Arms Runs Saved is a measure of how well an outfielder prevents baserunners from taking the extra base. It is one of the components of Defensive Runs Saved that measure overall defense for every player. The most common opportunities outfielders have for saving extra bases is in preventing runners from going from first to third on a single, second to home on a single, or first to home on a double. In each of these situations we look at how often the baserunner took the extra base, how often the baserunner moved up just from station to station, and how often the baserunner was thrown out trying to take the extra base. We then also consider any other instance where an outfielder throws a runner out – e.g. if he throws out the batter, or if he throws out a runner trying to advance on an out – to get a full measure of how effective his throwing arm is.
We have recently been working on some enhancements to our methodology for The Fielding Bible—Volume III. Now we are taking into account many more variables to determine how an outfielder should be expected to prevent the extra base on any given opportunity. For example, we now factor in such things as the number of outs, the location of the hit, the hang time and the velocity of the batted ball to determine how difficult each play is for the outfielder to prevent runner advancement.
So as a preview of the updated numbers, here is a list of the outfielders that saved the most runs for their teams with their throwing arm in 2011.
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Player
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Outfield Arms Runs Saved
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Alex Gordon
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13
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Rick Ankiel
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9
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Adam Jones
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8
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Torii Hunter
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6
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Drew Stubbs
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5
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Hunter Pence
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5
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Jeff Francoeur
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5
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Sam Fuld
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5
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Alex Gordon was a controversial choice for the American League Gold Glove for left field. Brett Gardner was the overwhelming choice for the 2011 Fielding Bible Award, coming only one point shy of being the unanimous winner. However, we can see here why Alex Gordon impressed so many of the Gold Glove voters. He was easily the best in baseball last season at preventing runners from taking the extra base.
As mentioned above, Outfield Arms Runs Saved is one component of Defensive Runs Saved. Despite his 13 Runs Saved due to his arm, Gordon only saved a total of 19 runs for the Royals last year for his overall defensive play. On the other hand, Gardner totaled 22 Defensive Runs Saved, of which 3 were due to his arm. Gardner saved most of his runs defensively by going where other left fielders don't go to make catches.
All data for outfield throwing arms, as well as a more complete explanation of our methodology in calculating Outfield Arms Runs Saved, will be available in The Fielding Bible—Volume III, to be released this spring.