So I think Correa might like what I’m going to present here.
Our company tracks all sorts of things related to how a player makes (and fails to make) plays. One of my favorites is our charting a player’s approach to the ball – specifically whether he slid, dove, or jumped to try to make the play.
For curiosity’s sake, I was wondering how shortstops fare and rank when it comes to making plays in this manner. We’ll call them "telegenic plays."
And let’s begin with a leaderboard on which Correa’s numbers will jump out.
Most Telegenic Plays Made by Shortstop – 2019 to 2021
| Name |
Plays Made |
Attempts |
Success Rate |
|
| Xander Bogaerts |
70 |
178 |
39% |
| Carlos Correa |
63 |
101 |
62% |
| Dansby Swanson |
56 |
155 |
36% |
| Trevor Story |
52 |
124 |
42% |
| Miguel Rojas |
51 |
127 |
40% |
>>Telegenic Plays – Plays involving a slide, dive, or jump
Correa’s 63 plays made rank second overall, which is impressive given that he ranks 14th in innings played among shortstops in that time.
Additionally, the 62% success rate is much better than everyone else on this list and considerably better than anyone else at the position.
That warrants a little more explanation. A deeper dive if you will.
Correa plays the position differently than other shortstops. He dives less often and slides more often than his positional peers in trying to make plays.
The MLB average for a shortstop is 36 diving attempts, 13 sliding attempts, and 17 jumping attempts per 162 team games.
Correa’s rates per 162 games are 27 diving attempts, 16 sliding attempts, and 15 jumping attempts.
Correa dives a lot less than other shortstops do. That’s probably smart. A diving play is often a tough play. You can waste a lot of energy and put a lot of strain on your body by diving.
We know from our previous studies that injury risk can be increased by the volume of diving, sliding, and jumping. Correa’s been hurt enough over the course of his career. He doesn’t need to raise that risk any higher than it already is.
Along with that, you’ll see that Correa’s playmaking numbers are a little different than the average shortstop.
How Often Does It Happen?
Carlos Correa in Last 3 Seasons
| Type |
Plays Made |
Attempted Plays |
Success Rate
(MLB SS) |
| Diving Plays |
26 |
47 |
55% (22%) |
| Sliding Plays |
23 |
28 |
82% (53%) |
| Jumping Plays |
14 |
26 |
54% (39%) |
Overall
Correa’s out rate on telegenic plays being higher than other shortstops is a product of a few things.
Since Correa slides more often than others and dives and jumps less often, his overall percentage should be higher, just because of the mathematics behind the maneuvers. Sliding is a more productive manner of out-getting than the other two.
There’s also definitely a component of knowing his body and understanding the risks of a low-probability attempt. Correa seems able to instinctively recognize when he should and shouldn’t leave his feet to make a play. It’s impressive to watch him in action.
Let’s close with this stat:
Correa has made 63 sliding, diving, and jumping plays on 101 attempts the last three seasons.
By our traditional Defensive Runs Saved calculations, knowing nothing about how he approached the ball, he would have been expected to make 53 plays on those balls.
He’s 10 plays above expectations in that time.
No other shortstop rates positively in plays above expectations on their sliding, diving, and jumping plays.
For a more detailed look at Correa’s excellence, with video examples and more stats, check out this article at our blog.