Machado Helps O’s Reach Fielding Nirvana |

August 9, 2012 may very well go down as an extremely important date in the history of the Baltimore Orioles baseball club. It was on that date that the Orioles went from overachievers in a pennant race to a playoff-caliber ball club. It was on that fateful day in August that Baltimore brought Manny Machado to town.

Since giving Machado the call-up from Double-A Bowie the Orioles have run off an impressive 58-39 record in games in which the youngster appears. Machado’s bat has impressed mightily during his short time in the big leagues. He’s hit .292 with 12 homers and 52 RBI, not to mention the 26 doubles he’s pounded. But the addition of Machado’s bat hasn’t been the biggest key to the Orioles resurgence. No, it’s been his defense, as well as the glovework of his teammates.

Machado ranks 1st in baseball in defensive runs saved (24) among players with at least 200 innings at the hot corner. His smooth hands and laser-precise arm allow him to turn double plays more often than the average 3rd baseman and his shortstop instincts at 3rd have made opposing players look foolish. It’s got to be especially nice to see Machado play this well for Oriole fans who had to endure some truly brutal fielding at the position since Ripken’s retirement.

Before Machado arrived, the Orioles went through a who’s who of some of the worst defenders in baseball. Wilson Betimit was given nearly 70 starts. Mark Reynolds, with his erratic arm and iron glove in tow, was given 15 starts. Buck Showalter also tried a handful of 2nd baseman at the position to no avail. The results were about as bad as you’d expect.

By the start of August the Orioles rated as one of the least efficient fielding teams in baseball. In terms of defensive runs saved (a stat created by Baseball Info Solutions), the O’s stood at -26. And that shoddy glove work during the first half of the season followed years of misplayed grounders and dropped popups. In 2011 the O’s defense cost the team 20 runs and ranked in the bottom 5 in terms of defensive efficiency. 2010 was more of the same, as was 2009, and on, and on, and on. In fact, the last time the Baltimore finished in the top half of baseball in defensive efficiency was 2007, when Manny Machado was 15 and Matt Wieters had yet to be drafted.

But those unsuccessful, stuck-in-neutral Orioles of the past were no more on August 9, 2012. From that point on the Orioles defense has ranked among the best in baseball in almost every major metric ranging from defensive runs saved, to the efficiency stats to fielding percentage.

It’s not hard to see why either. Baltimore starts the only catcher in baseball that can give Yadier Molina a run for his money, Matt Wieters. The O’s catcher has deservedly taken home the past two Gold Glove awards for his stellar defensive play and he excells at every aspect of the game.

Throwing base runners out? Check. Wieters has nabbed 9 of the 17 potential thieves that were foolish enough to think they could take a free base.

Blocking the plate? I think this speaks for itself.

Calling a game? Managing a pitching staff? Turning double plays? Check. Check. Check.

The Orioles also have very good defenders at the other two most crucial positions on the diamond, shortstop and centerfield. J.J. Hardy led all AL shortstops in range factor (putouts+assists/games played) a year ago and he was credited with saving 15 runs according to the folks at Baseball Info Solutions, which was also tops in the AL. And Adam Jones, even though he didn’t deserve his Gold Glove, still covers plenty of ground in center.

With Machado joining the mix and a quality glove in right field in Nick Markakis, the O’s have plus defenders everywhere and it’s shown up in the stats. Through their first 45 games, the Orioles have been the most efficient defensive team in the Majors, cleaning up a league best 71.6% of the balls put in play against them and they’ve made the fewest number of errors in the league. Baltimore makes you earn every inch at the plate and they give nothing away for free. That’s one of the biggest compliments you can give a baseball team and its’ one Machado, Wieters, and co. deserve.

Big thanks to Baseball-Reference for the statistical help.

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John Nacca

11 years ago

As the game is trending away from the Steroid Era, more and more teams are looking to use defense as a way to win ballgames. The two biggest things used to me anyways, are the extreme defensive shifts (especially in the infield), and the absence of “DH only types” like Vlad Guerrero, Thome, etc. It seems like EVERY team uses a shift, more then just to one particular hitter either. And with the ascent of true interleague play, teams cannot afford to sit a quality hitter for a dozen or so games during the season, not to mention that with… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin

Reply to John Nacca

@1/JN – I agree with the main point of your article, but one small quibble – Vlad Geurrero was hardly a “DH type” for most of his career. True, he mainly DH’ed his last three years,but played 1608 games in the OF. But – before that he mainly played right field, where he was considered a good/excellent fielder most of his time out there. Yes, he did make some errors, but he had good range and a legendarily strong throwing arm (which sometimes led to those errors, when he tried to show off that arm strength). A true “DH type”… Read more »

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birtelcom

Turning 71.6% of balls in play into outs is indeed a terrific ratio. Since 2004, I’ve found only one team that converted balls in play into outs at a higher rate over a full season — Tampa in 2011.

brp

I have to say that if there’s one thing this site has really hammered in to me over the past few years, it’s that defense is probably very close to on par with offense. While I still have a hard time wrapping my arms around any of the defensive metrics – partially because I haven’t been looking at them for years – an article like this does a great job of explaining the real impact of fielding. It seems to me there are parallels between the importance of fielding in baseball and special teams in football; you can really make… Read more »

Reply to brp

In Nate Silver’s excellent book on the science and art of making predictions, The Signal and the Noise (highly recommended!), there’s a relatively short section on baseball statistics (the area in which Nate first made a name for himself, fame that is now far out-stripped by his fame in the arena of political predictions). In that section, Nate discusses, among other things, as you might expect, Billy Beane in the Moneyball years. The most provocative point in that section, I thought, was Nate’s passing remark suggesting that Beane’s interest in statistical analysis may have led the A’s, in those years,… Read more »

mosc

Reply to birtelcom

To be fair, the higher run scoring gets, the less defense does matter and those years in question for the Athletics were pretty offensively insane.

Doug

Machado picked up his 19th, 20th and 21st doubles tonight, on pace for some ridiculous total well north of 60. Only 16 players since 1916 have had more doubles in their teams’ first 47 games, and all of those players were at least 25 years of age.

Machado had another 3-double game just last week. With tonight’s effort, he becomes the youngest ever with two such games, beating out Joe DiMaggio who similarly had two 3-double games in May, in his age 21 season in 1936.