A recent SweetSpot post by David Schoenfield informally named Jeff Reboulet as “The best utility infielder of all time!” I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be a scientific choice, but since I questioned part of the premise, I set out to waste a little time on it myself.

David had two requirements: no season with 500 PAs, and 200 career games at shortstop. I don’t like the first part of that standard. First, I don’t think a year or two of full-time play should be a bar to this prestigious honor. Lots of guys got a full shot or two before settling into utility careers. Second, it still lets in some guys who mainly have been regulars, like Maicer Izturis (one of Schoenfield’s finalists). In the past 8 years, Izturis averaged 99 games and 373 PAs, with at least half-time play all but one of those years. That’s not my idea of a utility man.

So, I started off by seeking those with the most years as utility infielders. I defined a utility season as one with (a) 50 to 299 PAs, and (b) at least 5 games at short or second. I took the 62 players with at least seven such seasons, and applied two more criteria:

• No more than 2 years qualified for the batting crown; and
• 100+ career games at both SS and 2B.

That cut the pool to 42 players, from which I chose nine finalists, who all had:

• 5.0 career WAR
• 1.0 WAR per 162 games
• Positive defensive WAR

And here’s my list of candidates, ranked by career WAR, and then a stats table:

1. Tony Graffanino
2. Jerry Hairston, Jr.
3. Craig Grebeck
4. Jeff Reboulet
5. Dick Schofield, Sr.
6. Bob Johnson (not Indian Bob)
7. Ramon Santiago
8. John McDonald
9. Mike Benjamin

The following table shows their WAR total, and rank among the pool of 42; WAR per 162 games, and rank; defensive WAR per 162 G; Plate Appearances per year; OPS+; Rfield (or WAR runs from fielding); and their defensive innings at shortstop, second and third base.

[table id=219 /]

Just two of these nine had more than 350 innings at a position other than 2B, SS and 3B: Hairston had 2,458 outfield innings, and Johnson 758 innings at first base.

Five of the nine had any qualified seasons, and only one had two: Schofield 2 of 19 years played, Johnson 1/11, Graffanino & Santiago 1/13, Hairston 1/16, Reboulet 0/12 (high 299 PAs), Grebeck 0/12 (high 344), Benjamin 0/13 (high 404), McDonald 0/16 (high 353).

The Rundown

Tony Graffanino leads easily on pure value, bringing a balance of offense and defense. The only catch: Although he began his pro career at short, Tony really was a second baseman in the majors. He’s the only contender here who barely met the 100 G minimum at short.

Jerry Hairston‘s versatility includes outfield, and some speed. His 147 steals are almost three times the next-best, and that all-around package helped him last 16 years in this age of short benches. But does he really fit in this debate? His average playing time is similar to that of Maicer Izturis. Hairston did have the required 7 utility seasons, but also 5 years with 430+ PAs; his career average of 310 PAs is 27% more than any other candidate.

Craig Grebeck is the one contender with an OBP above league average (park-adjusted). With better luck, he might have had a real career. He wasn’t drafted out of college, and came up with the ChiSox when SS Ozzie Guillen and 2B Scott Fletcher were entrenched. Grebeck was about as good as either one — his career rates look like Fletcher 2.0 — but he didn’t hit in his first trial. Then Fletcher slumped, while Grebeck played great in the utility role, so they let Fletcher walk. Again Grebeck played well, now as the regular 2B, but he got hurt and missed the last two months. Those two seasons add up to one year’s full play, with a 119 OPS+ and 5.4 WAR. But coming back the year after the injury, he started slowly, and Joey Cora got his job; soon they came up with Ray Durham, and Grebeck didn’t get another regular shot until he was 33.

Jeff Reboulet fits the classic utility profile, starting with 7 years in the minors before his debut at 28. He’s the only guy here with 2,000 innings at both SS/2B and 1,000 more at third. Jeff hit OK his first few years, but then just stopped; he winds up in the middle ground between Grebeck (better bat) and Benjamin/McDonald (ace gloves).

Dick “Ducky” Schofield had an odd career pattern, with 3 years as a regular evenly splitting his dozen utility seasons with 50-270 PAs. (Three of the other four qualified seasons in this group came within the player’s first four years.) Schofield debuted at 18 (bonus baby), but didn’t bat 100 times in a year until he was 23, and had just 807 PAs after 10 years. Then Pittsburgh dealt Dick Groat, and for 3 years Schofield held the job; hit OK the first two, then fell apart, and spent his last 6 years back in a reserve role, bouncing among six teams. By far the most SS innings here, but enough at 2B/3B to be viewed as a utility man. Defensive metrics lower than his reputation, but a better bat than his .227 BA would suggest; his 73 OPS+ is the median here.

Bob Johnson could hit a bit, as befits his name; his 95 OPS+ is the best of these contenders. (Only Felix Mantilla had a higher OPS+ in the pool of 42, and he flunked out on dWAR.) Johnson got his shot with the expansion Senators when their first SS, Coot Veal, didn’t hit a lick; Johnson came up in July and hit .290 with a 106 OPS+ over the rest of that year and the next, starting first at SS, then 3B. His D wasn’t great. Dealt to the Orioles when they had a Hall of Fame left side, Johnson formed sort of an offense/defense platoon at 2B with Jerry Adair, and hit very well for that job. Bat was inconsistent the rest of his career; sold to the Mets in ’67 and hit .348 playing half-time all over the infield, which was a Mets record for 200+ PAs until John Olerud topped it in ’98.

Ramon Santiago … um … Good bunter, like most of these guys: In 103 career sac attempts, he has 77 sacs and 12 hits, also 24 hits in 74 non-sac bunts. Debuted with Detroit in 2002 and was a regular the next year at 23, splitting time at SS and 2B, hitting just .225 for that 43-119 team. Went to Seattle in the Carlos Guillen trade, but was in the minors most of his 2 years there; then released, reclaimed by Tigers, and 2 more years in minors or as strict defensive sub. He’s stayed in the bigs since 2008, averaging 61 starts and 268 PAs. Plus defender at either MI spot, but started just 10 games elsewhere.

John McDonald and Mike Benjamin, almost interchangeable, are the best glove men out of the 42 — truly outstanding defensive players, but their bats were just too weak to play regularly. McDonald’s 60 OPS+ is 9th-worst of all moderns with 1,000 games. But his dWAR is 4th-best of those with less than 3,000 PAs, and Benjamin is 6th on that list. Benjamin had better WAR per game; McDonald lasted longer, and is still going with the Dodgers at age 39.

Tough Choices

Whittling down the list … Schofield and Santiago are easily eliminated: They can’t hang with the leaders in WAR rates, and they have no bonus factors to overcome that.

But to make a clear choice from the rest, I think, would first require a difficult consensus on assumptions. Are we picking for a team of this era, with 3 to 5 bench players, or for some all-eras composite? Does our team have the DH all the time, just a little, or never? What kind of starting players do we have?

And even if we settled on the purpose of this selection, each of us still gives different weights to defense, offense, and all-around versatility, so any of the seven would please some constituency.

If forced to choose, I’ll narrow it to two: Hairston, for maximum versatility; and Grebeck, best all-around of the pure utility-IF candidates. And I’ll take Craig Grebeck. He didn’t get to play quite as much as Reboulet, but put up the same total value. And as a bonus, both his name and 5′ 8″ stature just seem to fit the utility mold.

So, who’s your pick? Any dark-horse candidates not discussed?