Shocking news when I woke up this morning: Derek Jeter was apparently the best defensive shortstop in the American league this last year. Apparently, he had one of his finest years defensively: only eight errors for the year. Due to where I live I ususally only watch play-off baseball, so I can speak for the whole year… but then again, neither can the voters (players and coaches).
Jeter’s defensive abilities have been debated by sabremetricians for years; consensus is that he is not a stand out at SS (or at least not anymore). On the other hand, Jeter seems to be clutch defensively: he always appears to come up with the great head-up play when it’s needed most.
Since 1996 -his first season as a full time major leaguer- Jeter made on average 15 errors a year. So his 8Es this year are definitely low. If we look slightly beyond that a look at his range factor and zone rating, they are both down from last year, and more in line with his worst defensive years (2001-2003) than with his best year. There’s only one stat that’s off for Jeter defensively, and that’s his fielding average. That’s tied with highest in his career (with 1998).
What struck me while watching the play-off, was the fact that he made so many ‘not quite on the mark’ throws on routine plays. Texeira seemed to be squatting, stretching left or right on far too many occasions after routine grounders to the left side of the infield. Texeira probably saved Jeter from getting charged one or two errors, during the play-offs.
That of course isn’t an argument against him getting a Gold Glove. However, if we just take the other shortstop wearing #2 in the ALCS, Erick Aybar, Jeters numbers seem not so great (FPCT, RF, ZR: Aybar (.983, 4.68, .841) vs Jeter (.986, 3.90, .811)). Decent enough, but not Gold Glove worthy.
The only real difference between Jeter defensively between this year and last, is the number of errors (as a matter of fact, the other indicators are down from last year). If the play offs are any indication that most of that is due to having a Gold Glove 1B playing at the other end of his throws instead of sending Jason Giambi out there for 113 games.
