Field ratings available

[The Biomechanical Man]

I read the Strat-O-Matic fanatics book too, about a year ago. I remember the fielding ratings insight being one of the best parts of the book too. The book is a quick read, and is worthwhile for "people like us." It would probably be boring, if you weren't into strat.

As I recall from the book, Strat has a couple of "scouts" that give them fielding ratings for all players on a particular team. They didn't name names, but the scouts could be scouts, fans, reporters, TV announcers, etc. Hal and his employees at Strat then sit around a table reading all of the scouting reports and discuss fielding ratings of every player on every team. Obviously this takes a long time. Then, when they are finally done, they line up all of the player ratings for a particular position (such as all centerfielders) and look over the ratings and the scouting reports once more. They compare all of the players from that position to each other, and also consider what that player has been rated in the past. Then they tweak it.

[cristano11]

ajones is a 1 again? how can that be? hes a fat slow slob.

[PJ Axelsson]

[quote:ac35d9e111]Kevin Youkilis has a 1 range? I understand he didn't make errors and potentially deserved the gold glove, but he shouldn't automatically be a 1 just because he received the award ahead of Kotchman. He gave up basehits that quicker, slicker fielders wouldn't have given up. Again, checking the range ratings, zone factors, and frequencies of double plays reveals some of this stuff.[/quote:ac35d9e111]

I'm not going to defend Youk's automatic 1 rating, but I would disagree with the idea that he gave up a lot of base hits. He's quick as a cat over at 1B. He can't run the bases, but he has a different fielding speed. I might have given him a 2, but he's no liability, and anyone who watched him all season long can attest to the brilliant season he had at 1B. He saved a lot of errors from Lowell (another 1, in part thanks to Youk digging frequent balls out of the dirt), Lugo (a very combustable fielder and erratic thrower), and Pedroia (who was pretty consistent).

I would agree that his 1 is more due to the gold glove and the zero errors, but he made plays too. Watch him again this season, you'll see.

:D