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First off, it is nice to be in the playoff hunt, but the chances right now are just slim, and got slimmer with Texas and Tampa Bay winning last night. I believe the Royals will need to win out and two teams will need to stumble some. In my mind each game is an elimination game. Lose and the season is done. Win, and they may have a chance.
I am taking a reserved following for the Seattle series. This is when the team needs to do the hard work. Just grind out every win and hope the other teams begin to falter. The weekend is when the emotions can be high or already smashed. It has been a long season and this week may end up seeming forever.
While votes can still be tallied at The Fan Scouting Report, today I will look at how the Royals are doing and compare the data to previous seasons. Also I will compare other defensive values and see if there are any disconnects between our eyes and the computers.
First, here is the results of the voting so far.
| PLAYER | Reaction / Instincts |
Acceler. / First Few Steps |
Velocity / Sprint Speed |
Hands / Catching |
Release / Footwork |
Throwing Strength |
Throwing Accuracy |
Avg. Rating |
| Gordon, Alex | 83 | 78 | 68 | 80 | 90 | 83 | 93 | 82 |
| Perez, Salvador | 80 | 57 | 37 | 80 | 87 | 87 | 87 | 74 |
| Escobar, Alcides | 64 | 75 | 74 | 64 | 68 | 78 | 64 | 70 |
| Cain, Lorenzo | 76 | 81 | 78 | 75 | 65 | 55 | 61 | 70 |
| Hosmer, Eric | 60 | 57 | 58 | 67 | 65 | 62 | 56 | 61 |
| Moustakas, Mike | 58 | 57 | 42 | 64 | 65 | 77 | 59 | 60 |
| Lough, David | 59 | 68 | 68 | 52 | 48 | 50 | 56 | 57 |
| Dyson, Jarrod | 42 | 74 | 85 | 52 | 48 | 43 | 44 | 55 |
| Francoeur, Jeff | 35 | 28 | 34 | 45 | 67 | 86 | 77 | 53 |
| Johnson, Elliot | 46 | 61 | 59 | 52 | 43 | 43 | 53 | 51 |
| Bonifacio, Emilio | 53 | 61 | 73 | 52 | 39 | 45 | 38 | 51 |
| Maxwell, Justin | 46 | 56 | 59 | 48 | 51 | 45 | 36 | 49 |
| Getz, Chris | 45 | 56 | 60 | 47 | 51 | 28 | 50 | 48 |
| Tejada, Miguel | 50 | 41 | 42 | 49 | 48 | 45 | 48 | 46 |
| Giavotella, Johnny | 38 | 45 | 50 | 25 | 34 | 37 | 40 | 38 |
| Kottaras, George | 40 | 45 | 39 | 32 | 27 | 32 | 26 | 35 |
As a whole, I personally agree. My few disagreements would be:
- I would take Cains arm (55 value) over Hosmer's (62).
- On the same lines, I think Moose and Lough are overall better defenders than Hosmer. I just have seen the few times Hosmer played RF and there is no way he could stick there (or 3B), but I think Lough or Moose could play respectable 1B.
Additionally to the 2013 values, here is how some regulars have rated over the years.
Some up, some down, not a ton of changes.
Finally, here is a quick look at how the fan voting compares to UZR values.
Note: Defense takes into account Position and Defensive ability. UZR just compares the player against others at the position.
| PLAYER | Avg. Rating |
UZR | DEF (UZR + Position) |
| Gordon, Alex | 82 | 6 | -1 |
| Perez, Salvador | 74 | NA | 16 |
| Escobar, Alcides | 70 | 12 | 19 |
| Cain, Lorenzo | 70 | 20 | 20 |
| Hosmer, Eric | 61 | 2 | -10 |
| Moustakas, Mike | 60 | 8 | 10 |
| Lough, David | 57 | 14 | 11 |
| Dyson, Jarrod | 55 | 10 | 10 |
| Francoeur, Jeff | 53 | -1 | -3 |
| Johnson, Elliot | 51 | 5 | 5 |
| Bonifacio, Emilio | 51 | 0 | 1 |
| Maxwell, Justin | 49 | -1 | -23 |
| Getz, Chris | 48 | 3 | 3 |
| Tejada, Miguel | 46 | -1 | -1 |
| Giavotella, Johnny | 38 | 0 | 0 |
| Kottaras, George | 35 | NA | 1 |
A few thoughts
- Moose is probably not getting enough credit for his ability to play good 3B defense.
- Cain has been a monster in CF.
- Statistically, Cain, Lough and Gordon have been about the same fielders. I know people think Gordon is a better fielder than his number this season state. One defensive stat to look at is the entire outfield's UZR. The distribution of balls in play may change depending on if the outfielder have to shade to a certain field to help a crappy fielder. For example, the Royals pick a nice Frenchman out of the crowd to play right field one night (or 3 seasons). The center and left fielders will need to shift over to help this clown out. The two good fielders will likely get to more balls in play, but as a whole, the outfield will record less outs. Now say someone competent plays right field. The left and center fielders can now play at their normal positions and the whole outfield will make more outs. So without a nice Frenchman patrolling right field, here is how the Royals outfield defense has improved.
| Season | ARM | RngR | UZR |
| 2008 | -10 | -8 | -17 |
| 2009 | 4 | -11 | -5 |
| 2010 | -9 | -6 | -15 |
| 2011 | 19 | -11 | 11 |
| 2012 | 17 | -1 | 14 |
| 2013 | 16 | 32 | 48 |
The same great arm values from the last two seasons, but the range value has increased over 30 runs or
~3 wins. See how the French can bring people down.
The Royals overall defense may end up historically good (an article for once the final numbers are in), but I tried to give a look at how the Fans rated the Royals position players. Oh and .... GRASS CREEK IS OURS.