Judge/O’Rourke: Measuring defensive accuracy in baseball

From SABR members Jonathan Judge and Sean O’Rourke at Baseball Prospectus on April 13, 2020:

Measuring defense remains one of the biggest statistical challenges in baseball. Defensive quality is nowhere near as important as hitting or pitching, but it is important nonetheless: even a slight advantage could offer tremendous aggregate value over the course of a season.

Many systems attempt to measure individual defense. We thought it would be useful to see how well each of them worked in the team context, specifically in player defense’s most valuable component: fielder range in generating batting event outs.

Read the full article here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/58243/measuring-defensive-accuracy-in-baseball/



Originally published: April 13, 2020. Last Updated: April 13, 2020.