Simon: Gerardo Parra, the Simmons of outfielders
From SABR member Mark Simon at ESPN.com on October 3, 2013:
All season long, Atlanta Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons has been praised for his extraordinary defense, and rightfully so, given the success he and the Braves had in 2013.
But it’s worth noting that there was another player in baseball with whom Simmons shared the major league lead in Defensive Runs Saved: Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Gerardo Parra.
Both Simmons and Parra set the mark for the highest total in the 11-season history of the stat, with 41 Defensive Runs Saved.
But it was a heck of a final month by Parra to finish even with Simmons.
Parra won our voting for defensive player of the month on the strength of a major league-best 13 Defensive Runs Saved in September, beating out other worthy candidates, including Ryan Goins of the Blue Jays, Ben Zobrist of the Rays and Carlos Gomez of the Brewers.
Keith Olbermann noted during the highlights segment of one of his recent shows that Simmons was in a bit of a “defensive slump,” and though that sounded odd, the numbers actually bore that out.
Read the full article here: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/41115/gerardo-parra-the-simmons-of-outfielders
Originally published: October 3, 2013. Last Updated: October 3, 2013.