Simon: The tournament of defensive excellence
From SABR member Mark Simon at ACTA Sports on March 31, 2020:
We know you’re probably missing March Madness (we are too), so to fill the void, we’ve come up with a tournament of our own–the Sports Info Solutions Tournament of Defensive Excellence. The goal of the competition is to determine the best defensive player of the 21st century.
Our bracket (linked here) started with 32 players. They were the 26 who totaled at least 100 Runs Saved since 2003 (the first season for which Defensive Runs Saved was computed) and six at-large selections.
Those at-large bids went to a mix of current stars (Matt Chapman, Javier Baez, Paul Goldschmidt), players who just missed the 100-Runs Saved cutoff (Dustin Pedroia), players who excelled at a position at which 100 isn’t reachable (Mark Buehrle), and players whose excellence pre-dated Defensive Runs Saved (Andruw Jones).
By the time you’re reading this, we’re likely tallying votes on Twitter for the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. But we can still consider the question of who should win this competition.
Read the full article here: https://www.statoftheweek.com
Originally published: April 1, 2020. Last Updated: April 1, 2020.