Stull: Discussing St. Louis Cardinals defensive rankings with Chris Dial
From Brian Stull at St. Louis Baseball Weekly on October 2, 2014, with SABR member Chris Dial:
When the St. Louis Cardinals signed Jhonny Peralta as a free agent during the offseason, the move was primarily designed to bolster their offensive production at shortstop. Leading the team with 21 home runs–a franchise record, Peralta delivered.
But what was more than expected was his defense as Peralta made all the routine plays and then some. In fact, according to the final [in-season] Defensive Index Rankings from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Peralta was rated as the sixth best fielder overall and third best defensive shortstop in the National League.
The SABR Defensive Index (DI) accounts for 30 total votes (25 percent) of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process and is based on metrics which measure Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating, and Runs Effectively Defended.
Chris Dial, who is on the Board of Directors for SABR, and built the Runs Effectively Defended program used was a guest this week on St. Louis Baseball Weekly and answered the question if Peralta was truly the third best shortstop in the game…
Listen to the full interview here: http://www.stlbaseballweekly.com/top-3-rank-peralta/
Originally published: October 3, 2014. Last Updated: October 3, 2014.