Fielding % (like batting average except for the defense)

[GunnerShotgun]

Fielding stats are tricky as you need different ones for different positions. Also scorekeeping plays an important role.

Also the fact that Derek Jeter won multiple gold gloves is breathtaking.

 

[Tatonka]

Catchers can also (at least at the younger levels) get pinned with errors when throwing down and the fielder is out of position and can't make the play. Used to bug me when the throw was spot on but the SS (just for example) was still learning that she was supposed to be there.

 

[radness]

Ok, my contribution to the thread is that fielding % is subpar way of determining how good a fielder is (in particular at the higher levels of play) which is the point I was trying to make when comparing Jeter to Ozzie but which you obviously missed because baseball sucks and softball rules (or you are a Jeter fanboy)..or something like that.

Lol did you see my edit to the last post #18???

Baseball is just boring to me never could get into watching it.

 

[_MIA_]

Lol did you see my edit to the last post #18???

Yes, thanks for the suggestion. What were you trying to discuss with the initial post?

I am going to be completely honest with you here, and it will probably piss you off, but reading that post the only thing I took away from it was you wanted to tell everybody your fielding % and decided to craft a topic around it..

If that wasn't it (which you will obviously not admit to even if it was) then tell us what you are trying to discuss please.

 

[radness]

Yes, thanks for the suggestion. What were you trying to discuss with the initial post?

I am going to be completely honest with you here, and it will probably piss you off, but reading that post the only thing I took away from it was you wanted to tell everybody your fielding % and decided to craft a topic around it..

No. just sharing a story. Toward post topic.

I do notice when I started on dfp that you always thought I was trying to use dfp as a platform in some way marketing myself. Never ever my intention I have enough of a career well-established before the opportunity to share about softball here. My career is what my career is, success happens to be part of it.
( if I really wanted a bigger platform I would have created a website a long time ago or been a broadcasting social butterfly on Facebook and I am not)

If you notice also I recognize there are different ways to reach success and I'm not a person that tells other people you exactly have to bat this way or you exactly have to catch that way.
I support softball and the different paths to success.

Glad people have different perspective to things because it creates competitive strategies.

 

[_MIA_]

No. just sharing a story. Toward post topic.

I do notice when I started on dfp that you always thought I was trying to use dfp as a platform in some way marketing myself. Never ever my intention I have enough of a career well-established before the opportunity to share about softball here. My career is what my career is, success happened to be part of it.

If you notice also I recognize there are different ways to reach success and I'm not a person that tells other people you exactly have to back this way or you exactly have to catch that way I support softball the different paths to success.

I was just being honest about my initial read of the post..I could have just shut my mouth about it and acted like I knew what you wanted to discuss, but I am lousy at that (shutting my mouth).

So again what exactly is the topic you want to discuss? I think everybody knows that there is a stat. called fielding percentage. If you want to discuss how good of a stat that is then that is what I (and others) have been discussing

In terms of statistics, I don't think players (especially younger ones) need to know what their stats are for the most part unless somebody is using it to point a specific out weakness they need to work on (eg first pitch strikes for pitchers, etc.)

 

[radness]

I was just being honest about my initial read of the post..I could have just shut my mouth about it and acted like I knew what you wanted to discuss, but I am lousy at that (shutting my mouth).

Absolutely fine! It gives opportunity to clear the air.

So again what exactly is the topic you want to discuss? I think everybody knows that there is a stat. called fielding percentage. If you want to discuss how good of a stat that is then that is what I (and others) have been discussing

It is more about how we are developing softball players.
Are we using the statistics tool to help stimulate a better defense. Or are we pointing out the errors? If we have the opportunity to use statistics in discussion with performance perhaps as a team we can all have a goal together
=defensive team stats.

Talk about building stats. Not talk about errors accumulated.

 

[_MIA_]

Absolutely fine! It gives opportunity to clear the air.


It is more about how we are developing softball players.
Are we using the statistics tool to help stimulate a better defense. Or are we pointing out the errors? If we have the opportunity to use statistics in discussion with performance perhaps as a team we can all have a goal together defensive team stats.

Talk about building stats. Not talk about errors accumulated.

Most younger players (and some older ones) make errors because their skills need work, work on the skills and the errors will go down. MLB'ers get instruction on how to field ground balls properly, etc every spring training just like I am sure D1 P5 college coaches talk about it as well. That should be the bedrock for all youth softball practices, regardless of what the team fielding % is.

 

[Nimrod]

Hmmm?
So third base is closer so the incidental errors shouldn't really be accountable the same?

The average fielding percentage in the American League (MLB) last season was .962 for third basemen and .994 for catchers. (Good news is that your .997 is well-above average in any league.) Consider a ground ball to third base. How much more likely is 3B going to make an error on that play than 1B? 3B can miss the grounder, or make a poor throw. All 1B has to do to avoid error is to catch what by definition has to be a good throw. That doesn't mean fielding percentages are useless, but it certainly means you can't use them to compare players from different positions. Impossible to level the playing field to make the stat meaningful when comparing players on the same team.

 

[JayW]

Hmmm?
So third base is closer so the incidental errors shouldn't really be accountable the same?


Are you suggesting have separate Fielding stats if you're an infielder versus if you're an outfielder. It seems to me that you could still have Fielding stats for those that want to separate Fielding stats by position. Think there is overall accountability on the field.

There is also the perspective in discussion of assigning more importance to one position over another.
Is one more difficult? Does 3rd Base always get more balls hit at them than the Outfield?

For discussion

3rd basemen are compared to other 3B. OF compared to OF.