Addicted to Glove
Today’s post focuses on fielding, which is often overlooked in the game of baseball but obviously a huge part of a winning team. The Dodgers have had their struggles in the early going during spring, but no one seems terribly concerned that it will carry over into the regular season.
Still, one of the really cool things about working at Dodger Stadium is how often Dodger legends wander in and out of the offices. Yesterday alone, while I was sitting in a meeting, I saw two Gold Glovers, Willie Davis and Wes Parker walk by my office, which is a regular occurence. Between the two of them, they had nine Gold Gloves from 1967-73, which is pretty impressive.
While catching up with Wes, we got to discussing how he is one of the six finalists for the Best Fielding First Baseman in Major League history, according to Rawlings. This is quite an honor and I’m sure that anyone who watched him in his heyday would agree that he is very deserving of the honor. So, if you’d like to vote for him (and you should!), go to this link. Other former Dodgers on the ballot include Greg Maddux and Devon White.
Staying with the defense theme, I asked Elias Sports Bureau to help us out with some fielding stats for our media/information guide and while it took them some time to compile it, we are grateful for the info they sent us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it in the guide this year, but thought you might find this interesting. There are definitely some surprise names on the lists below. (Sorry if it looks a little strange. I’m still new at posting charts on this system).
And for those of you with more time, check out the new guide which is printed and now available for purchase at the Top of the Park Gift Store and free if you want to check it out online.
DODGERS ALL-TIME FIELDING LEADERS BY POSITION
FIRST BASE
PCT TC E G
Garvey, Steve .996 14781 63 1470
Parker, Wes .996 10380 45 1108
Murray, Eddie .995 4224 23 458
Brock, Greg .994 4081 26 447
Karros, Eric .993 14614 103 1579
SECOND BASE
PCT TC E G
Robinson, Jackie .983 3992 68 751
Grudzielanek, Mark .983 1958 34 428
Cora, Alex .981 1427 27 335
Neal, Charlie .980 2718 55 577
DeShields, Delino .980 1674 34 355
THIRD BASE
PCT TC E G
Cox, Billy .964 1914 68 663
Wallach, Tim .964 937 34 384
Cey, Ron .963 4486 166 1468
Stripp, Joe .961 1732 68 589
Gilliam, Jim .952 1888 90 760
SHORTSTOP
PCT TC E G
Izturis, Cesar .980 2329 47 553
Anderson, Dave .970 1691 50 410
Cora, Alex .969 1259 39 338
Griffin, Alfredo .964 2165 77 472
Wills, Maury .963 7366 272 1497
OUTFIELD
PCT TC E G
Butler, Brett .996 1708 6 745
Rosen, Goody .991 1058 9 388
Baker, Dusty .987 2073 27 1092
Buckner, Bill .986 1143 16 577
Bordagaray, Frenchy .985 687 10 314
CATCHER
PCT TC E G
Haller, Tom .991 2721 25 444
Lo Duca, Paul .991 3787 35 498
Roseboro, Johnny .990 8547 87 1218
Piazza, Mike .989 5237 58 700
Torborg, Jeff .989 1948 22 350
PITCHER
PCT TC E
Fitzsimmons, Freddie .985 267 4
Davis, Curt .985 329 5
Perez, Odalis .980 205 4
Ruether, Dutch .979 238 5
Vance, Dazzy .979 665 14
Minimum: 300 games for each position except pitcher.
Pitcher minimum: 200 total chances.
DODGERS SINGLE-SEASON FIELDING LEADERS BY POSITION
FIRST BASE
YEAR PCT TC E G
Garvey, Steve 1981 .999 1075 1 110
Parker, Wes 1968 .999 1009 1 114
Garvey, Steve 1976 .998 1653 3 162
Karros, Eric 2002 .997 1285 4 142
Parker, Wes 1965 .997 1534 5 154
SECOND BASE
YEAR PCT TC E G
Reed, Jody 1993 .993 698 5 132
Robinson, Jackie 1951 .992 832 7 153
Neal, Charlie 1959 .989 808 9 151
Grudzielanek, Mark 2002 .989 626 7 147
Cora, Alex 2004 .987 612 8 138
THIRD BASE YEAR PCT TC E G
Beltre, Adrian 2004 .978 452 10 155
Cey, Ron 1979 .977 397 9 150
Wallach, Tim 1995 .976 211 5 96
Cey, Ron 1980 .972 457 13 157
Stripp, Joe 1936 .968 316 10 106
SHORTSTOP
YEAR PCT TC E G
Izturis, Cesar 2004 .985 674 10 159
Izturis, Cesar 2002 .979 471 10 128
Wills, Maury 1971 .978 720 16 144
Reese, Pee Wee 1949 .977 788 18 155
Izturis, Cesar 2003 .977 695 16 158
OUTFIELD
YEAR PCT TC E G
Butler, Brett 1991 1.000 380 0 161
Butler, Brett 1993 1.000 375 0 155
Roberts, Dave 2002 1.000 257 0 117
Grissom, Marquis 2001 1.000 233 0 123
Landreaux, Ken 1981 1.000 214 0 95
CATCHER
YEAR PCT TC E G
Ferguson, Joe 1973 .996 817 3 122
Owen, Mickey 1941 .995 597 3 128
Lo Duca, Paul 2004 .995 558 3 81
Campanella, Roy 1952 .994 721 4 122
Roseboro, Johnny 1965 .994 884 5 131
PITCHER
YEAR PCT TC E
Vance, Dazzy 1928 1.000 72 0
Casey, Hugh 1939 1.000 67 0
Davis, Curt 1942 1.000 67 0
Hatten, Joe 1947 1.000 67 0
Fitzsimmons, Freddie 1939 1.000 65 0
Ruether, Dutch 1922 1.000 65 0
Minimums: Played at least two-thirds of team’s games for
each position except catcher and pitcher.
Catchers minimum: Played at least half of team’s games.
Pitchers listed by most total chances, no errors.
Inside the Dodgers 
Very nice. I was one of the protestors when we let Alex Cora go. It seemed he was starting to get his swing down and even hit .290 something in 2003. To see him on both the shortstop and second base lists is indicative of his great fielding talent.
kss,
having 2 pitchers in the line up was tough to watch.
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 1: Randy Wolf Pitching:
Jason Tyner pops to Abreu at short
Jason Bartlett flies to Bigbie in left
Joe Mauer singles to right
Torii Hunter strikes out looking
0 Runs 1 Hit 1 LOB End of 1/2 inning No Score
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 1: Carlos Silva Pitching:
Choo Freeman flies to center
Russell Martin singles to center
James Loney (with a .522 OBP) lines a single to left field (he’s now 9 for 20 in the spring, in the spring yes but nonetheless impressive)
Jeff Kent singles to left, Martin scores, Loney scores on a throwing error, Kent advances to second, 2-0 Dodgers
Olmedo Saenz grounds to third, Kent to third
Andre Ethier hits it high and deep off the wall for a double, 3-0 Dodgers
Wilson Betemit walks
Larry Bigbie grounds to second
3 Runs 4 Hits 1 Error 2 LOB End of 1 3-0 Dodgers
nice way to start things off.
always rooted for jody reed.
Correction: Sidney Ponson is pitching for the Twins not Carlos Silva, Silva was scheduled to start and now he’ll come in later in the game.
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 2: Randy Wolf Pitching:
Garrett Jones strikes out
Rondell White reaches on a broken bat infield single to Betemit, White just beat the throw from Betemit
Glenn Williams strikes out swinging, White steals second
Luis Rodriguez homers to deep center field, 3-2 Dodgers
Alexi Casilla singles
Tyner grounds to Loney at first
2 Runs 3 Hits 1 LOB End of 1 1/2 3-2 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 2: Sidney Ponson Pitching:
Tony Abreu singles to right
Freeman 5-4-3 Double Play
Martin singles
Loney hits it deep to right and off the wall for a double, Martin scores, Loney is just on fire, 4-2 Dodgers
Kent pops a curve ball to center
1 Run 3 Hits 1 LOB End of 2 4-2 Dodgers
Loney must be in the starting lineup. Period.
Ex his first call up (very small sample size) he has been on fire for a year now.
in loney we trust. why did they sign gonzalez?
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 3: Randy Wolf Pitching:
Bartlett line drive caught by Betemit
Mauer walks
Hunter pops to Abreu at short
{Billingsley relieves Wolf}
Jones flies to deep right
0 Runs 0 Hits 1 LOB End of 2 1/2 4-2 Dodgers
Loney must play first base. Put Nomah at third. There will less stress on his legs there. No Loney in OF.
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 3: Carlos Silva Pitching
Saenz bloops a single to left
Ethier lines a single to left, Saenz to second
Betemit loops a broken bat single to left, bases loaded
Bigbie singles to right, Saenz and Ethier score, Betemit to third, 6-2 Dodgers
Abreu hits it over Hunter’s head to center, wind blown driven single, Bigbie was tagging up at first and when it dropped he just went to second, Betemit scores, 7-2 Dodgers
Freeman forces Abreu, Bigbie to third
Martin 6-4-3 Double Play
3 Runs 5 Hits 1 LOB End of 3 7-2 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 4: Chad Billingsley Pitching:
White flies to Freeman in center, wind got a hold of it, but Freeman recovered and made a nice catch
Glenn Williams walks on four pitches
Luis Rodriguez 6-3 Double Play
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 3 1/2 7-2 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 4: Carlos Silva Pitching:
Loney singles to right (he’s just unbelieveable)
Damian Jackson flies to center
Saenz flies to center
Ethier (who is also on fire batting .529) singles to right, Loney to second
Betemit forces Ethier at second
0 Runs 2 Hits 2 LOB End of 4 7-2 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 5: Chad Billingsley Pitching:
Casilla grounds out
Tyner singles to center
Bartlett flies to center
Mauer flies to center
0 Runs 1 Hit 1 LOB End of 4 1/2 7-2 Dodgers
I agree nkirby. I’d rather have Nomar and Loney in the same infield than Nomar and anyone else who might possibly play 3b.
Anyone see the rate at which Ethier is raking opposing pitching? If he’s as strong as he was in the first half last year, he’s a challenger for the batting title.
Agree also, and i think Loney at 1B might actually save a few infield errors over the season. Nomar did a nice job there, but Loneys glove looks very solid. LaRoche learning LF now makes me think thats where were headed.
Its only ST and teams are fielding their respective “Bush League All-stars” but I hope Loney gets the play more than 130 games this year.
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 5: Carlos Silva Pitching:
Bigbie triples and on a throwing error trying to get him out on his way to third Bigbie scores, 8-2 Dodgers
Abreu grounds to third
Freeman grounds to the pitcher
Martin broken bat lines to short
1 Run 1 Hit 1 Error 0 LOB End of 5 8-2 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 6: Scott Elbert Pitching:
Torii Hunter kills a ball to deep deep left field, 8-3 Dodgers
Jones strikes out swinging
White (during the at-bat Betemit misplayed a foul ball and it fell behind him) homers to deep center, 8-4 Dodgers
Williams singles to left, Williams advances to second on a wild pitch
Luis Rodriguez homers to deep left, Williams scores, 8-6 Dodgers
{Eric Hull relieves Elbert (who gave up 3 HR’s}
Casilla bunts to Hull who throws him out
Tyner grounds to short
4 Runs 4 Hits 0 LOB End of 5 1/2 8-6 Dodgers
3 HRs. I guess he was working on his off-speed pitches today.
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 6: Carlos Silva Pitching:
Fernando Tatis strikes out swinging
Jackson lines to the pitcher
Delwyn Young grounds to second
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 6 8-6 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 7: Eric Hull Pitching:
Bartlett singles to right, Gil Velazquez pitch runs for Bartlett
Mauer singles to right, Bartlett to third, Jeff Christy pitch runs for Mauer
Denard Span walks, bases loaded
Josh Rabe hit a line drive into the glove of Betemit
Tommy Watkins pops up to short
Glenn Williams strikes out swinging
0 Runs 2 Hits 3 LOB End of 6 1/2 8-6 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 7: Juan Rincon Pitching:
Ethier strikes out swinging
Betemit strikes out looking
Wilson Valdez pops to short
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 7 8-6 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 8: Matt White Pitching:
Luiz Rodriguez walks on four pitches
Casilla forces Rodriguez at second 1-6, they try for the double play but Tatis dropped the ball at first, Casilla steals second off of Sandy Martinez
Tyner hit by the pitch
Velazquez reaches on a fielding error by LaRoche, Casilla scores, Tyner to third and Velazquez to second on throwing error by Valdez in left, 8-7 Dodgers
Jeff Christy 5-4-3 Double Play
1 Run 0 Hits 2 Errors 2 LOB End of 7 1/2 8-7 Dodgers
It’s becoming painfully obvious that Loney belongs at first and in the starting lineup. I predict Nomaah is playing third on April 1, with Saenz as backup and LaRoche a phone call away. Where does that leave Betemit? Is there another club that could use him?
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Bottom 8: Errol Simonitsch Pitching:
Abreu grounds to third
Freeman grounds to second
Sandy Martinez flies to left
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 8 8-7 Dodgers
Twins at Dodgers: Spring Training Update: Top 9: Jonathan Meloan Pitching:
Span grounds to Jackson at second
Josh Rabe strikes out looking
Watkins walks
Glenn Williams strikes out looking
0 Runs 0 Hits 1 LOB
R H E
Twins
7 11 2
Dodgers
8 15 2
WP: Randy Wolf
LP: Sidney Ponson
SV: Jonathan Meloan
Time of Game: 2:41
wow if loney keeps this up there is NO WAY IN **** he can’t be in the lineup. Nomar better get his infielders glove broken in.
I posted this earlier on the previous days posting.
Graffitti – Your making it tough to agree with you. You keep measuring results vs potential. If your crystal ball really did work we would never makes mistakes. I don’t believe Ned made the trade knowing that Lugo would not meet our expectations, and we did have a big need at the time !! Also, lets not forget that a big part of baseball and the minor leagues is marketing !!! Marketing in that every team wants every other team to believe that their guys are the best and thus worth the most. Guzman was clearly losing ground, not only with the Dodger front office but all of the scouts as well. Guzman proved he wasn’t going to be a 5 tool player and he proved he couldn’t switch positions easily. And with his height he wasn’t going to stay at SS. I can say this because I saw it first hand in Vero Beach and Las Vegas for two years straight. So the Dodgers had a guy with a deminishing return, limited positions he could play and a bad attitude. Top that with a big league team looking to make the playoffs and you have the Lugo trade. Now, in hind sight we can all say that Lugo didn’t work out but at the time Ned made the trade it made solid business and baseball sense. The beauty of Baseball is the gamble, the gamble on players and the gamble of the plays on the field.
Go Dodgers !!!
If I remember right I think betemit still has a minor league option availible and I fully agree that Loney should be at first. Thought that last year too in the stretch run and playoffs when (injured)Nomar wouldn’t ride the pine.I Think Repko should get a starting OF position as well with Gonzo doing the pinch hit/relief work.Abreu looks like he wants Kent to ride pine too but Kent looks like he is having a solid spring so far. These are all good problems to Have!
Go Blue 2007!
thanks guys for your responses regarding my link.
Graffiti, I could have been happy never seeing Jody Reed’s name on a list of top Dodger performers. I rooted for him too when he wore Dodger Blue. Did you still root for him after he became stupid thinking he was worth a whole lot more than the Dodgers or any other team thought he was worth? His stupidity led the Dodgers to the Delino DeShields for Pedro deal.
O MAN– JAMES LONEY! enough said… La Roche with another error?!? Nomar, Furcal, Kent, Loney— best infield in the MAJORS– screw mlb.com…
yeah he hurt my feelings and reluctantly I still sort of rooted for him. thats cool someone saw my jody reed tidbit. love bringing up obscure dodgers from the past but i can only go back to like 86-87.
you cannot say jeff kent and say best infield in the majors. his defense is horrid. tony abreu, then we got the best infield hands down, but kents dragging us down in that competition.
im a big carlos perez fan also, he sure took it to that water cooler.
Since no one else has done so, I’ll comment on the blog post. 🙂
I’m glad to see Brett Butler listed among the fielders. He’s one of my all-time favorite Dodgers.
IMNSHO, not enough attention is paid to fielding.
Graffiti,
Jeff Kent made 8 errors in 108 games last year– Tony Abreu, 17 errors in 118 games.. Jeff Kent is a career .979 fielder and was .985 last year. Compare that to the list in the post and its not so bad. His defense is not horrid, and his torrid offense more than makes up for it. Tony Abreu might make a very good major leaguer, but he will NEVER be as productive offensively as Kent has been.
Jeff Kent is argueably the best hitting second baseman of ALL TIME. His batting avg. is better than ALL THREE of the second baseman in the modern era with better HR and RBI numbers.
Graffiti – Please your asking for trouble with this one. I see your point on the Kid Abreu, he could very well be a great one. But it’s potential and not fact. I grant you Kent in not in his prime and last year he played hurt !! But this guy is a shoe-in for HOF and his numbers can support it. Again I have to agree with ewk216.
Go Dodgers !!
i know i guess its the errors he does make are so routine. sorry guys.
Most plays at 2b are routine, except DPs…and he turns those very well. If there’s a complaint about Kent’s defense it’s his limited range.
Thanks for posting a link to the media guide! As a die hard Dodger fan stuck in Red Sox Nation I’ve long wished I had access to a copy of the guide. There are two problems though. The link to players S-Y looks for a file for players R-Y. Also there is a problem with the Introduction file itself and Adobe Reader 7.0 for Linux can’t open the file at all.
Either way I’ll be virtually dogearing the daylights out of it as we (hopefully) take the NL West title for our own. Now if I can only enjoy the games without having to get a satellite system.
There’s a reason Jeff Kent doesn’t commit many errors. One has to be able to GET to the ball quickly in order to have a chance at committing an error.
Jeff Kent was an outstanding 2nd baseman, but his range is nowhere near what it once was, and with that comes a reduced number of fielding attempts.
nice point kssparkhul, that was my next point believe it or not. adam dunn has about as much range as kent. ohhhhh i know thats a stretch but its almost funny.
i never ask for trouble gary, i just type my thoughts. sometimes a bit irrational, but i love the dodgers. and joel guzman so give me a break.
Brett Butler was one of mya favorite Dodgers of the Modern era and glad to see he was the BEST. He Had style and Heart to go with his Power. Cora and Izzy were my favorite Double play pair and Izzy By far was the Best Defencive SS the dodgers have ever had. I remeber Coras first years with the dodgers and he was Horrible! Range beyond belief but couldn’t hit and made bad throws all the time. With all that said 2004 Dodgers were alot of fun to watch.
yeah thank god for lima time winning us that playoff game saving us from the dreaded sweep.