All that’s Gold does not glitter

At least when it comes to Derek Jeter winning the AL shortstop trophy.

Not that I’m a Yankees fan, but stop picking on the guy. There have been previous examples of undeserving players receiving awards. Raphael Palmiero won the first-base GG in 1999 despite playing just 28 games there that season.

Back in the mid-90s, I worked as a part-timer for STATS. One of the responsibilities was to determine what type of ball (grounder, line drive, pop-up, etc.) was hit into any number of “zones” on the field. Straight-up chances, assist, and errors won’t cut it any more. Nowadays, there are a whole new set of metrics such as (from Fangraphics.com):

DG (defensive games): The number of outs made by an average fielder at his position given the exact distribution of balls in play for that player divided by the number of outs an average player at that position makes per game.

exO (expected outs): The number of outs plus reached base errors that would be made by an average fielder given the distribution of balls in play while that fielder was on the field.

ARM (outfield arm runs): Outfielder’s get credit (plus or minus) depending on what the runners do on a hit or a fly ball out. A runner can stay put, advance, or get thrown out. A fielder will get credit not only if he throws out more than his share of runners, but also if he keeps more than his share of runners from advancing extra bases.

DPR (double play runs): The number of runs above or below average a fielder is, based on the number double plays versus the number forces at second they get, as compared to an average fielder at that position, given the speed and location of the ball and the handedness of the batter.

RngR (range runs): The number of runs above or below average a fielder is, determined by how the fielder is able to get to balls hit in his vicinity.

ErrR (error runs): The number of runs above or below average a fielder is, determined by the number of errors he makes as compared to an average fielder at that position given the same distribution of balls in play.

UZR (ultimate zone rating): The number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs, outfield arm runs, double play runs and error runs combined.

UZR/150 (ultimate zone rate per 150 games): The number of runs above or below average a fielder is, per 150 defensive games.

Original UZR Primer:
Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR), Part 1
Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR), Part 2