Welcome to Behind the Plate With DJ, a weekly look at what is going on in the world of baseball. This series will weigh in on the interesting, the controversial, and the downright cool. The play of the week could be an incredible play or an unusual one. If something made you scratch your head, you will probably find it here. So sit back, relax, and let’s take a look at the week that was.
Surprising Starts
It is time to take a look at the April surprises. We are a month into the season and there has been enough games to get a good idea of what is going on. It is still early and there is plenty of time for everything to change, but it is still fun to look at how things are shaping up.
White Sox
Everybody was talking about the Cubs this offseason, and they are doing really well this season. However, the south side team is also doing really well. The White Sox have the best record in the American League by 2.5 games.
The White Sox have been riding their pitching. Chris Sale, Mat Latos, and Jose Quintana have combined for a 13-1 record and all have a sub-2.00 ERA. They have a team ERA of 2.65, tops in the American League. The White Sox have given up a league low 17 home runs. That kind of pitching will put any team at the top of the league.
NL West
The NL West was generating a lot of buzz coming into this season. The Dodgers figured to be the best in the West again this year, the Giants had the even year thing going, and the Diamondbacks picked up Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller. This division was going to be competitive and possibly putting two teams in the playoffs.
Well, there is a reason they play the games. After Sunday’s games, the Dodgers, Giants, and Rockies were all tied for first with a .500 record, with the Diamondbacks a game and a half behind. While it is competitive, if they keep this up, there will not be a Wild Card coming out of the West.
Phillies
The Phillies were expected to challenge the Braves for the cellar in the NL East. Instead, they have a 15-10 record, which would be good for at least second place in any other division in baseball. Unfortunately for them, the Nationals and the Mets have two of the top three records in the National League.
On Sunday, they extended their winning streak to six games. The pitchers have been having a good season, leading the NL with 254 strikeouts and they are fifth with a 3.67 ERA. Vincent Velasquez has been the staff ace with a 4-1 record, 1.44 ERA, and 39 strikeouts.
Arenado and Story
It is a month into the season, so who would you expect to be the top 2 home run hitters in all of baseball? Names like Josh Donaldson, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Giancarlo Stanton come to mind, among others. How many of you would have thought Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story? The left side of the Rockies’ infield has combined for 21 home runs.
Even though Arenado hit did not hit more than 18 home runs before last season, he did lead the league with 42 home runs last year, so he is not as much of a surprise. Story, on the other hand, came out of nowhere. He was not supposed to even be on the big league club until Jose Reyes was suspended. Story did show some power, hitting 20 home runs between AA and AAA last season. He has half that in his first month of facing Major League pitchers.
Advanced Stat of the Week
Every week, Behind the Plate will look at an advanced stat that is being used in baseball. These stats give a better idea on what value a player gives a team. This week’s stat is DRS.
DRS stands for Defensive Runs Saved. It measures how many runs bettor or worse a player has been compared to an average player at his position. So if a shortstop has a +2 DRS, he saves 2 more runs than an average shortstop.
You need to keep in mind that this measurement is specific for a position. You will not be able to compare two players at different positions. For instance, you will not be able to tell if that shortstop with a +2 DRS has more or less value than a right fielder with a +4 DRS. This is because some positions are more difficult than others. There are other stats that account for this difference, such as UZR, which we may go over in future installments of Stat of the Week.
DRS does not work well with a small sample size. Anything less than a a couple of months will be suspect. A full season or more is generally considered to be a good sample size.
Let’s take a look at last year’s leaders in DRS at second base. Ian Kinsler of the Tigers led all of baseball with a DRS of 19 and Dee Gordon led the National League with 13. According to that, the Tigers’ opponents scored 19 fewer runs with Kinsler in there as opposed to an average second baseman, and the Marlins’ opponents scored 13 fewer with Gordon.
If you look at fielding percentage, Kinsler was 14th with .982 and Gordon was 2nd with .992. One reason that a fielder may have a lower fielding percentage is that he has a larger range and therefore will be making tougher chances. In the long run, even if he commits more errors, he will be making more plays and saving more runs. That is the major reason to use DRS instead of fielding percentage. Teams would rather have a player that makes 10 errors on the season but saves 10 runs than a player with a 1.000 fielding percentage but does not have a large range and has a DRS of -1.
Play of the Week
This week’s play of the week is your typical 5-6-3 putout. Todd Frazier of the White Sox was up against the Orioles in the fourth inning. Frazier hit a smash to the left of third baseman Manny Machado. Machado dove and got a piece of the ball, which ricocheted to J.J. Hardy, who threw to first for the out.
It was actually the second time Hardy ranged into the how to get Frazier out, he did it to end the first inning.
