Posted by Brian Joseph on Monday, August 10, 2009 at 3:18 am

More fun with defensive metrics… the center field way!

Before we take a look at those, here are the positions we already covered:

• Diggin’ In The Defensive Dirt (Part 1) — First Basemen 
• Diggin’ In The Defensive Dirt (Part 2) — Second Basemen
• Diggin’ In The Defensive Dirt (Part 3) — Third Basemen
• Diggin’ In The Defensive Dirt (Part 4) — Short Stops
• Diggin’ In The Defensive Dirt (Part 5) — Left Field
• Diggin’ In The Defensive Dirt (Part 6) — Right Field

And now, on to position #8 on the scorecard:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

1. Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Willy Taveras, Cincinnati Reds
3. Mike Cameron, Milwaukee Brewers
4 (tie). Michael Bourn, Houston Astros
4 (tie). Colby Rasmus, St. Louis Cardinals
6. Aaron Rowand, San Francisco Giants
7. Kosuke Fukudome, Chicago Cubs
8. Chris Young, Arizona Diamondbacks
9. Tony Gwynn, San Diego Padres
10. Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
11. Cody Ross, Florida Marlins
12. Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates
13. Nate McLouth, Atlanta Braves
14. Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies
15. Elijah Dukes, Washington Nationals
16. Dexter Fowler, Colorado Rockies

ANALYSIS: Considering that RZR, UZR/150 and Fielding Value all have Colby Rasmus at #1, it’s hard to believe he slid all the way to fourth in the rankings. Rasmus has been dinged with a few errors this year and isn’t tracking down a ton of balls out of the zone and throughout these metrics, the key to the top spot is not falling short in any area. Enter Matt Kemp who only has a poor RZR (#13) and sits in the top half of every other metric including #2 in UZR/150. Having not seen much of Rasmus yet, it’s tough for me to say if he is worthy of the top spot or not.

Mike Cameron and Michael Bourn (#3 and tied #4), I am familiar with. And both are excellent center fielders worthy of high praise. What is impressive about Bourn is his ridiculous number of OOZ plays (83) which is not only best in center field, it is a Major League high.

At the bottom are Shane Victorino, Elijah Dukes and Dexter Fowler. Every time I watch a Rockies game, it seems like Fowler is out of position but since that isn’t a large sample of Fowler’s work, it’s tough to say if that is why he rates so poorly. Victorino is the only surprise on the list. A Gold Glove winner in ‘08, Victorino has played banged up this year and while he’s not as damaged as Mike Lowell, his inability to be at 100% could be hampering his defense.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

1. Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle Mariners
2. Ryan Sweeney, Oakland Athletics
3 (tie). Carlos Gomez, Minnesota Twins
3 (tie). B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay Rays
5. Brett Gardner, New York Yankees
6. Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles
7. Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians
8 (tie). Curtis Granderson, Detroit Tigers
8 (tie). Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels
10. Coco Crisp, Kansas City Royals
11. Marlon Byrd, Texas Rangers
12. Brian Anderson, Chicago White Sox
13. Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays
14. Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox

ANALYSIS: Here’s the “smell test”… Franklin Gutierrez. Whether or not these rankings have any credibility or not comes down to whether or not Gutierrez ranks as the #1 center fielder in the American League. Anywhere you look, you find universal acceptance of Gutierrez’s superior defensive ability over all others at his position. It has even given enough ammunition to present a statistical formula that says Gutierrez is the position player most worthy of winning the MVP in the American League.

It’s not as clear cut of a “smell test” as Tim Lincecum is a more overpowering pitcher than R.J. Swindle or Albert Pujols is the 2009 MVP in the National League (make sure your MVP data cruncher comes up with that one) but it’s a darn good one.

After Gutierrez comes Ryan Sweeney, Carlos Gomez and B.J. Upton. All three are visually pleasing to watch cover center field (although Upton’s “smoothness” sometimes looks lazy… he’s just that good.)

At the bottom is Brian Anderson, Vernon Wells and Jacoby Ellsbury. Wells is technically a good fielder but toss in any degree of difficulty and don’t expect Vernon to be in the vicinity. Hence, the awful UZR/150 and +/-. Anyone who watched Devon White patrol center field for five years that can live with Wells’ defense in center tells me that he’s probably better than his UZR/150 and +/- indicates but that is probably still enough to keep him in the bottom three which is where Wells ends up overall (at #13).

Ellsbury had the longest errorless streak of any outfielder in Red Sox history end this year and Fielding % (8th at .992) and OOZ plays (6th at 52) are the only two metrics that don’t classify Ellsbury as a liability. Fans of the Sawx don’t seem to buy it when slamming Ellsbury’s defense to put him at the bottom of the league and in some cases, it makes them downright nasty (see comments), and if I were a Red Sox fan maybe I’d be saying none of these metrics pass the “smell test”. If you ask Dennis Eckersley, he’ll probably tell you Ellsbury is in line for a Gold Glove… and we know how deadly accurate those guys are. Plus, how can you not trust a guy with a porn star hair cut that accidentally mispronounces Masterson as, well, never mind.