Breaking News: Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, and Gabe Gross Form a Good Defensive Outfield

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 20, 2009 11:35 AM EDT

For some reason I don't think the green and red lines matching up with each other is much of a coincidence. Also, B.J. is just ridiculous when going to his left.

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that +8 is

so sexy

by daveh33 on Apr 20, 2009 11:41 AM EDT reply actions

I love that it actually went above the intended scale.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 20, 2009 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions

they should tack on more to the scale

anything over 5 is BOSSMAN territory

by daveh33 on Apr 20, 2009 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

This is the hottest thing I've ever seen.

by Suttree on Apr 20, 2009 12:12 PM EDT reply actions

BJ is just ridiculous period

by Sveet on Apr 20, 2009 12:17 PM EDT reply actions

Is Maddon inclined to play

a ‘no doubles’ defense in the late innings of a close game?

by Raymondo on Apr 20, 2009 12:24 PM EDT reply actions

Um, have you been watching?

Crawford was playing a no singles defense when Gardner hit that ball over his head. Consistently this season the Rays defense has been playing shallow, even late in games.

by RaysTheRoof on Apr 20, 2009 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Which stadium is this?

by steve-o1285 on Apr 20, 2009 12:40 PM EDT reply actions

Rick Baker Memorial Field

by Top Gun Numba 1 on Apr 20, 2009 10:05 PM EDT up reply actions

What's going on with the pieces that have no color at all?

No sample size?

by RaysTheRoof on Apr 20, 2009 1:49 PM EDT reply actions

The bars aren't representative of the place on the field in terms of north/south.

They’re broken up like such just to make each player’s easier to read.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 20, 2009 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions

I see

Thanks

by RaysTheRoof on Apr 20, 2009 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Is there any data that shows how much of a benefit we get by having Upton play shallow

He certainly has tons of range, but there are some balls that go over his head. Of course I’m sure he gets a lot of shallow balls the vast majority of CF wouldn’t get to. Is there any data on whether BJ playing shallow is better than him playing deeper? Obviously he is doing great where he is now, but maybe he could be even better playing deeper (or not)?

by matthan on Apr 20, 2009 3:37 PM EDT reply actions

Now most of the Rays OF are playing shallower

Thus I think the FO has a metric to measure this and that they believe it saves runs over the long-haul, otherwise Maddon would move them back. Of course, the depth is to some extent dictated by the situated (score, inning, batter, etc).

by RaysTheRoof on Apr 20, 2009 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions