A Look At Some Zobrist SS/2B Defensive Comps

by FreeZorilla on Jul 22, 2009 3:03 PM EDT

Yesterday, RJ touched on Ben Zobrist's incredible UZR/150 at 2B of 25.9 in his piece Ben Zobrist's Defense at Second Base. RJ came to the conclusion that Zobrist's defense a 2B was most likely 0<x<5. I thought it might be interesting to look at some players who have split time between the two positions with larger sample sizes and see what the 2B UZR/150's were as well as the change in UZR/150 from SS to 2B. We also will look at RangeRuns Above Average/150 and ErrorRuns Above Average/150. To achieve the /150 numbers, I took the aggregate/Innings at Position*1350 Innings. For the average, median, and max, I omitted Zobrist and Hill due to sample size issues. Hat tip to Toby David for assisting in compiling the list of players. You can listen to Toby every Monday night at 6PM on 1010 Sports.

Click the jump for the results:

	SSInn	2BInn	SSRngR/150	2BRngR/150	RngR Change
Aaron Hill	549.1	3785.1	-10.1	8.7	18.8
Ben Zobrist	1012.2	400.2	-2.4	30.0	32.4
Marco Scutaro	3019.2	2229	-3.9	-2.7	1.2
Felipe Lopez	4995	1954.1	-6.4	0.3	6.7
Clint Barmes	2291.2	1241	10.1	12.5	2.4
Brendan Harris	1679.1	938.1	-11.6	-4.0	7.5
Craig Counsell	3078.2	4229	3.2	4.7	1.5
Juan Uribe	6620.1	1225.1	1.1	10.4	9.2
Alex Cora	4142.1	3302.2	1.1	-1.7	-2.8
			Avg	2.8	3.7
			Median	0.3	2.4
			Max	12.5	9.2

In terms of range runs, you can clearly see the sample size issue with Aaron Hill and Zobrist. The veterans RangeRuns range from -2.7 (Scutaro) to 12.5 (Barmes) at Second Base. The change in Range Runs from SS to 2B ranged from -2.8 (Cora) to 9.4 (Uribe). Zobrist's SS sample size is also small so it is tough to determine what the expected change should be. The safest thing to do is assume the average of 2.8 RangeRuns/150 of converted SS.

	SSInn	2BInn	SSErrR	2B ErrR	SSErrRn/150	2BErrRn/150	Change
Aaron Hill	549.1	3785.1	-1.2	5.8	-3.0	2.1	5.0
Ben Zobrist	1012.2	400.2	-6.1	1	-8.1	3.4	11.5
Marco Scutaro	3019.2	2229	7.9	4.9	3.5	3.0	-0.6
Felipe Lopez	4995	1954.1	-13.5	-2.4	-3.6	-1.7	2.0
Clint Barmes	2291.2	1241	-9.6	-0.4	-5.7	-0.4	5.2
Brendan Harris	1679.1	938.1	4.8	-1.1	3.9	-1.6	-5.4
Craig Counsell	3078.2	4229	6	7.2	2.6	2.3	-0.3
Juan Uribe	6620.1	1225.1	10.4	2.4	2.1	2.6	0.5
Alex Cora	4142.1	3302.2	2.7	4.1	0.9	1.7	0.8
					Avg	0.8	0.3
					Median	1.7	0.5
					Max	4.2	5.2

There is much less of a clear trend in terms of ErrorRuns changing from SS to 2B. ErrorRuns at 2B ranged from -1.7 (Lopez) to 3.0 (Scutaro). The average ErrorRuns for the converted 2B was .8.

As for overall UZR/150:

	SSInn	2BInn	SSUZR/150	2BUZR/150	Change
Aaron Hill	549.1	3785.1	-18.9	9.1	28
Ben Zobrist	1012.2	400.2	-11.6	29	40.6
Marco Scutaro	3019.2	2229	-0.9	0.1	1
Felipe Lopez	4995	1954.1	-11.2	-0.4	10.8
Clint Barmes	2291.2	1241	5.5	9.4	3.9
Brendan Harris	1679.1	938.1	-9	-6.8	2.2
Craig Counsell	3078.2	4229	7.6	12.7	5.1
Juan Uribe	6620.1	1225.1	3.4	13.2	9.8
Alex Cora	4142.1	3302.2	5.2	2.9	-2.3
			Avg	4.4	4.4
			Median	2.9	3.9
			Max	13.2	10.8

The average UZR/150 of the converted SS was 4.4 near the top of RJ's range. Given that Zobrist is still in his 20's and his 2009 sample size, I am willing to live dangerously and project him as 5<x<10. His SS sample size is too small to infer much about the expected change. With 3 members posting UZR/150 of 9.4, 12.7, and 13.2, I am willing to suspect that Zobrist's 28 year old legs have a few good seasons at 2B in them.

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