Don't be fooled by errors
Many teams with good fielding percentages aren't very good on defense
In the piece I wrote last week about Cliff Lee's struggles, I pointed out that a lot of his problems had to do with the Phillies' poor defense. This led one commenter to write:
"This article seems to forget that the Phillies are the team with the second least amount of errors in baseball. Poor defense? No. Defensive runs saved is a very flawed statistic."
The commenter is correct about the errors. The Philadelphia Phillies have made the third-fewest errors and have the highest fielding percentage in the baseball this season. By this logic, you might be fooled into thinking they're a great defensive team behind their superb pitching staff. But there is so much more to good defense than not making errors.
To see a full explanation of why the Phillies defense is not as good as its fielding percentage indicates, become an ESPN Insider today.
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Ben Jedlovec
ESPN Insider- Researcher for Baseball Info Solutions
- Co-authored The Fielding Bible, Vol. III
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