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Outs Above Average: MLB’s best defenders according to new stat

By Ryan Sanders

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 23: Victor Robles #16 of the Washington Nationals steals second base in front of Javier Baez #9 of the Chicago Cubs during the third inning of a game at Wrigley Field on August 23, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 23: Victor Robles #16 of the Washington Nationals steals second base in front of Javier Baez #9 of the Chicago Cubs during the third inning of a game at Wrigley Field on August 23, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
(Photo by Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

‘Statcast’ has come out with a new statistic, Outs Above Average, for Infielders that incorporates batted ball data to tell us who the best IF are in MLB. There are some surprises and some things we already knew.

The Geniuses that crunch numbers for Baseball Savant have revealed their new Outs Above Average metric for MLB Infielders.  This statistic was already available for Outfielders but infielders took longer to develop since there are other factors for consideration.

Whenever a new metric comes out, it challenges what our collective baseball minds already believes.  Sometimes, there are huge discrepancies, other times, the metrics back up what we already knew.

Let’s get right into it starting at 1B.

First Base

Oakland Athletics, Matt Olson +12

The other half of Oakland’s All-Star Matt duo.  Olson is the best defensive first basemen in the league producing 12 OOA.  Where Olson truly shines is moving to his right, where being +9 OOA takes away would be singles.  This is also valuable because it allows Oakland to play their 2B, towards the middle and cover more ground.  Olson also chips in value going towards the line +2, and backward +3 but his best skill remains going right.

Arizona Diamondbacks, Christian Walker +9

Walker spent the majority of his career blocked by Chris Davis in Baltimore and then blocked again by Paul Goldschmidt in Arizona.  After Goldschmidt was traded to STL, Walker put together a solid season that looks even better now by OAA, ranking 2nd among all 1B.  Walker is more balanced than Olson, being +1 going forward and backward and +3 going to his right.  Walker’s best defensive attribute is going down the first baseline, +4, taking away would-be doubles from hitters.

St. Louis Cardinals, Paul Goldschmidt +5

Speaking of Paul Goldschmidt, he rounds out the top 3.  His calling card for value is going forward where he’s accrued +3 OAA.  Any dribblers or pesky in between balls that cause issues for 2B and pitchers are smothered up by Goldschmidt in his best area of defense.

Now let’s look at the keystone.

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