A “throwback” shortstop now with the Cincinnati Reds, Freddy Galvis may turn out the be the best fielder ever not to win a Gold Glove.
Since there are no current MLB games being played, one has, as one does, time for meditation on strange baseball subjects – for example, the odd career of journeyman shortstop Freddy Galvis of the Cincinnati Reds (now).
I first saw Galvis play in the New York-Penn League in 2007 when the 17-year-old, skinny Venezuelan was already getting standing ovations for his defensive play. But I recall thinking at the time, “Well, if he stops letting pitchers knock the bat out of his hands, he’ll be good.”
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Galvis was the subject of the first piece I did for this website, written on the occasion of his being dealt by his original MLB team, the Philadelphia Phillies, to the San Diego Padres.
For the next two years, Galvis played for three different teams, perhaps indicating at first glance that the infielder was sliding into “a serious decline,” as I indicated could be the case when the Phillies dealt him away. But an examination of the record shows this isn’t really the case.
Every year of his MLB career, Freddy Galvis has kept his WAR figure moving up or even with the preceding year, with one exception, a drop between his first and second years when he was 22 and 23.
Now, granted, the WAR totals are not eye-popping, but the guy has remained essentially an everyday player. His problem is still his bat, but he has learned to hit pretty well, in fact, posting an eight-year .248 average with years that included 20 and 23 home runs. He has generally batted low in lineups.
In the field, however, he has been simply spectacular, getting to balls few other shortstops do, with a marvelous ability to track balls in the air in particular. He’s made a number of Willie-Mays-like catches over his shoulder or directly over his head, sometimes just snatching a pop-up with his bare hand.
Sometimes he does this basket-style as he did last year for the Blue Jays; sometimes he just reaches above his head and plucks the ball out of the air.
Digging into his shortstop lines year-by-year, the statistical “pieces” making up most of his career time in the field, all but one of his nine separate lines includes a fielding percentage above the league average at the position. The one year he fell below the league average (2015 with Philadelphia), he missed it by one point. In all other years and places that he’s played shortstop, he’s beaten the overall league number by an average of 19.9 points.
An examination of his RF/9 (range factor per nine innings – putouts + assists/9) versus the league’s averages yields similar results. On two lines he has fallen below the league’s averages, and one of those lines covers only seven games in Cincinnati last season.
In 3120 career chances at short, Galvis has made a ridiculous 48 errors.
But, should MLB resume this year, it says here that he’ll likely be traded again in this, his year-30 season. And if not this year – it’s likely to be a short campaign – then next year.
However, that won’t change the fact that Freddy Galvis will probably retire as one of the most valuable journeymen ever to play the game, and a player unjustly ignored when those golden mitts were passed out.