Tuesday, October 02, 2007

NL Gold Gloves: Pitcher

Pitchers don't actually play enough defense to register on the Win Shares scale, except in hundreths of a decimal point. Only a few register Fielding Runs Above Average.

It probably isn't worth a table, but the contest is between Greg Maddux and Aaron Cook. Cook leads in Win Shares and was one of only two pitchers I could find with higher than a 0.1 FRAA. The other was Greg Maddux, with a whopping 0.5, more than twice as good as Cook. Maddux ranks 19th in Fielding WS, but considering they are measured in hundreths, it carries less weight than Fielding Runs Above Average.

My gold glove goes to Maddux, and I expect the writers to give it to him also. Cook finishes second.

Honorable mentions to Ben Sheets, Brandon Webb, Doug Davis and Derek Lowe the only four other pitchers in the Fielding WS top 20 and with a positive FRAA.

Iron glove? Who knows? Matt Morris is pretty bad. So is Tim Lincecum, probably because of the way he finishes on the mound. I'll give it to Morris, since he has had an awful year and I like piling on.