Smell the glove: the outfielders

In Dan Fox’s latest column at BP, he looks at minor league outfielders using his SFR (Simple Fielding Runs) system. (You can read the primer on what it is and how it works here.) He has some pretty interesting findings, including a pretty vast disconnect between what the scouts and stats say about Cameron Maybin. Scouts love Maybin, Dan’s system has him pegged as one of the worst fielders in the minors. So I guess that makes Maybin the OF/minor league version of Derek Jeter.

But scouts and stats agree on Colby Rasmus. On 535 balls hit to Rasmus, his SFR was 9.1. Baseball America said that he has game changing range and a strong throwing arm. Kevin Goldstein recently pointed out that one of Colby’s weaknesses is that “he relies too much on his athleticism at times in the field, and needs to improve his reads and routes.” That jives with SFR. On 264 fly balls, Colby was -2.4 SFR. On 171 line drives, Colby was + 12.3 runs, indicating his range was indeed game changing. On 515 total opportunities, Colby’s arm was worth an additional 4.4 runs. When you add what he did throwing and fly catching, Colby was worth an extra 14 runs in the field. Out of all Texas League regular center fielders, Rasmus saved the most runs.

After Colby, who else did well in SFR? Prepare to be a little surprised.