Baseball’s Best Fielders
Brendan Ryan is baseball's best defensive player.
It doesn’t matter any when it comes to fantasy baseball, but we all know that defense is an integral part of the actual game of baseball. And, when it comes to defensive ability, you tend to get varying opinions. That’s because defense is not as easily quantifiable as offensive statistics are.
So, when we see somebody like Bill James quantify defensive stats, we have to share them with you. Here are the Runs Saved leaders over the past three seasons at each defensive position.
Top Defensive Players
FIRST BASE Daric Barton – 26 Adrian Gonzalez – 18 Albert Pujols – 15SECOND BASE Ian Kinsler – 46 Ben Zobrist – 43 Aaron Hill – 35 THIRD BASE Adrian Beltre – 48 Evan Longoria – 42 Ryan Zimmerman – 42 SHORTSTOP Brendan Ryan – 65 Yunel Escobar – 37 Troy Tulowitzki – 36 LEFT FIELD Brett Gardner – 35 Carl Crawford – 34 Gerardo Parra – 28 CENTER FIELD Franklin Gutierrez – 54 Austin Jackson – 43 Peter Bourjos – 36 RIGHT FIELD Mike Stanton – 28 Ichiro Suzuki – 25 Jason Heyward – 25 PITCHER Mark Buehrle – 28 Jake Westbrook – 15 Ricky Romero, Zack Greinke, Bread Bergesen – 14 CATCHERS Matt Wieters – 18 Miguel Montero – 14 Russell Martin, Miguel Olivo – 11
Mark Buehrle brings his signficant defensive skills to Miami this year. It's hard to imagine a pitcher having that much defensive impact.
Find these statistics interesting, click here to purchase the Bill James Handbook for 2012.
March 5th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Brendan Ryan – probably the most underrated player in the game of baseball and the best defensive player by a very considerable margin. Take a look at 2 time Gold Glove and 2 time Fielding Bible Award winner Troy Tulo’s DRS and then double them and you are in Brendan Ryan’s neighborhood.
March 6th, 2012 at 2:30 am
How in God's name does Brendan Ryan not have multiple Gold Gloves? He has got to be the most underrated player in MLB. He is so far out in front of everyone else in defensive runs saved it is almost laughable.
April 15th, 2012 at 12:17 am
he's just been benched!-I like him
May 10th, 2012 at 6:46 pm
And Ryan is on pace after the first 6 weeks of the season to have 41 DRS in 2012. Crazy Ruthian Stat.