12 thoughts on “Is Darwin Barney baseball’s best defensive infielder?”

1. bstar September 13, 2012 at 10:29 am

   Doug, I’m guessing the reason Andrelton Simmons of the Braves didn’t show up on your 2012 list is because you may have set some limit on games played or something, but he’s got 13 fielding runs….in only 35 games! That would give him 56 fielding runs over 150 games. Looks like that would smash the record for infielders. Can’t wait for 2013.

   As for Barney, I think he’s the real deal.

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   1. Doug Post authorSeptember 13, 2012 at 11:40 am

      Yes, it was qualifying seasons for the latter lists. Hard to know what to make of Simmons’ numbers – kind of like of Brett Lawrie in 2011 with 14 fielding runs in 43 games. Lawrie’s still doing fine (2.1 dWAR in 2012 in 104 games), but at a more realistic level.

      So, you evidently like what you see in Simmons? I haven’t seen him (or Barney) play.

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      1. bstar September 13, 2012 at 6:57 pm

         Yes, he’s fantastic. Simmons was a rarity in that his glove and arm were both rated as an 80 by scouts-a rarity. Perhaps the most impressive thing is he doesn’t feel the need to show off his arm unless absolutely necessary. He was actually accumulating fielding runs at a higher rate than Lawrie before he got hurt and could at the very least have deflected some of the anti-defensive-metric venom away from the Toronto third baseman. Unlike Lawrie, Fangraphs’ UZR loves his D as well.

         I haven’t seen Barney nearly as much as tag for sure, but it seems every time I do, he’s making very athletic diving plays to the left and right of him. And who’s to say good positioning isn’t a big part of scoring well on new defensive metrics? I’m convinced it is.

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         1. bstar September 13, 2012 at 6:58 pm

            Oh dear- it’s a rarity to use the term rarity twice in a sentence.

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         2. tag September 14, 2012 at 5:36 am

            bstar,

            I saw Simmons four times and he was incredibly impressive. All four games he made good sound plays plus at least one jaw-dropping play that involved his absolute gun of an arm. And, as you say, he doesn’t crank up the throws unless he has to.

            I watch a good deal of Cub games and I do see Barney make athletic plays, especially going to his left into short right and spinning and throwing guys out. But maybe because I’m just not used to seeing it on a Cub team, I can never get over how he’s generally so well positioned, like Zobrist when he plays 2B for the Rays. And boy is Barney sure-handed, far better than Sandberg was in that regard.

            P.S. One of my enduring doubts about the new defensive metrics regards Sandberg’s Rfield of -13 in 1987. I’m sorry, but there is no way Ryne Sandberg in his prime was ever anything less than a positive defensive presence at 2B.

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2. tag September 13, 2012 at 12:34 pm

   Doug, we’ve been talking about this in spurts all season long. Barney is a superior fielder, but I think the Cubs are using some very advanced positioning metrics because he always seems to be in the right place, up the middle when the ball goes over the mound, shaded toward first when the ball is pulled. Plus he has very good range, which adds to the effect. Ben Zobrist of the Rays also benefits from the advanced positioning the Maddonites employ. I think both he and Barney are excellent fielders that get extra credit from cutting-edge defensive ideas.

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   1. Doug Post authorSeptember 13, 2012 at 1:16 pm

      Thanks tag,

      Glad to hear from someone who’s seen him play a bit.

      No doubt part of the reason (perhaps even a large part) why 7 of the 16 best second base seasons (second list) are from the past 9 years.

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      1. Hartvig September 14, 2012 at 4:49 am

         I smell the makings of the next Moneyball in there somewhere.

         Great stuff.

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         1. tag September 14, 2012 at 5:05 am

            Yeah, I think some work has already been done on the Rays in this regard: how it was mostly defense that raised them from worst to first in (when?) 2008. They have to be doing something right in the field because they sure don’t hit very well. I watched a couple innings of their loss last night (another one-run O’s win!) and it was almost painful.

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3. brp September 13, 2012 at 3:04 pm

   I would love to see the Cubs move Barney to SS, where his weak hitting and OBP could be hidden a bit, and move Castro to 2B or 3B and mitigate his defensive lapses.

   In other words, yes, Barney is a very good 2B defender and would certainly be a good SS.

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   1. tag September 14, 2012 at 5:13 am

      Barney of course, like a lot of 2B, came up as a SS and probably would be excellent there in the bigs as well. But I don’t see the Cubs moving Castro to 2B. 3B maybe. It looks like he’s trying to drive the ball more now, whether of his own initiative or because the coaches are instructing him to. Thus far it hasn’t resulted in much except for more warning track outs, fewer doubles and a lower average/OBP. But if he can boost his HRs into the 20s and SLG% solidly above .450 he’d probably be a much better long-term solution at 3B than SS.

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4. John Nacca September 13, 2012 at 9:04 pm

   I had to read the sentence that included “one error” about four times….THEN had to go and check his bbref page for clarification. That is just insane!

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