Comments on: Nate McLouth Is a 4th Outfielder?

By: Atlanta Braves Baseball » Blog Archive » Tuesday’s Braves Buzz

Atlanta Braves Baseball » Blog Archive » Tuesday’s Braves Buzz — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:24:41 +0000

[...] Bradbury disagrees with Joe Sheehan’s claim that Nate McLouth is a fourth [...]

By: P. W. Hjort

P. W. Hjort — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:08:37 +0000

It’s worth noting that McLouth’s UZR/150 was much better in 2009 with Pittsburgh (5.8) than it was with Atlanta (-5.6).

By: Is McLouth a fourth outfielder?

Is McLouth a fourth outfielder? — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:12:31 +0000

[...] this really so? JC Bradbury doesn’t think so, and marshalls the evidence that says otherwise. He does a decent job and seems much more invested [...]

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:36:45 +0000

We had a chat with John Dewan on a site I’m on and he was pretty adamant that you’d need three years of data to make any sort of judgment about the fielding abilities of any player. From watching McClouth I’d rate his as an average CF, not that I’m a professional scout or anything. I’d feel better if he was in LF for the Braves instead of CF.

By: Colin Wyers

Colin Wyers — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:47:53 +0000

Oriole Way, UZR and Fielding Bible Plus/Minus both are generated using BIS batted ball data. If there’s a systemic bias in the Pittsburgh data (as JC is suggesting) then they would both show the same (incorrect) result for McLouth’s defense.

That -37 result from the Fielding Bible is just too outlandish to be believed, in my opinion, at least as a measure of McLouth’s actual abilities. One season of data isn’t enough to make that determination. JC isn’t reporting opportunities here, so I can’t figure out his +/- over the full three-year period, but I’d bet it’s probably acceptable for a center fielder of his offensive capabilities.

By: The Oriole Way

The Oriole Way — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:42:12 +0000

I think its worth noting that his UZR shows very similar defensive abilities (and the intriguing distribution). Prior to this season, I would argue that McLouth was not good enough defensively to be a centerfielder, period. That means his offense would have to play at a corner, and while I think that it does, it is a much closer question than in centerfield. I think Sheehan overstates the case against McLouth, but I think you’re probably overstating the case for him.

By: Sky

Sky — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:50:55 +0000

Why does Joe jump from starting CF to 4th outfielder? How about a corner spot, where any fielding deficiencies can be hidden a bit more than in CF? Unless McLouth’s skillset can better be leveraged in CF than LF/RF, he’s probably going to rate more than ten runs better, which is the typical adjustment between CF and LF/RF.