Quote:
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho
I've been poking around some advanced defense and baserunning stats the past few days and came across some interesting information regarding Allen Craig.
Basically, Fangraphs' UBR has Craig rated as the WORST baserunner in baseball this year (it's based on batted ball running attempts, largely dependent on how often and successfully they advance) and one of the worst defenders in baseball.
It's not as vicious on Craig's defensive numbers as Baseball Ref, which has him at an extreme negative number this year, but it's still not pretty.
It surprised me a little because, while I haven't regarded Craig as anything better than a slightly below-average fielder, I never thought he was bottom 10 in runs saved. Same thing with his baserunning.
Thoughts?
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Sounds about right.
He's a pure station to station baserunner and a really abysmal defender. I don't know if he's regressed defensively or if I just didn't notice it last season, but he gets to
nothing, he rarely if ever makes a clean stab on a ball and he can't pick balls from the dirt worth a damn. He's a really bad defensive player. The station to station baserunning thing wouldn't be quite as bad if he wasn't prone to making an inexplicable out every week or so.
Combine it with his power outage this season and I've been quite disappointed in Craig's performance so far.
He has a lot more to offer, IMO. Playing like he is, he's a 1.5-2 WAR player. That's not good enough for a cleanup hitter and 1b on one of the best teams in the league.