I've managed to watch about 15 innings of baseball this year. I mainly get to catch baseball on the radio only. As such, I just have no idea how our new guys look in the field. So, I want to hear some intelligent analysis of what we've seen so far. A couple prerequisites for my paying attention to your post: If you list errors or fpct only as a gauge to defensive performance, don't bother posting; If you plan to parrot what ESPN said all season or off-season long about somebody without providing anything you've actually *seen* on the field this season, spare us; If you grade a catcher's defense by CS numbers just hit the "back" button right now. Thanks!
Overall they have been solid. Bourn and Pence get to everything they should and a few they shouldn't. Bourn and Pence have decent (probably slightly above average) arms and Pence has a funky motion. Lee is mediocre at best. Fortunately for him he gets to play LF at MMP. With Pence being able to get to a lot of stuff, Bourn is able to cheat (when necessary) towards left. Infield has been solid. Tejada better than expected. Everett still made more "spectacular" plays, but Tejada has made a few of his own. No comparison with how well Matsui turns the DP as opposed to Biggio. Berkman continues to make all the plays at first. He doesn't have Bagwell's (pre shoulder injury) instinct or arm, but few did. Wigginton is better than Lamb, but that's not saying much. Hard to say on Towles. He seems to do a good job of all the little things and appears to block pitches as well as Ausmus, but then again, he never had to catch Lidge's slider. They haven't had many attempted steals against them this year so it's hard to judge his arm.
Matsui is top notch. He is an absolute joy to watch. He makes great plays and looks good doing it. Tejada is not horrible. He definitely gets to all the standard stuff. There aren't any 'OMFG!!!' moments, like with Matsui, but he's solid. He's kind of short and bulky/muscular, so I think I’ve seen a few balls just go over him that someone else could have gotten. But I guess Everett makes lots of people look bad by comparison. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Carlos Lee. He's really the only guy who I watch and am not surprised when he can't get to a ball. But since he mashes a ton, it is cool to stash him in left. I think there are far more positive moments with the bat than bad defensive plays. And he's not that bad when you compare him with some of the crappy left fielders we've seen, (like Willie Mo Pena these last couple of games). Bourn seems to play shallow. I guess that is because he is so fast. What I've seemed to notice is that he makes a lot of catches while running away from the play, but he seems to be able to turn and throw pretty quickly. The real high point, though, is Matsui, IMO. He's the only defender where when I'm watching the game and I see the ball hit at him, I go to the edge of my seat in anticipation of something extraordinary. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but he and Everett together would have been a sight to behold, and Tejada at third would have given the Astros the best infield defense in MLB.
The astros team fielding state from the hardballtimes http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/teams/ Plus/Minus Team Infield Outfield UER TE FE SB CS% Pit Fld RZR OOZ RZR OOZ RZR OOZ HOU 6 6 7 9 31% -2 -8 .838 86 .798 39 .899 47 League 14 10 12 21 27% -3 0 .832 92 .783 43 .906 48 These stats back up some of the observations. They best part of the astros defense is that they are very sure handed when the get to balls. They are 3rd in the league in fewest throwing errors and 2nd in the league in fewest fielding errors. As a team they don't have great range, but as you can see by the league averages, they still are average to slightly above area in that area. As far as catching defense they have been above average in caught stealing and have the fewest stolen bases allowed. Throwing is something that ausmus has been having troubling with the last few years, so Towles (along with the pitchers) probably deserves some of the credit.
Matsui has great range for 2B. That's why once he came over to the Mets he was a SS then transition over to 2B
As for as individuals, to repeat was some other have already said, Bourn has been terrific. .949 revised zone rating (3rd in the league among center fielders), Pence has shown good range in right (.934) but does not have a great arm. Matsui has had a few hiccups but is really a top notch defender. Tejada has been above average so far this year in both his range and his sure-handedness once he gets to balls. Wigginton is below average at third, while Blum is average to above replacement. The only really bad fielder is Lee. There is really nothing nice to say about his defense except that the astros can somewhat hide him in left field. His been bad his whole career,but as long as he can hit .300 w/ 30+hr he'll be okay.
I've been impressed with Tejada's play. I don't miss Everett at all. Matsui is a joy to watch. Bourne is fun to watch but I pull my hair out when he bats. Pence has a great arm and doesn't make many mistakes. Wiggy has been OK, he makes all the plays he's supposed to. With the way Berkman is batting who cares about his glove?! No matter what Towles is doing all I can think about is his batting average. Carlos Lee is an error waiting to happen.
