Drop whatever youāre doing, folks
I thought this was an Andrelton Simmons post, but my research appears to indicate that this is in fact a
@CalRipkenJr post.
Most everyone on this list of shortstops sorted by Rfield are not only negative in Rbat, but GRIEVOUSLY negative in Rbat. The exception is Cal Ripken, who is 4th all time in shortstop Rfield and whose 197 Rbat is higher than anyone else in the top 20ā¦
or top 30ā¦
or top 40ā¦
or top 50ā¦
or top 60ā¦
or top 70ā¦
or top 80 on the Rfield list.
The best-fielding shortstop by Rfield who *also* has a higher Rbat than Cal Ripken is the great Hall of Famer Luke Appling, who is relatively way down at 81st all time with 41 Rfield and has a whopping 223 Rbat.
Think about that: Ripken is 4th in fielding and also a more potent hitter than each of the 79 others among the 80 best-fielding shortstops by Rfield.
Cal was really an extraordinary player whose totality of skills on both sides of the ball doesnāt get talked about enough because so much emphasis is on his durability, longevity, franchise icon status, āthe streak,ā and so on.
Not enough people talk about Andrelton Simmons
⢠.263/.312/.366 (.678 OPS), 87 OPS
⢠Your modern glove-first shortstop
⢠4x Gold Glover, 3x dWAR leader
⢠1169 hits, 294 XBH, 197 Rfield
⢠36.5 WAR, 4.8 WAR per 162
⢠Likely a top 3-5 defensive SS
⢠Never struck out more than 67x
⢠Variously led in PO, A, DP, Field%
⢠But also DP, TZR, RF/9, and dWAR
⢠(Great by both analytics & eye test)
⢠Top B-R Similarity Score: Dickie Thon
⢠Career offensive year in 2017 with LAA
⢠Topped 400 assists 4x, got MVP votes 3x
⢠Simmons is third all time in career Rfield among players that made at least 75% of their career appearances at shortstop, trailing only the defensive GOATs Mark Belanger and Ozzie Smith, and he got there despite playing in fewer games than anyone else in the top 20 except Adam Everett