A group that tracks every ball hit in the majors says Derek Jeter is the worst fielder in baseball.
Stats guru Bill James, author of the “Baseball Abstract,” and a panel of nine other voters, ranked Jeter 22nd among all major-league shortstops, with one calling Jeter “the least effective defensive player in the major leagues, at any position.”
Jeter received one 10th-place vote in balloting for the 2008 Fielding Bible Awards, announced yesterday. One panel member comes from Baseball Info Solutions (BIS), a group that … well, just say they do their research.
“They watched film of every major-league game, and had recorded every ball off the bat by the direction in which it was hit [the vector], the type of hit [groundball, flyball, line-drive, popup, etc.] and by how hard the ball was hit [softly hit, medium, hard hit],” according to James.
In an earlier article that appears on James’ Fielding Bible Web site, BIS ripped Jeter.
“They had analyzed the outcomes to determine who was best at turning hit balls into outs,” James wrote. “One of their conclusions was that Jeter was probably the least effective defensive player in the major leagues, at any position.”
On this year’s list, Mets hater and World Series champion Jimmy Rollins topped the list of shortstops, followed by the Brewers’ J.J. Hardy, the Braves’ Yunel Escobar, the Angels’ Erick Aybar, the Pirates’ Jack Wilson, the White Sox’ Orlando Cabrera, the Cardinals’ Cesar Iztruis, the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki, the Giants’ Omar Vizquel and the Mets’ Jose Reyes.
With the exception of Vizquel, who has 11 Gold Gloves, the rest of the group has four combined – one more than the apparently defensively challenged Jeter.
Jeter is no stranger to statistically questioned fielding. A Penn University study released in February found Jeter to be the worst shortstop in the majors.
“Maybe it was a computer glitch,” Jeter told The Post during spring training. “Every [shortstop] doesn’t stay in the same spot, every one doesn’t have the same pitching. Every one doesn’t have the same hitters running. It’s impossible to do that.”
Carlos Beltran was the only New York player to take the top spot at his position, finishing tops among center fielders. He can put this nerdy prize next to his two actual Gold Gloves.
Major League Baseball will announce this year’s Gold Glove winners this month.
The complete Fielding Bible award winners: P, Kenny Rogers, Detroit; C, Yadier Molina, Cardinals; 1B, Albert Pujols, Cardinals; 2B, Brandon Phillips, Reds; 3B, Adrian Beltre, Mariners; SS, Jimmy Rollins, Phillies; LF, Carl Crawford, Rays; CF, Carlos Beltran, Mets; RF Franklin Gutierrez, Indians.