Fan Fielding Survey Update

Last November, I posted a summary of Tangotiger’s fan fielding survey. He asked fans to rate the fielding skills of players on their favorite teams just based on observation. He instructed them not to use any stats at all. He also urged them not to vote based on what somebody else told them. He wanted them to just use their own eyes. They were the scouts. As you can see on the ballot, fans were asked to scout players on reaction/instincts, acceleration/first few steps, speed, hands, release/footwork, throwing accuracy and throwing strength.

I thought it was a very interesting survey but, at the time, less than 10 Detroit Tiger fans had participated. So the results were not as meaningful as those for some other teams who had more fan participation. So I encouraged more Tiger fans to participate and now a total of about 30 fans are included in the database.

Tom (aka Tangotiger) was kind enough to update the Tiger results on his site and he wants to thank everyone for their participation. Now that there is a reasonable sample size, the data should be more meaningful. I am including a brief summary of the results for Detroit Tiger players below. A more detailed summary for the Tigers and all other teams can be seen on Tangotiger’s site.

Best Overall defense
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Placido Polanco
3. Brandon Inge

Reaction/Instincts
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Placido Polanco
2. Brandon Inge

Acceleration/first few steps
1. Nook Logan
2. Ivan Rodriguez
3. Placido Polanco
3. Brandon Inge

Speed
1. Nook Logan (fans voted him #1 in all of baseball)
2. Brandon Inge
3. Omar Infante
(Tony Giarratano tied for 2^nd but included on less than half of ballots)

Hands
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Carlos Pena
3. Placido Polanco
3. Carlos Guillen

Release/Footwork
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Carlos Guillen
3. Placido Polanco

Throwing Strength
1. Brandon Inge
2. Ivan Rodriguez
3. Placido Polanco

Throwing Accuracy
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Placido Polanco
3. Carlos Guillen