And Finally the Left Fielders

In previous posts, I took the Revised Zone Rating (RZR) and Out-of-Zone Plays (OOZ) metrics listed at FanGraphs and converted them to runs based on an algorithm developed by Colin Wyers a few years ago.  Links to these posts are provided below:

• Overview of RZR, OOZ

• Conversion of RZR, OOZ to runs

• Shortstops 

• Second basemen

• Third basemen

• Center fielders

• First basemen 

• Right fielders

Now, I'm going to to do the run conversion for left fielders.  Table 1 below contains the following information for 15 MLB left fielders with 800 or more innings in 2012:

• Inn = Innings

• RZR = Revised Zone Rating

• OOZ = Out-of-Zone Plays

• PIZAA =  Plays in Zone Above Average

• OOZAA = Out-of-Zone Plays Above Average

• PMAA = Total Plays Above Average

• RSAA = Runs Saved Above Average 

Twins left fielder Josh Willingham led the majors with +9 Runs Saved Above Average.  He was followed by Alex Gordon of the Royals and Desmond Jennings of the Rays at +8.  The worst left fielder by this metric was Matt Holliday of the Cardinals (-20).  No Tigers are included in the table because they did not have anyone with played 800+ innings.  For what it's worth with such a small sample size, Andy Dirks (+2) and Quintin Berry (+1) were right around average on this metric in under 500 innings.   

Table 1: Runs Saved by MLB Left Fielders According to RZR, OOZ, 2012

Player	Team	Inn	RZR	OOZ	PIZ AA	OOZ AA	PMAA	RSAA
Josh Willingham	MIN	1,027	.924	66	5	6	11	9
Alex Gordon	KCR	1,424	.913	89	4	6	10	8
Desmond Jennings	TBR	932	.943	58	6	4	9	8
Ryan Braun	MIL	1,318	.934	78	8	1	9	7
Dayan Viciedo	CHW	1,093	.931	60	6	-4	3	2
Melky Cabrera	SFG	898	.904	53	1	1	2	1
Ryan Ludwick	CIN	929	.942	46	7	-8	-1	-1
Martin Prado	ATL	985	.914	51	2	-7	-4	-3
Carlos Gonzalez	COL	1,127	.853	68	-7	2	-5	-4
Rajai Davis	TOR	856	.851	51	-6	1	-5	-4
David Murphy	TEX	913	.882	50	-2	-3	-5	-4
Alfonso Soriano	CHC	1,183	.882	66	-3	-3	-6	-5
J.D. Martinez	HOU	833	.824	42	-8	-7	-14	-12
Jason Kubel	ARI	1,061	.854	47	-7	-15	-22	-18
Matt Holliday	STL	1,312	.881	56	-3	-21	-24	-20

Data source: FanGraphs.com