Alex Gordon, Christian Yelich Saved Most Runs In Left Field

Christian Yelich excelled in left field for the Marlins in 2014
(Photo credit:Zimbio.com)

In previous posts, I looked at the Revised Zone Rating (RZR) and Out-of-Zone Plays (OOZ) metrics listed at FanGraphs.  Links to these posts are provided below:

• Conversion of RZR, OOZ to runs (from 2012)

• Right fielders

• Center fielders

Now, I'm going to to do the above conversion for left fielders.  Table 1 below contains the following information for left fielders with 800 or more innings in 2014: 

• 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

Royals left fielder Alex Gordon was the MLB leader in RSAA (+23) followed by Christian Yelich of the Marlins (+22).  Both outfielders were better on out-of-zone plays than in-zone plays: Gordon (+24 PIZAA, +4 OOZA) and Yelich (17, 10).

The worst left fielder according to these metrics was Domonic Brown of the Phillies with -19 RSAA.  He was +1 on plays in the zone, but -23 outside the zone.  

Two Tigers outfielders had positive results playing less that 700 innings in left field: Rajai Davis (+8 RSAA) and J.D. Martinez (+4).  Keep in mind though that defensive measures are not reliable with small sample sizes.

Table 1: Runs Saved by MLB Left Fielders According to RZR, OOZ, 2014

Player	Team	Inn	RZR	OOZ	PIZ AA	OOZ AA	PMAA	RSAA
Alex Gordon	KCR	1,372	.900	106	4	24	28	23
Christian Yelich	MIA	1,182	.938	88	10	17	27	22
Dustin Ackley	SEA	1,130	.929	77	8	10	18	15
Khris Davis	MIL	1,156	.904	74	4	5	9	7
Alejandro De Aza	- - -	1,035	.869	70	-3	8	5	4
Brett Gardner	NYY	1,067	.891	63	1	-1	0	0
Matt Holliday	STL	1,280	.916	66	6	-10	-4	-4
Yoenis Cespedes	- - -	1,090	.865	63	-3	-2	-5	-5
Chris Coghlan	CHC	812	.848	47	-5	-1	-7	-5
Starling Marte	PIT	943	.844	54	-5	-2	-7	-6
Justin Upton	ATL	1,319	.876	73	-2	-6	-8	-6
Corey Dickerson	COL	803	.796	51	-12	3	-9	-7
Michael Brantley	CLE	931	.859	49	-3	-7	-10	-8
Melky Cabrera	TOR	1,134	.872	59	-2	-9	-11	-9
Domonic Brown	PHI	1,041	.888	39	1	-23	-23	-19

Data source: FanGraphs.com