FanPost

Pirates Defense: First 2011 UZR Numbers Released

Fangraphs has the first two weeks worth of 2011 UZR data up on its leaderboards today. Obviously, such a small sample size is inconsequential in the long term, but it does tell us a little bit about the range we've seen so far. Predictably, there is both good news and bad news. Keep in mind that these numbers are often very inflated for being so early on in the year.

The good:

-CF Andrew McCutchen has a 16.5 runs above average UZR/150, basically flipped from his totals last year. That's seventh in the league.

-LF Jose Tabata is at 29.3. That's fourth best behind defensive wizards Delmon Young, Carlos Lee, and Logan Morrison. Okay, not really, but Tabata seems a lot less likely to fall flat on his face in the field as those three.

-SS Ronny Cedeno is at 2.1. I think we can all agree that he's been terrible in the field, but maybe it is mental if he has good range.

-RF Matt Diaz is at 47.8. That will obviously be a huge regression, but he's been okay so far.

The okay:

--3B Pedro Alvarez is at -6.5, which is lousy but still represents an improvement on what we all expected.

-2B Neil Walker is at -9.1, which is also lousy but an improvement on last year.

The bad:

-1B Lyle Overbay is near the bottom of the league at -11.6. He will most likely improve on that, though.

-RF Garrett Jones is at -16.1. Gorkys Hernandez is salivating.

All in all, we can draw that McCutchen and Tabata are going to be pretty good fielders. Cedeno, Diaz, and Overbay are up in the air. Walker, Jones, and Alvarez will all be below average, but we don't know by how much.

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