really dumb question about defensive stats Topic

i'm pretty new to this, so please forgive my ignorance.  I cannot find anywhere in the WIS FAQs or in the Forums that explains to me exactly what the defensive ratings are.  if a player is rated A/C, what does the A represent and what does the C represent.  I believe that the A/C/B rating scale signifies that the catchers arm is a B, but i still cant fathom what the first two figures represent...  Range, arm, accuracy, fleetness of foot?  Please advise.  I apologize again in advance if this is a stupid question, but i cannot find any resource that explains it definitively.
8/25/2014 8:05 PM
The first letter is the fielding grade (based on fielding % relative to his peers that season), and the second is the range grade (based on RRF relative to peers that season) 
8/25/2014 8:29 PM
Skunk, thanks so much for the response.  I'm only in my second season, and i'm discovering that defense can be important....
As a follow up pair of questions: the first grade is glove, the second grade is feet?  Are the measurements on an absolute scale or relative to peers (normalized or raw)?
8/25/2014 8:44 PM
The letter grades are relative to peers.  If you do an advanced stat search though you can sort by RRF for the individual positions and Fielding % by the individual positions, and then it's easier to compare players directly to each other across all eras.
8/25/2014 8:58 PM
I have another related question, and not sure if i should start a new thread....

After reading the calculation the Rel Range Factor doesnt really seem to measure any function of defensive prowess for an individual player.  The exact stat is (PO+A)/G, essentially how many plays as a % of total team outs was the particular player involved in.... there isnt any balancing for errors or any actual determination of the amount of space a player can cover (what i thought range might mean).  In that case, a 1st baseman who plays for a team with pitchers that throw alot of strikeouts will have a lower than peer RRF even if he is a substantially better fielder.  It appears to me that most defensive stats other than %errors really dont have much value.  can anyone explain why RRF is important?
9/30/2014 3:50 PM
In the sim, the Range/RRF stat is essentially used in the determining the effectiveness of a fielder to reach a ball that is put in play. In the event tree of the AB, once the sim determines that there is a non-HR hit, it will use the Range/RRF stats to determine if a fielder turns that hit into an out (thus, granting the fielder a + play) or if an out is turned into a hit (thus, granting the fielder a - play).

Essentially, the higher the Range/RRF, the more likely that your players will receive + plays and turn hits into outs. The lower the Range/RRF, the more likely that your players will receive - plays and turn outs into hits.

WIS uses RRF to quantify their "Range" as it is about the only way they can compare players across all eras as defensive stats dating back to 1885 are tough to come by. So while it may not be perfect, it is one of the only ways that WIS can normalize defense across all era.
9/30/2014 3:58 PM
Frazz, thanks for the quick reply.  So as i understand your explanation, the RRF may in and of itself not mean much, but the sim makes it an important stat.  Please correct me if that assumption is wrong.  If not, thanks for the answer, that makes a lot of sense.
9/30/2014 4:04 PM
Posted by pfan on 9/30/2014 4:04:00 PM (view original):
Frazz, thanks for the quick reply.  So as i understand your explanation, the RRF may in and of itself not mean much, but the sim makes it an important stat.  Please correct me if that assumption is wrong.  If not, thanks for the answer, that makes a lot of sense.
This is correct. The sim uses it as part of the outcome of an at bat, and thus it is an important stat. That's why better defensive players have higher salaries. Over the course of a season, an A+ range player at the important defensive positions (SS/2B/CF) can have more than 30 "+" plays and those with good range at the other positions can bring in 25 or more "+" plays. Conversely, players with a D- range can hurt you to the tune of 25 or more "-" plays. Thus, just like fielding percentages, the higher the RRF the better.

The RRF also matters because not all A+ or D- are created equal. The letter grade may be the same, but the RRF can be very different for 2 players that are rated A+ or D-. Since the sim uses the RRF as part of the calculation. Just because they have the best/worst letter grade does not mean they are equal.
9/30/2014 5:53 PM
Frazz,
I really appreciate your input.  You are generous and well informed....
9/30/2014 7:30 PM
Most of my knowledge has come from reading the threads. If you have not yet done so, there is a wealth of information in the "Celebrating the Best of the SLB Forum" thread found here: http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?TopicID=462961&TopicsTimeframe=30 There is an entire section for defense.

Good luck with your teams.
10/1/2014 9:31 AM
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Posted by bagchucker on 10/6/2014 6:13:00 PM (view original):
wait i have another dumb question

on a percentage basis by position, who gets to how many struck balls

i assume the numbers descend from SS to 2B 3B 1B CF P LF RF C something like that

but what are the numbers



http://whatifsports.com/mlb-l/stat_snapshot.asp
10/11/2014 12:22 AM
yeah i was looking for real life numbers not sim numbers but thanks
10/15/2014 10:14 PM
what is E T/G
10/15/2014 10:27 PM

I have recently started to discount OF +/- stats, since those can be the result of holding the runner to 1 fewer base on a hit, not necessarily the result of turning a hit to an out. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. 

But if I am right, there is, in my opinion, much less value in holding the runner to a single vs double compared to a single vs out. 

10/17/2014 12:10 AM
really dumb question about defensive stats Topic

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