Can someone explain to me exactly the meaning of grades for fielding range?

The grades range from A+ to D-.  Logically, a grade of C would be the overall average for that position.  C+ to A+ would be above average, C- to D- would be below average.  Am I correct?

In the past week, I have had 2 A+ and 1 A range fielders make poor plays.  1976 George Brett (C/A) made a poor play.  2009 Albert Pujols (B-/A+) through the first 30 games had more poor plays (1) than good plays (0).  1970 Bobby Murcer (A/A+) had 2 errors and 1 poor play in the same game!  And 1904 Nap Lajoie (C/C+)  just completed a season with 1 good play and 5 poor plays.  (That tells me C+ is well below average...unless 1+/5- is considered better than average?)

How can any fielder playing at 100% in his primary position with an A or A+ range rating EVER make a poor play?  I would think that A+ rangers would have no poor plays even if they have a lot of good plays.

Also, other than creating more or fewer chances to make plays, do the salary cap, ballpark, or pitcher have any effect on range?

Thank you for your answers.

 

Before the last update, there was a post from admin, that defensive range is affected by the era the pitcher comes from. I believe the ideal is dead ball era fielders with steroid era pitchers. As with everything else in this sim, random chance plays a part, although I would tend to agree with your expectations and suppositions. There also has been various threads where managers selected primo defensive players and charted their progress through the season. jfranco77 most recently had an excellent thread, and Winnetka suggested beginning a league in which we would accept certain parameters to draft within, and chart our seasons.

Posted by believeit on 9/5/2010 5:13:00 AM (view original):

Can someone explain to me exactly the meaning of grades for fielding range?

The grades range from A+ to D-.  Logically, a grade of C would be the overall average for that position.  C+ to A+ would be above average, C- to D- would be below average.  Am I correct?

In the past week, I have had 2 A+ and 1 A range fielders make poor plays.  1976 George Brett (C/A) made a poor play.  2009 Albert Pujols (B-/A+) through the first 30 games had more poor plays (1) than good plays (0).  1970 Bobby Murcer (A/A+) had 2 errors and 1 poor play in the same game!  And 1904 Nap Lajoie (C/C+)  just completed a season with 1 good play and 5 poor plays.  (That tells me C+ is well below average...unless 1+/5- is considered better than average?)

How can any fielder playing at 100% in his primary position with an A or A+ range rating EVER make a poor play?  I would think that A+ rangers would have no poor plays even if they have a lot of good plays.

Also, other than creating more or fewer chances to make plays, do the salary cap, ballpark, or pitcher have any effect on range?

Thank you for your answers.

 

So an A or A+ range player can never, ever, ever make an error or a bad play if at 100%?  Everybody makes mistakes, regardless of their abilities or rested state.  The best make them less frequently, to be sure, but mistakes still occur.  And who's to say the poor play was a result of range?  It may have been a result of fielding instead (unless the engine only uses range to determine poor plays; I admit I don't know enough about the programming of the site to know if that's the case).

As for making multiple poor plays, statistically that's going to happen.

"Good" and "Poor" plays are range issues. Always. (The fielding equivalent of a "poor play" is called an "error".)

Thanks for the education, uncleal.  Question, though (and maybe the site doesn't make this distinction).  Say a ball is hit right to an infielder who bobbles it; he gets the ball to second to force the runner from first, but because of his bobble they can't turn the DP.  No error is given (you never assume a double play), but the batter/runner reached because of the bobble.  That wouldn't be considered a poor play?

As for the original question - still, poor plays by great fielders can occur; even great center fielders may break the wrong way on a fly hit right at them, for example.  Being A++++++ means you're the best, not perfect.

Posted by believeit on 9/5/2010 5:13:00 AM (view original):

Can someone explain to me exactly the meaning of grades for fielding range?

The grades range from A+ to D-.  Logically, a grade of C would be the overall average for that position.  C+ to A+ would be above average, C- to D- would be below average.  Am I correct?

In the past week, I have had 2 A+ and 1 A range fielders make poor plays.  1976 George Brett (C/A) made a poor play.  2009 Albert Pujols (B-/A+) through the first 30 games had more poor plays (1) than good plays (0).  1970 Bobby Murcer (A/A+) had 2 errors and 1 poor play in the same game!  And 1904 Nap Lajoie (C/C+)  just completed a season with 1 good play and 5 poor plays.  (That tells me C+ is well below average...unless 1+/5- is considered better than average?)

How can any fielder playing at 100% in his primary position with an A or A+ range rating EVER make a poor play?  I would think that A+ rangers would have no poor plays even if they have a lot of good plays.

Also, other than creating more or fewer chances to make plays, do the salary cap, ballpark, or pitcher have any effect on range?

Thank you for your answers.

 

Fielding grades are simply graduations along the contium that is relative range factor (rrf). The higher the rrf the higher chance of a "+" play on any would be hit and the lower chance of a "-" play on any would be out. If you consider "average" as a balance between + and - plays, what is average obviously would depend on pitching, ballpark and the opposing hitters. As a rough estimate average in an OL is c+ to b- at most positions. An average CF is probably b+ to a- and at corner outfield spots average is about c-.  RRF makes no practical difference at C. 

Keep in mind performance is subject to luck. Just like a .330 hitter may out hit a .370 hitter, an a- fielder may outperform an a+ guy. The longer your guys play the more likely they will regress to their mean performance. Still outliers to happen.

Lastly keep in mind that fielding grades are only a guide. It would be a good idea to look at rrfs as well as fielding. You should also know the range of a+ rrfs is huge. When these players are employed optimally they are extremely effective at preventing runs.