Kevin Kouzmanoff Should Not Win a Gold Glove This Season
August 16th, 2009 | Published in Daniel Gettinger, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Padres, baseball, fielding, player evaluation | 11 Comments
by Daniel Gettinger
Last week, Corey Brock pointed out Kevin Kouzmanoff has the highest “fielding percentage of any Major League third baseman (.988) and the fewest errors (3).”
Brock argued, “the number of errors and fielding percentage the Padres’ third baseman has in 2009 certainly show that he should be, at the very least, in the discussion for the holy grail of awards for fielders.”
I disagree.
Kouz’s lack of errors are great, but not making errors on balls a player gets to is only one component of defense. The other major defensive component for a third baseman is range. And Kouzmanoff does not have great range. UZR feels Kouzmanoff’s range has been -1.4 runs below average.
His overall UZR of 2.3 (3.4 UZR/150), seems about right to me. It reflects Kouz’s consistency on balls he gets to (4.1 errors runs above average), but dings him for his below average range.
Baseball Prospectus is even harsher. Their fielding metric sees Kouzmanoff’s fielding as about 5 runs below average this season.
The problem with fielding metrics is they are not very precise. Over long periods of time, they seem to do a pretty decent job, but even a sample of 115 games (the number of games Kouz has played this season) is not sufficient to reach any definite conclusions.
That said, in 2008, UZR saw Kouzmanoff as 2.7 runs above average. Like this season, Kouz made few errors, but displayed only passable range in 2008. Based on his stats this year, as well as last year, I feel comfortable stating that Kevin Kouzmanoff has been a slightly above average fielder this season and projects to play the same way the remainder of the season.
Average fielding is fine, but it is not gold glove worthy. The N.L. gold glove winner at third base should be Ryan Zimmerman. It is not a close call.
Due to his phenomenal range, UZR feels Zimmerman has been 16 runs above average with the glove this season. Zimmerman’s past suggests such a positive UZR may not be a fluke. He struggled with injuries last year, but in 2007, Zimmerman was 17.4 runs above average at third base.
No other N.L. third basemen is within 10 runs (approximately one win) of Zimmerman defensively. Pedro Feliz and Casey Blake, both of whom trail Zimmerman but lead Kouzmanoff in UZR, have been 4.7 and 4.3 runs above average defensively.
Kouzmanoff has been solid with the glove, but to even consider him for the gold glove is ludicrous considering how good Zimmerman has been. Limiting errors is great, but getting to the ball is important as well.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:24 pm (#)
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
August 17th, 2009 at 12:53 am (#)
With just 3 NL 3rd baseman with a better UZR and the fact that most of the people who vote for the Gold Glove do not take UZR into account, there is a good chance and a good argument for Kouzmanoff being “in the discussion” for the Gold Glove.
Double digit errors without having a proportional number more TC than Kouzmanoff would indicate that he is doing a great job compared to the others you mentioned.
Does that mean I think he is the best fielding 3B in the NL this season? No, but he definitely deserves to be in the discussion.
Since the Gold Glove has been more about offense and popularity than actual defensive prowess for a very long time, I don’t think Kouzmanoff has any shot at winning it.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:07 am (#)
Might Kouz be in the discussion for gold glove? Yes. Should he be? No. Zimmerman is too good, and Kouz is too average.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm (#)
Kouzmanoff seems to be the front office’s favorite player, based on all of the ridiculous partial information that they keep putting out on him.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:20 am (#)
Zimmerman has double digit errors while Kouzmanoff has 3 and most people don’t give a rats ass about UZR. Granted Zimmerman has better range, but he boots more balls.
To the vast majority of people it doesn’t matter that he got outs on plays Kouzmanoff wouldn’t have gotten to. All they will see is 13 errors vs 3.
THAT is why Kouzmanoff WILL be in the discussion.
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:26 am (#)
Maybe Zimmerman has more Errors because the uzr stat indicates he gets to more balls than Kouzmanoff.I can tell you from what I’ve seen this year that Zimmerman sure does make a lot of spectacular plays. Is that a reason for him getting the Gold Glove? Well, in todays age of ESPN’s top plays on TV — maybe so.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:09 am (#)
Zimm, doesn’t “boot” balls. His errors are on throws because he throws on the run so often. If Kouz got the other 106 balls that Zimmerman got to this year I have a feeling he might have made more than 3 errors.
Total Chances
1. Zimmerman (WAS) — 404
2. LaRoche (PIT) — 367
3. Feliz (PHI) — 364
4. Blake (LAD) — 333
5. Wright (NYM) — 307
(Notable) 6. Kouzmanoff (SD) — 298
September 8th, 2009 at 10:21 am (#)
There seem to be two discussions going on:
1. Who should win based on objective criteria. That’s Zimmerman, and it’s not close. Insane UZR.
2. Who will win, based on historic voting trends. It’s true that voters sometimes tend to focus on error totals, but there are many cases of the player with the lower error total “losing” the Gold Glove — and sometimes whining about it. Luckily, Zimmerman is having a terrific year at the plate, too, which seems to be more important to GG voting than error totals.
Kouz will be in the discussion, because in many years he’d be a strong candidate on more advanced measures (fourth in UZR, second in UZR/150) and he has the historically low error total. But if the voters have any sort of collective brain, he’ll be in the discussion only because you can’t discuss candidates, plural, unless there’s more than one of them. Zimmerman has already won the Cadillac. The other guys are fighting for the set of steak knives.
September 8th, 2009 at 2:47 pm (#)
Tom-I agree with you re: the two discussions. Personally, I find the second discussion (who will win) to be uninteresting. Gold glove voters have routinely demonstrated that they, as a collective group, do not know how to evaluate defensive excellence.
September 8th, 2009 at 4:42 pm (#)
Daniel, upon further review of comments in other places, it looks like some Padre fans really do believe that Kouzmanoff is a legitimate candidate for the Gold Glove on his own merits. Crazy is too strong a word, but it’s in the ballpark.
From a strategic standpoint I hope Kouz does win it, because it gives Towers a clear choice in the “trade the 3b with the most value” decision.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:10 pm (#)
You are a fucking idiot. Kouz is the best fucking third baseman in baseball dipshit. Grow a fucking cock and get things striaght dumbass…