The Nationals outfield has the best defense in baseball. According to outs above average. And they are first by a wide margin. In fact, it’s the largest gap between first and second place since they have been measuring (albeit only 4 years).
https://www.mlb.com/news/nationals-outfield-defense-has-become-a-strength Again, the "record" here is very short. Statcast came online in 2015, and Outs Above Average is available from 2016 on. We are not talking about a great deal of history. And yet, because the '18 Nationals were a net negative, ranking 26th at -16, there was a lot of room to grow. Grow they have.
+40 -- 2019 Nationals (from -16 OAA to +24)
+30 -- 2018 Pirates (from -13 OAA to +17)
+29 -- 2018 Brewers (from +1 OAA to +30)
+28 -- 2017 Twins (from +6 OAA to +34)
+27 -- 2018 Braves (from -5 OAA to +22)
Last year, as Bryce Harper neared and reached free agency, an endless amount of digital ink was spilled on the topic of Harper's poor defensive performance. Only four outfielders rated worse in OAA than his -13, and two of them (Daniel Palka, Minors; Rhys Hoskins, first base) don't even play the outfield regularly any longer. That -13, as you can imagine, was a big part of Washington's -16, though as you'll see, it was about a lot more than just Harper.
(In Harper's defense: As we investigated over the winter, his poor defensive play didn't seem to be about lack of skill, just lack of execution. In his first year with Philadelphia, he's improved all the way to +1 OAA.)
It's also about Soto and Adam Eaton improving
Harper aside, the 2018 Nationals had a few issues in the outfield. Eaton and Soto each checked in -6 OAA, giving Washington three of the 17 lowest-ranked qualified outfield defenders.
This year, Eaton has gone from -6 to +1. Soto has gone from -6 to +6. Soto's turnaround of 12 OAA is the third-largest in baseball behind Nicholas Castellanos (-24 to -6) and Harper (-13 to -1). Eaton is just outside the top dozen.
Recent Posts
