Colorado’s infield: Left is all right, but right still has room to improve
ARIZ.» The left SCOTTSDALE, side of the Rockies’ infield, featuring seven-time Gold Glove winning third baseman Nolan Arenado and brilliant, slugging shortstop Trevor Story, is the best in baseball.
Manager Bud Black says so, and so do the numbers.
According to Statcast’s “Outs Above Average” metric for infield defense, Arenado and Story formed the best defensive tandem in the majors last season. Combined, Arenado and Story were worth a plus-32, with Arenado posting a plus-17 and Story a plus-15.
It’s the right side of the infield that needs to improve. Second baseman Ryan McMahon had a minus-2 OAA last season and first baseman Daniel Murphy had a minus-1.
Metrics, of course, tell only part of the story. The eye test counts for a lot, as do teammates’ confidence and trust in their infield mates. And in McMahon’s case, a steady improvement was clearly visible last season.
Yes, he committed 13 errors at second base and finished with a .972 fielding percentage that ranked eighth in the National League, but unseen in the raw statistics are the athletic plays he made and the steady growth of
his confidence.
“There are always things to clean up, but I just think getting more reps and more time is going to help me,” said McMahon, who was a third baseman and a sometime-first baseman before transitioning to second in 2017 while playing in Double-A. “I’m getting more and more comfortable with the angles and throws at second. There were some plays last year that I made harder than they had to be.”
Added Black: “When you’re a kid and you’re playing one position, one side of the infield, you become very comfortable with that. And when you move, it takes time to get comfortable. But I see Ryan, looking forward, as an above-average defender, no matter where you put him.”
Murphy was charged with nine errors last season — though it probably would have been more had at it not been for friendly scorekeepers — and his .991 fielding percentage ranked ninth in the NL. According to the analytics, Murphy, a former second baseman, played as far off the bag as any first baseman in the game. Yet there were groundballs he still didn’t get to and he wasn’t always reliable scooping throws in the dirt.
Why did the Rockies want Murphy to play so far off the bag last season?
“A lot of that was sort of analytic-driven, and we have realized that the tradeoff was not what we desired,” Black said.
In an effort to make Murphy better, the Rockies changed strategy, and they plan to play him closer to the bag.
“It’ll let him get set up a little bit sooner and it gives the other infielders a better early target,” Black said. “Positioning him closer to the bag, and cleaning up some footwork issues, will also help him.”
Murphy’s readiness is a big deal. Arenado and Story need to trust that they can attempt tough throws from tough angles.
“I think ‘Murph’ will be a better receiver of throws … from all different heights, angles and on short hops,” Black said. “We want to be able to make the bold, great throw.”
Murphy, who missed most of the first month of the season with a broken finger and then played with lingering pain after that, is confident he’ll get better.
“I think there is a good deal of improvement to come from my game at first,” he said. “Hopefully we are going to see that this year,”