Did You Know? – Derek Jeter and Red Sox Shortstops

fenfan — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Last week, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter announced that he would retire at the end the 2014 baseball season after 20 years in baseball. The Yankees captain and future first ballot Hall of Fame candidate has been a fixture in the New York lineup since 1996, playing an average of 144 games per season; that figure jumps to 153 if you discount his injury-plagued 2013 campaign in which he managed just 17 games due to injury.

His career appearances at shortstop is by and far the most by a player in a Yankees uniform; Phil Rizzuto is a distant second with 1647 appearances, while Frankie Crosetti is third with 1516. He has also played the most games of anyone in a Yankees uniform, 2602, which is over 200 more than the great Mickey Mantle.

In contrast, over the same time period, the shortstop position has been remarkably fluid for the Boston Red Sox, especially since 2004 when the team traded away perennial All-Star Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline. Since 2005, no player has held that role for longer than two seasons and only one player has started at least 150 games in a single season.

The following is a season-by-season comparison of Jeter’s statistics, including adjusted OPS (OPS+), range factor per nine innings (RF/9), which measures the average number of outs in which a player participated over nine innings, and wins above replacement (WAR). All statistics are compiled from Baseball-Reference.com.

Year	G	GS	OPS+	RF/9	WAR
1996	157	156	101	4.52	3.3
1997	159	159	103	4.45	4.9
1998	149	148	127	4.25	7.5
1999	158	158	153	4.00	8.0
2000	148	148	128	4.12	4.6
2001	150	150	124	3.81	5.1
2002	157	156	111	3.81	3.7
2003	119	118	125	3.74	3.5
2004	154	154	114	4.46	4.2
2005	159	157	125	4.76	3.8
2006	154	149	132	4.14	5.5
2007	156	153	121	4.02	3.9
2008	150	147	102	4.05	3.0
2009	153	147	125	3.90	6.6
2010	157	150	90	3.78	1.8
2011	131	121	100	3.61	0.9
2012	159	133	114	3.76	2.2
2013	17	13	51	4.10	-0.7

In comparison, the following is a list of Red Sox players who have made the most starts at short by season since 1996.

Player	Year	G	GS	OPS+	RF/9	WAR
John Valentin	1996	131	117	104	4.67	3.1
Nomar Garciaparra	1997	153	152	123	4.68	6.6
Nomar Garciaparra	1998	143	143	140	4.52	7.1
Nomar Garciaparra	1999	135	133	153	4.52	6.6
Nomar Garciaparra	2000	140	136	156	4.58	7.4
Mike Lansing	2001	106	71	77	4.09	0.1
Nomar Garciaparra	2002	156	153	127	4.61	6.8
Nomar Garciaparra	2003	156	155	121	4.43	6.1
Pokey Reese	2004	96	58	46	4.88	1.3
Edgar Renteria	2005	153	150	89	4.35	1.4
Alex Gonzalez	2006	111	110	75	4.36	1.1
Julio Lugo	2007	147	139	65	4.21	0.6
Julio Lugo	2008	82	79	79	3.70	0.1
Nick Green	2009	104	74	72	4.22	0.1
Marco Scutaro	2010	150	131	92	3.83	2.6
Marco Scutaro	2011	113	102	110	4.03	2.7
Mike Aviles	2012	136	123	77	4.68	0.2
Stephen Drew	2013	124	122	111	4.18	3.1

In terms of offensive value, Jeter has by far had better numbers in terms of adjusted OPS when compared to his Boston counterpart, made even more noticeable since Garciaparra’s departure. The high water mark for the Red Sox since 2004 was last season, when Drew posted an OPS+ of 111, just slightly better than Scutaro’s 110 in 2011.

In terms of defensive value, Jeter has rarely posted numbers much better than his Red Sox counterpart in terms of range factor per nine. Only twice in the past 18 seasons has Jeter posted a better average than his Boston counterpart.

Overall, Jeter’s wins above replacement, which measures both offensive and defensive value, have been considerably better; only two Red Sox shortstops have posted a WAR better than 2.0 — again, Drew (2013) and Scutaro (2010 and 2011).

alex gonzalez – fenwayfanatics.com

Did You Know? – Derek Jeter and Red Sox Shortstops