What’s it all about, Rafi?

[The Red Industry]

Hummm... Red Sox are a multi-billion dollar organization and a powerful voice in the governance of the MLB association, whose official web site is MLB.COM.

If I ran the Red Sox I would not turn over the ranking of my assets to the "collective" MLB.

I would provide the ranked list in accordance with agreed association rules OR I would hold editorial control and veto power over what ever lists the MLB elected to compile and publish.

Prospects are valuable. And leaving their assessed value up to "independent" judgement is not in ownership interest.

Very little of this makes sense.

 

[judyb]

MLB.COM's prospect rankings are done by the same media types who write prospect related articles for MLB.COM, and who you see on MLB Network during the draft and when they do other prospect related shows, like Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis.

 

[DeadlySplitter]

I’m going to really miss him this weekend, he’s played his best ball against the Yanks (probably confirmation bias here)

 

[Hawk68]

These lists are for fans. Team scouts aren’t checking mlb.com to decide who they like in another team’s system. Why would a team even want anyone to know how highly or lowly they think of a given prospect?

As for trade potential, they aren’t blowing up the tax situation to acquire a 3b to cover for Devers for a couple weeks.

I think you answered your own question. The Red Sox have an interest in managing the PR aspect, and an interest in influencing potential trading partners - to the extent possible.

In the days before heavy analytics, the Dodgers were know as prospect pumpers.

 

[ookami7m]

I think you answered your own question. The Red Sox have an interest in managing the PR aspect, and an interest in influencing potential trading partners - to the extent possible.

In the days before heavy analytics, the Dodgers were know as prospect pumpers.

Either you are being willfully ignorant or your reading comprehension needs work - no one at Fenway has anything to do with these published prospect rankings. Repeat 30x for the other teams and MLB as a whole. They are journalism/opinion prices.

 

[charlieoscar]

Devers has made 20 errors in 19 games, of which the Red Sox have a 12-7 record (~102 wins for a season). As best I could determine with a quick look, his errors only accounted for unearned runs in four of those games (three of which were losses but not necessarily due to his errors).

Twenty errors is a lot for the number of games he has played but most of the damages caused by them has been extending innings and pitch counts.

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

Devers has made 20 errors in 19 games, of which the Red Sox have a 12-7 record (~102 wins for a season). As best I could determine with a quick look, his errors only accounted for unearned runs in four of those games (three of which were losses but not necessarily due to his errors).

Twenty errors is a lot for the number of games he has played but most of the damages caused by them has been extending innings and pitch counts.

Yes, but that just means that he's been lucky, or maybe more accurately, the Sox have been lucky where his errors are concerned. MLB-wide, each error is worth roughly half a run allowed (exactly 1000 unearned runs so far this year, resulting from 1848 errors).

OTOH, we need to remember how young he is. Since 1947 there have been just 13 21-year-old third basemen (70% or more of starts at 3B) with enough PA to qualify for the batting title. Here's how many errors they each made, with their fielding percentage:

Larry Parrish: 35 (.919)
Ron Santo: 31 (.937)
Eddie Mathews: 30 (.939)
Rafael Devers (pace): 30 (.929)
Gary Sheffield: 25 (.934)
Aurelio Rodriguez: 24 (.954)
Adrian Beltre: 23 (.944)
Buddy Bell: 22 (.958)
Brooks Robinson: 21 (.953)
Richie Hebner: 19 (.944)
Bob Bailey: 18 (.943)
Ryan Zimmerman: 15 (.965)
Eddie Yost: 15 (.966)

First, let's pause to notice the company he's in.

Second, while he's near the bottom of the group in both raw number of errors and fielding percentage, he's nothing like an outlier. He's within 8 percentage points of a five-time-Gold-Glove-winning Hall of Famer, and within 15 percentage points of a guy who some claim deserves consideration as the best 3B defender of all time.

In short: 3B is hard. 21-year-olds are unlikely to play it flawlessly. Give him time.

 

[charlieoscar]

In short: 3B is hard. 21-year-olds are unlikely to play it flawlessly. Give him time.

I rather thought that I was pointing out that his errors weren't especially costly.

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

I rather thought that I was pointing out that his errors weren't especially costly.

Right, and I responded by saying that this is not much comfort going forward since the Sox have been lucky, and those errors probably should have been somewhat more costly than they were...and then went on to say that this was normal and to be expected for a 21-year-old 3B, and that the Sox obviously thought his strengths were worth it (as I think most of us would agree).

The "give him time" was not directed specifically at you, but at critics of his defense in general. Sorry if that was unclear.

 

[bradmahn]

We can't only bump this thing when it's for bad stuff!

Rafi returned from the DL yesterday in Toronto and went 2-4 with a 2B, HR, and a BB. One can only hope a light DL stint helped him reset and this is the start of Second Half Raf.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

We can't only bump this thing when it's for bad stuff!

Rafi returned from the DL yesterday in Toronto and went 2-4 with a 2B, HR, and a BB. One can only hope a light DL stint helped him reset and this is the start of Second Half Raf.

He was heating up right before the injury too, slashing .368/.429/.579 during a 5 game hit streak (21 PA). Add in last nights game, and he's hitting .391/.462/.739 during his 6 game hitting streak with 3bb/3k in 26 PA. It would be nice if he could finish strong the rest of the way and finish with an above average season at the plate.

 

[BillMuellerFanClub]

Looking beyond the scorecard, it does not appear that the hamstring is impacting his play at all. He was gunned down at 2B when attempting a straight out steal, but he looked quick. He also legged out a ground out without any noticeable limp or issues with his gait. Excited to see him rebound at the plate going forward.

 

[ledsox]

One thing I noticed last night was that Devers was doing the JD deep breathing thing during his at bats. Not sure if he was doing this before but it could be that they are trying to get him to relax a bit more in the box.

 

[cheekydave]

Yes, but that just means that he's been lucky, or maybe more accurately, the Sox have been lucky where his errors are concerned. MLB-wide, each error is worth roughly half a run allowed (exactly 1000 unearned runs so far this year, resulting from 1848 errors).

OTOH, we need to remember how young he is. Since 1947 there have been just 13 21-year-old third basemen (70% or more of starts at 3B) with enough PA to qualify for the batting title. Here's how many errors they each made, with their fielding percentage:

Larry Parrish: 35 (.919)
Ron Santo: 31 (.937)
Eddie Mathews: 30 (.939)
Rafael Devers (pace): 30 (.929)
Gary Sheffield: 25 (.934)
Aurelio Rodriguez: 24 (.954)
Adrian Beltre: 23 (.944)
Buddy Bell: 22 (.958)
Brooks Robinson: 21 (.953)
Richie Hebner: 19 (.944)
Bob Bailey: 18 (.943)
Ryan Zimmerman: 15 (.965)
Eddie Yost: 15 (.966)

First, let's pause to notice the company he's in.

Second, while he's near the bottom of the group in both raw number of errors and fielding percentage, he's nothing like an outlier. He's within 8 percentage points of a five-time-Gold-Glove-winning Hall of Famer, and within 15 percentage points of a guy who some claim deserves consideration as the best 3B defender of all time.

In short: 3B is hard. 21-year-olds are unlikely to play it flawlessly. Give him time.

IM sorry had to chime in when I saw the name Aurelio Rodriguez, still have never seen anyone with a cannon like he had from third base.