The Sacramento Athletics are not much to look at. They’re a rough watch — they might actually challenge the White Sox for worst team in the league. They’ve got the worst owner in the world. They abandoned Oakland to play in a minor league park on the still shaky pipe dream of playing in Las Vegas someday.
But. Wow. Denzel Clarke.
I was thinking about this: Who was the last player you went to the ballpark just to watch play defense? I used to do that for Ozzie Smith, obviously. Heck, you would want to go to the game early just to see the Wizard take infield practice. This will sound weird to some of you, but I used to love, love, love watching Rey Sánchez play shortstop for the Royals. He never won a Gold Glove*, but my gosh, that guy was a master.
I’d go to Mariners games in the hopes that Ichiro would have to make a throw.
And so on.
But that Ichiro line sort of gets at the problem: No matter how good a defensive player someone might be, greatness only comes with opportunity. If there wasn’t a challenging ball hit around shortstop, you wouldn’t get to see the Wizard’s magic. If the opportunity never came up, you wouldn’t get to see Ichiro throw. That’s what makes going to the ballpark just to see someone play defense somewhat risky.
But Denzel Clarke is taking away that risk. He does stuff like this every day, it seems.
*This is not today’s point, but I will die on this hill: From 1999 to 2001, Omar Vizquel won the American League Gold Glove each year. He didn’t deserve any of them. I am telling you, having watched both of them very closely, it’s no contest: Rey Sánchez was twice the shortstop Vizquel was. I’m not exaggerating. Twice as good. Vizquel had a below-average range factor in each of those years. Sánchez, meanwhile, LED THE LEAGUE in range factor. Vizquel was showy, and Sánchez very much wasn’t; he never throw the ball harder than he needed to get the out, never dived for a ball he couldn’t reach. But he was so smooth. He was shortstop perfection.
And I can show my work: Here’s how many defensive runs above replacement they each were according to Fangraphs:
— Vizquel (1999-01): +26.1
— Sánchez (1999-01): +90.5
Annd here’s their defensive WAR according to Baseball Reference:
— Vizquel (1999-01): 3.1 dWAR
— Sánchez (1999-01): 9.0 dWAR
Rey Sánchez might have MORE than twice as good. Again, I will die on this hill: He’s the best defensive player of the last 50 years to not get a Gold Glove.
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