Yuniesky Betancourt: What value does he bring to the team? (part 1)

[wcswimmer712]

I know it's early and I know the sample size is tiny, but what are people's impressions of Yuniesky's defense at SS?

With the rep he was getting this offseason I must say I'm pleasantly surprised. Range is average but he has been pretty solid otherwise. Quick on the double play turns as well.

[Ennder]

I think he has been pretty terrible, like he has bricks in his pants. Haven't seen him make a play that wasn't right to him though if the play is right to him he seems to do a decent job. I can pretty easily see why he costs his teams 8 or 9 runs a year from his poor range.

[cwolf2012]

From everything I've seen, he looks pretty darn lazy when trying to range in either direction. Decent arm, pretty good at turning 2.

 

I have not been pleasantly surprised with his range in the least. He looks every bit the same statuesque player he has been his whole career, but that's my perception.

[Menotti80]

With ground balls hit to him within his range, he has been just about flawless. i also havent seem one bad throw to 1st either (or second). i also think he turns the double play well too.

 

yes, his range is not good at all, but i came into this season expecting him to be letting balls go between his legs, throwing balls into the first base dugout/stands, and tripping over his shoelaces - based on how critical everyone was about him.

[logan82]

I think he looks like he is playing at half speed. Like you practice to get your technique down.

[topper09er]

Range is average....

This would imply half of the major league SS have worse range than he does, but to me it looks like 0 SS have worse range than he does, including Jeter.

[wisconsinfan47]

Considering how low I set my expectations for his D, I think he's actually been okay.

 

Better arm, release, and athleticism than I had anticipated, but any ball to his left or right and it looks like he's running in sand. Overall, I think he just may avoid being the worst regular in baseball, which is actually more than I expected.

[owbc]

I'll deal with the range problems. It is paramount that he continues makes the easy plays. Errors on routine plays are what get pitchers rattled and leads to big innings. If a few grounders get past a diving (flopping) Betancourt, it's not the end of the world.

 

He's also already drawn 2 walks--he'll surpass his career high of 23 easily at this pace ;-)

[RockCoCougars]

I think he's done better than expected at short, he seems to make all the routine plays just fine. He's no great shakes, but he could morph into Ozzie Smith v2.0 and there would still be haters. Offensively he needs to improve some, but I'm willing to give him some time. At any rate, at least he's been putting the bat on the ball and basically performing up to what Escobar and/or Counsell have been doing over the past year plus.

[TooLiveBrew]

He's no great shakes, but he could morph into Ozzie Smith v2.0 and there would still be haters.

 

No he can't, and no there wouldn't.

[endaround]

And Betancourt could trip over his own feet every play and some would still defend him to be contrary for the sake of being contrary.. He has no range and his release is slow. He has a strong accurate arm and that is about it.

[pitchleague]

ennder pretty much said what I was going to say. When a ball is hit right to him, I've been impressed because I was fearing the worst (i.e. booting the ball, throwing errors) but he's done a good job with those.

 

When it's not hit right to him, though, oh boy! Is he slow! Last night, the 2nd Pirates hit really showed it to me. Off the bat it looked like a double play ball since it was hit fairly slow and hit to where most shortstops can get to it quickly, toss to the 2nd baseman, and at least get one out. He didn't even come close to it, almost like he was playing deep in the hole instead of in double play position.

 

Also, that ball that Neil Walker hit for a 6-3 ground out that Walker nearly beat out. It was a slow bouncer up the middle hit right into the shift, with YuniB right behind the 2nd base bag. Charge the ball? Heck no, he just waited for it to roll into his glove, oblivious to the fact that it came within 6 inches of hitting the bag and bounding away from him. Yeah, he got the out, but it was way closer than it should have been.

 

So far, I'd give him a C- on defense.

[monty57]

With ground balls hit to him within his range, he has been just about flawless. i also havent seem one bad throw to 1st either (or second). i also think he turns the double play well too.

 

yes, his range is not good at all, but i came into this season expecting him to be letting balls go between his legs, throwing balls into the first base dugout/stands, and tripping over his shoelaces - based on how critical everyone was about him.

That's funny & that's about how I feel as well. He definitely doesn't have any range, but if the ball is hit to him he's fine. I have noticed the Brewers doing a lot of exaggerated shifts. Is this just Roenicke's managing style, or are they trying to compensate for Yuni's range?

[danzig6767]

Considering how low I set my expectations for his D, I think he's actually been okay.

 

Better arm, release, and athleticism than I had anticipated, but any ball to his left or right and it looks like he's running in sand.

That's been my thought watching him play defense. If the ball is to the left/right of him, it looks like he's moving in sand/mud or as if he's wearing 10 pound ankle weights.

 

His bat i'm less concerned about because quite a few shortstops are poor hitters. The problem is that most bad hitting shortstops are good defensively, kinda like how Gomez in CF makes up at least partially for his horrible bat by playing high quality defense. With Yuni, we get bent over the sink on both offense and defense except for the bit of pop in his bat.

[endaround]

Right, despite how bad his on base skills and average are Betancourt's power actually makes him slightly above average for a SS with the bat (assuming he's not as bad as he was in 2009). However his defense being so atrocious cancels all of that out making him a replacement level player.

[Tbadder]

My biggest worry is--if he keeps making the play right at him, Melvin and Roenicke won't know that he needs replacing. God I wish Gomez could play SS like he plays CF; I'd swap them out in a heartbeat.

[cwolf2012]

"So far, I'd give him a C- on defense. "

 

I'm assuming that the C- is relative to what he was expected to be, because C- would imply something around average.

[davego]

Do you think the 'Crew will start messing around with his pre-pitch placement to try to hide some of this? I got a bit of that vibe from some of the pre-game show last night and comments made by Garth.

[bjkrautk]

That's funny & that's about how I feel as well. He definitely doesn't have any range, but if the ball is hit to him he's fine. I have noticed the Brewers doing a lot of exaggerated shifts. Is this just Roenicke's managing style, or are they trying to compensate for Yuni's range?

I've been wondering about the effects of the shifts on the statistics / defense as well.

According to Fangraphs, Betancourt is credited with 11 "Out of Zone" plays in 10 games. For comparison, he has typically made between 30-50 OOZ plays over the course of a season; to have 20 - 30% of that total after 6% of the season would otherwise suggest that he's showing good range. My guess is that the zone calculations are based on the assumption of where the player would line up, such that some / most of the OOZ plays are closer to where his alignment; can anyone confirm that?

 

[jeffy]

Range is average....

This would imply half of the major league SS have worse range than he does...

 

 

He meant average amongst all humans, perhaps?

 

The mystery to me is how a guy with so little range has managed to remain a SS in the major leagues, rather than being converted to, say, a 3rd baseman.

[Baldkin]

I've been wondering about the effects of the shifts on the statistics / defense as well.

According to Fangraphs, Betancourt is credited with 11 "Out of Zone" plays in 10 games. For comparison, he has typically made between 30-50 OOZ plays over the course of a season; to have 20 - 30% of that total after 6% of the season would otherwise suggest that he's showing good range. My guess is that the zone calculations are based on the assumption of where the player would line up, such that some / most of the OOZ plays are closer to where his alignment; can anyone confirm that?

OOZ plays are based on % of plays made in a given zone. They are not given any context as to where the SS was positioned before the pitch. All the shifts would easily give Yuni a ton of OOZ plays.

[DHonks]

What is tough is when 12 hoppers up the middle get through to CF...I've been quietly impressed with Yuni so far. He's showing some potential. What is annoying is that when he doesn't have a chance for the ball, he doesn't even try....kind of like Carlos Lee or Braun. The end result is the same, but our perspectives get skewed. Usually shortstops go after everything

[DuWayne Steurer]

. Offensively he needs to improve some, but I'm willing to give him some time.

Is there anything he's done to suggest the next 150 or so at bats are going to be any different than the last 3000?

 

At what point has a guy had enough at bats to prove that he completely sucks offensively?

 

I keep reading about the power he'll provide, but he's had exactly ONE season with double digit homeruns, and there's no indicator that he'll do it again.

[logan82]

Errors on routine plays are what get pitchers rattled and leads to big innings.

 

Missing easy grounders also leads to big innings.

 

I've been wondering about the effects of the shifts on the statistics / defense as well.

 

They don't count plays with shifts in UZR.

[brettac1]

I'm with RoCo... the dude can't hit. I'd say that's fairly established by now.