[分享] Bogaerts近兩年守備能力逆齡大幅提升

文章出處：https://reurl.cc/o77b8g

The Padres needed Xander Bogaerts to be rock-solid at shortstop this season.

And not because they didn’t have shortstop defense elsewhere on their roster. Quite the opposite. They had too much of it.

Ha-Seong Kim remains an elite shortstop playing second base. Stick Fernando Tatis Jr. back at short, and he's still capable of the spectacular.

Now, imagine the questions that would’ve been raised had Bogaerts arrived in
San Diego and struggled defensively (as he did for much of his early tenure in Boston).

Instead, through 2 1/2 months, Bogaerts' glove has done the talking. He's made seemingly every routine play, while also showcasing a bit of range. Enteringplay Thursday, Bogaerts ranked fourth among all shortstops in Statcast's OutsAbove Average. He hasn't committed an error since April and has been particularly strong coming in on the baseball.

"Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses," manager Bob Melvin said. "What he does is he does everything on the run really well and throws from different arm angles. That's just kind of been who he is his whole career. He attacksthe baseball and does a lot of stuff on the move, which you don't see a ton of in the game."

Shortstops don’t typically get better with age. Bogaerts appears to be an exception -- in large part because he's embraced those strengths.

A poor defensive shortstop by most metrics during his early years with the Red Sox, Bogaerts overhauled his approach to the position two summers ago.

"I feel comfortable coming in, because I know the hops I can get from the drills that I do," Bogaerts said. "If I get a bad hop, I still feel like with theright mechanics and the right habits that you create, I can still get it."

Bogaerts' method is not the what you'd teach in Little League. He rarely setshimself before fielding, preferring to charge the ball and pick it. He also rarely sets himself before throwing, preferring instead to pick and throw in the same motion. His release is quick. Per OAA, only Wander Franco has been better at short on balls "in" this year.

There are risks to having so many moving parts. But two summers ago, Bogaertsdidn't like what the metrics told him about his defense. So he started takingthose risks. Turns out, given his skill set, they weren’t really risks at all. He honed his pre-pitch, so he was more upright and agile at contact -- moreable to charge. From there, he worked intently on picking those short- and medium-hops on the run, rather than letting the ball play him.

The moving parts all started to fit. Midseason in 2021, his defensive runs saved sat at -13. It finished at -5.

"Which actually means that I was plus-8, but no one was seeing that, because they just see the final number," Bogaerts said. "So going into last year, I was like, 'Damn, I'm very excited to see if this is for real.'"

It was for real. And the Padres whole-heartedly believed it -- which is why they’re paying him to play shortstop on a team full of shortstops. The strategy has paid off. The Padres’ five-shortstop lineup is thriving. Kim has been perhaps the sport's best defensive second baseman, worth seven OAA himself. JakeCronenworth and Manny Macahdo are two of the best corner defenders in the sport. And Tatis has been brilliant in right field.

By any measure, the Padres have been one of the best defensive units in baseball this season, and Bogaerts' transformation has been integral to that

簡要翻譯：
大致上就是說通常游擊手的守備一但到了近30歲就很難逆齡增長
但XB在兩年前的夏天開始拋棄過往他在小聯盟養成的守備習慣
例如過往接球方面他習慣等球打出再做反應
現在改變成在投手投出前就Set好
讓他更有餘裕去增加移動範圍主動去處理球
在傳球方面也大致上是如此
更加快出手的簡潔度
過往他習慣接傳的動作在same motion

數據面上也顯示他這兩年的改變得到了相當大的回饋
2021年季中時他的DRS是-13
結果他整季下來此項數據已經進步成-5
但多數人還是拿-5這數據說XB的守備還是很爛
然而在2022年證明這些改變是貨真價實的
2022年他的DRS及OAA皆為+5
文中也說教士的管理層也堅信這些的改變是真的
才願意冒著極大風險簽下他

本季一直到目前為止
他在OAA的表現上甚至名列全MLB游擊手第4（一度是第一）
四月以後就未曾再出現過失誤（0.991守備率/2次失誤）
他在出手傳球速度這塊上全聯盟甚至只輸給Wander Franco
靠著這項優勢彌補臂力上的不足

這也讓教士可以組出更好的防守陣容
讓守游擊就是金手套級別的阿金轉守二壘
Cronenworth移到一壘跟抹茶組成強悍的一三壘守備
Tatis也就不用急著回SS
放RF反而變成金手套等級的守備者

心得：
過去都被認為是靠棒子在守游擊的XB
守備在已經30歲時卻逆齡成長實屬不易
不過本季wRC+在今天賽前只有112
跟過往5季最低也有129有一段不小的差距
就看之後能否慢慢把打擊能力也找回來

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