photo: Kolten Wong, Harrison Bader, Paul DeJong (Brett Davis/Imagn)
Our eyes tell us that the 2019 St. Louis Cardinals have addressed a number of their defensive woes from recent seasons – and the metrics back up the perception. One big reason why is the steady play of the infielders up the middle – second baseman Kolten Wong, shortstop Paul DeJong and center fielder Harrison Bader.
This week, the trio were announced as being among the National League’s top 10 defenders during the first half of the 2019 season – not at their respective positions, but across the entire league. This is according to the SABR Defensive Index, or SDI, through July 7.
In its seventh year, the consolidated metrics-based view of player performance in the field will again account for 25 percent of the annual Gold Glove Award scoring, with further updates coming during the second half and at season’s end.
No measure is the be-all, end all, which is why actual voting by managers and coaches still make up the lion’s share of the Gold Glove scoring, 75 percent. But the SDI has a solid foundation, based on not one, but a group of defensive metrics. Though some discount any single-season’s worth of fielding results, those behind the SDI originally created and refined many of the measurements and devised the Index as a blended measure of multiple stats. (SDI background can be viewed here.)
The big picture
With SDIs of 8.2 and 8.0, respectively, DeJong and Wong are fourth and fifth among all defenders – both in the NL and across MLB. Bader’s SDI of 6.1 places him 10th overall in the Senior Circuit.
Despite the lofty individual ranking, DeJong is just second at his position, with Arizona shortstop Nick Ahmed, at 12.0, MLB’s top defender across all positions.
Wong has the top SDI at second base in MLB, with D.J. LeMahieu of the Yankees, the AL leader, next at 5.7. (As many readers may know, LeMahieu, then with Colorado, won the 2018 NL Gold Glove Award over Wong and also had the higher SDI.)
In center field, Bader leads the NL. Only Minnesota’s Byron Buxton at 7.6 has a higher SDI than Bader. Buxton is also the AL leader at all positions.
How all Cardinals fared
Now, let’s look at how St. Louis Cardinals front-liners fared at their respective positions in the first half release of the SDI for the 2019 season.
The NL leaders by position are listed to the left with Cardinals’ scores next. Click on the link just above to crawl through the individual player detail, if you would like. The “Trend” field indicates whether the player’s SDI is higher or lower compared to full-season 2018.
| NL 1H 2019 | Top SDI | SDI | Cardinals 1H 2019 | SDI | Rank | Trend from 2018 |
| Pitcher | Max Fried | 3.1 | Miles Mikolas | 2.0 | 4th of 70 | up (8th, 1.3) |
| Jack Flaherty | 0.8 | 18th of 70 | not ranked | |||
| Adam Wainwright | 0.3 | T25th of 70 | not ranked | |||
| Dakota Hudson | 0.2 | T29th of 70 | not ranked | |||
| Michael Wacha | -0.3 | T47th of 70 | not ranked | |||
| Catcher | Austin Hedges | 9.1 | Yadier Molina | 3.0 | 4th of 22 | up (6th, 2.0) |
| First base | Christian Walker | 5.2 | Paul Goldschmidt | 1.4 | 6th of 18 | up (8th, 1.6) |
| Second base | Kolten Wong | 8.0 | Wong | 1st of 16 | up (2nd, 13.8) | |
| Third base | Nolan Arenado | 7.8 | Matt Carpenter | -2.8 | 17th of 19 | down (5th, 3.0) |
| Shortstop | Nick Ahmed | 12.0 | Paul DeJong | 8.2 | 2nd of 17 | up (T3rd, 6.4) |
| Left field | David Peralta | 4.7 | Marcell Ozuna | -2.0 | 17th of 19 | down (7th, 2.0) |
| Center field | Harrison Bader | 6.0 | Bader | 1st of 18 | up (2nd, 7.6) | |
| Right field | Cody Bellinger | 7.6 | Dexter Fowler | -1.2 | 9th of 15 | not ranked |
| Jose Martinez | -5.8 | 14th of 15 | down (13th, 1B) |
The Cardinals rankings show a clear delineation between a group of very good defenders and five who are not (at least according to the SDI).
The haves
Miles Mikolas has improved his already-elite standing among NL pitchers and Jack Flaherty just made the top quarter in the league. Adam Wainwright and Dakota Hudson score respectably, ranking in the top half of the NL.
Along with the aforementioned three up the middle standouts, catcher Yadier Molina has both improved his raw SDI from 2018, and ranks in the top quarter of National League catchers – at age 37.
Paul Goldschmidt moved up to sixth among NL first basemen from eighth, though is SDI is slightly down.
The have nots
Five Cardinals have negative SDIs, and not surprisingly are among the worst at their respective positions in the first half.
Michael Wacha is in the bottom half of NL pitchers, as is Dexter Fowler among right fielders.
The bottom three Cardinals are not only really low-ranked in comparison to their peers, they also carry a lower individual SDI score compared to 2018.
Matt Carpenter and Marcell Ozuna are each third from last at their respective positions. Both had positive scores and were ranked in the top half last season.
Jose Martinez is second-to-last among NL right-fielders with a -5.8 SDI, even worse than his -5.5 mark at first base last season.
In closing
In the year-to-year comparison, three of the nine Cardinals who had scores in 2018 came in with a lower SDI in the first half of 2019.
All six who improved their rankings compared to their peers also had higher SDIs this year, while Bader moved up from second to first among center fielders, but with a lower SDI.
In my view, the first-half drops of Carpenter and Ozuna are the most concerning, but neither’s ranking should be a major surprise. In right, Fowler and Martinez continue to be what they are – below average defenders.
The pitching scores and rankings are pretty good, in my opinion, with the only defensive laggard, Wacha, having already been removed from the rotation due to inconsistent and ineffective mound work.
It will be interesting to watch how these scores change during the second half, with updates usually in mid-August and again in mid-September. Final SDIs are not published until after the Gold Glove Award winners are disclosed in November.
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian on Twitter.
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