So the Atlanta Braves - and Freeman - really want to do this

This is all about a catharsis. A process in which cleansing of bad thoughts and feelings occurs as I come to grips with the notion that Freddie Freeman is now thinking of himself as a third baseman.

The Atlanta Braves have done this to me.

I feel like I’ve been through the entire gamut of the stages of the Kübler-Ross model…. i.e., the 5 stages of grief… all in the space of about 36 hours.

Denial. There’s no way Freddie Freeman is playing third base. This is a giant trolling job.
Anger. Seriously?? What happened to the idea of getting a sweet deal for Matt Adams?? Come’on!
Bargaining. Can’t they at least trade somebody? How many third basemen do they need?
Depression. This is horrible. I can’t believe they’re gonna wreck the infield defense.
Acceptance. At least we’ll have a killer offense.

So let’s see how I arrived at this point… and hopefully this therapy session will be helpful to others.

A Walk Through Some History

My biggest concern with Freddie Freeman at third base is with fielding… clearly.

So I went back and checked the third basemen that the Braves have used since coming to Atlanta – yeah: 52 season worth. 125 players.

The fangraphs metrics put the defenders at a composite rating of -74.9… and a total fWAR of 155.1. That’s roughly 3.0 fWAR per season, which is pretty solid.

More than half of that, of course, is Chipper Jones (84.6 WAR), though he actually graded out a bit below the line on defense overall: a -36.9 rating, which also accounts for half of that deficit.

Bob Horner was perhaps the worst defender at the position: -66.9, and he actually didn’t man it for nearly as long as Chipper (parts of 8 seasons – 5703 innings), before being moved to first base in 1985.

Terry Pendleton and Clete Boyer were the best defenders – Boyer easily rating the best over 5 years and Pendleton solid for 4.

Of the 125 players getting some time there, roughly half were above average and half below, with only a few being truly terrible… at least by the ratings.

(Note: admittedly, using these metrics on defense that far back in time is sketchy at best – but I’m using them for generalities).

Highlights and Lowlights at third base

If you look at errors-per-inning, here are some of the worst hot corner butchers:

Earl Williams (19 in 525 innings)
Ron Gant (21 in 648 innings)
Larvell Blanks (9 in 314)
Brooks Conrad (8 in 285)

On the other end of the scale:

Clete Boyer (54 in 4433 innings)
Terry Pendleton (80 in 5085)
Chipper (223 in 17,106 – despite the defensive rating)

The featured photo used for this post shows arguably the best and worst at the position in one shot – Pendleton and Hector Olivera.

Olivera didn’t get enough time there (fortunately) to really qualify for that title in my mind, but he was well on his way – poor range with 4 errors (3 fielding) in 168 innings.

Here’s a couple of names with nearly identical error rates that might surprise:

Vinny Castilla (26 in 2519 innings)
Chris Johnson (23 in 2497 innings)

But of course this doesn’t take ‘defensive range’ into account at all. You will never make an error on a ball that you can’t at least knock down, and that’s how Chris Johnson fares so well here, while Castilla was the better defender.

In fact, Castilla is credited with +2 Defensive Runs Saved; Johnson a -21 (though it’s uncertain that this stat spanned his entire career).

So how bad could Freeman be at third, then? Chris Johnson bad? Bob Horner bad? Adonis Garcia bad? Hector Olivera bad? If he’s no worse than these, then I gotta think we’d half to be comfortable – or at least tolerant – with the results.

Acceptance?

So Freddie Freeman will likely not be the worst we’ve seen in Atlanta at third base. He also won’t be a Mike Schmidt or Scott Rolen over there, either.

But what the Braves may be trying to assemble is a offensive juggernaut-like lineup. Something akin to this now…

So the Atlanta Braves – and Freeman – really want to do this

By Alan Carpenter | Jun 22, 2017

This is all about a catharsis. A process in which cleansing of bad thoughts and feelings occurs as I come to grips with the notion that Freddie Freeman is now thinking of himself as a third baseman.

A Walk Through Some History

Highlights and Lowlights at third base

Acceptance?

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