Please explain defense ratings.

[jhuskins]

The defensive ratings in the skills tab seem to have no correlation to the players actual ratings at that position. They don't even seem to make sense as an average. I have two outfileders and one shows a higher rating in the skills tab in right field, but when I put him in right field all of his actual ratings are lower than the other player. I also just made a trade for a first baseman who had fielding ratings in the 70's on his player card and showed a 72 for fielding at first base in the skills tab. When I actually put him in at first base on my defense screen, all of his ratings were in the 50's and 60's. It seemed like on previous versions of the game that the skills tab was an overall rating for the player at that position, his player card showed his ratings at his main position, and placing him in a position on the defense screen showed his ratings at that position. I no longer know which of these screens to trust when using my players on defense.

[williammaltby]

I'm guessing defensive ratings are flawed. I've got a natural third baseman with a fielding rating of 100 whom I also play at first base (where his rating is 77) approximately a third of the year. The last season I played, he made 27 errors at third base, compared to only one error at first base. He had far more chances at first base and only committed the one error with a far inferior fielding rating. It really doesn't make any sense to me. The worst part is that although his arm rating at third base isn't the best (83) almost all of his errors were fielding errors and not throwing errors.

[HoustonGM]

I'm guessing defensive ratings are flawed. I've got a natural third baseman with a fielding rating of 100 whom I also play at first base (where his rating is 77) approximately a third of the year. The last season I played, he made 27 errors at third base, compared to only one error at first base. He had far more chances at first base and only committed the one error with a far inferior fielding rating. It really doesn't make any sense to me. The worst part is that although his arm rating at third base isn't the best (83) almost all of his errors were fielding errors and not throwing errors.

That's simple and has nothing to do with Baseball Mogul defensive ratings: third basemen are more prone to errors than first basemen just by the nature of the position. Of first basemen last year that played 900+ innings, error totals ranged from 2 (Casey Kotchman) to 15 (Prince Fielder). Third basemen ranged from 6 (Chipper Jones) to 26 (Mark Reynolds). The average fielding percentage for third basemen was .954, compared to .994 for first basemen.

[williammaltby]

That's simple and has nothing to do with Baseball Mogul defensive ratings: third basemen are more prone to errors than first basemen just by the nature of the position. Of first basemen last year that played 900+ innings, error totals ranged from 2 (Casey Kotchman) to 15 (Prince Fielder). Third basemen ranged from 6 (Chipper Jones) to 26 (Mark Reynolds). The average fielding percentage for third basemen was .954, compared to .994 for first basemen.

Yeah. That makes sense. It still bothers me, though. Damn third base!

[pirate66]

Yeah but the guy had a fielding rating of 100. You would think he would be better than average. 27 errors in 2/3 season seems much worse than average. Guess it was only one year though. What was his fielding percentage at 3rd?

[williammaltby]

Yeah but the guy had a fielding rating of 100. You would think he would be better than average. 27 errors in 2/3 season seems much worse than average. Guess it was only one year though. What was his fielding percentage at 3rd?

His fielding percentage for third base was 82.4% and for first base it was 98.7%.

[pirate66]

Yeah my current 3rd baseman has a lifetime FA of 937 at that position. Overall he is rated 77 at third with 79/73/74 arm/range/fielding. I would consider him pretty average. But he is 31 years old. Play another year and see what happens.