What is Zone Rating? and Dr. StrangeGlove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Zone Rating
These are the career totals for everyone who played at least an inning at shortstop from age 36 on since 1987. Standard caveats about defensive metrics apply, etc.,
| Last,First | GP | GS | Innings | PO | A | E | DP | PM | CH | ZR | Diff | RS |
| Smith, Ozzie | 745 | 592 | 6360.3 | 1224 | 2213 | 72 | 453 | 2069 | 2345 | .882 | 102 | 73 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 767 | 730 | 6443.7 | 1091 | 2115 | 41 | 473 | 2005 | 2295 | .874 | 84 | 64 |
| Bordick, Mike | 244 | 237 | 2079.3 | 415 | 698 | 11 | 173 | 668 | 769 | .869 | 19 | 14 |
| Ripken Jr., Cal | 161 | 157 | 1385.7 | 231 | 466 | 14 | 109 | 444 | 510 | .871 | 14 | 10 |
| Counsell, Craig | 166 | 137 | 1269.3 | 212 | 494 | 13 | 122 | 447 | 526 | .850 | 11 | 7 |
| Vizcaino, Jose | 107 | 76 | 677.7 | 98 | 231 | 11 | 34 | 226 | 260 | .869 | 8 | 7 |
| McLemore, Mark | 74 | 64 | 568.0 | 87 | 175 | 6 | 46 | 169 | 193 | .876 | 7 | 5 |
| Sanchez, Rey | 102 | 89 | 799.7 | 146 | 254 | 7 | 61 | 242 | 280 | .864 | 6 | 5 |
| Gagne, Greg | 143 | 138 | 1223.0 | 174 | 358 | 16 | 55 | 389 | 451 | .863 | 6 | 4 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 12 | 11 | 94.0 | 14 | 35 | 2 | 6 | 33 | 37 | .892 | 2 | 2 |
| Benjamin, Mike | 15 | 11 | 88.7 | 18 | 35 | 1 | 5 | 36 | 40 | .900 | 2 | 2 |
| Clayton, Royce | 198 | 177 | 1563.0 | 244 | 519 | 26 | 84 | 503 | 603 | .834 | 4 | 2 |
| Hernandez, Jose | 12 | 6 | 75.0 | 14 | 30 | 0 | 7 | 29 | 31 | .935 | 4 | 2 |
| Wilson, Jack | 105 | 105 | 917.3 | 152 | 317 | 12 | 81 | 290 | 351 | .826 | 4 | 2 |
| Huson, Jeff | 17 | 10 | 111.3 | 23 | 33 | 1 | 7 | 37 | 41 | .902 | 2 | 1 |
| McDonald, John | 31 | 19 | 198.3 | 38 | 66 | 1 | 22 | 60 | 71 | .845 | 2 | 1 |
| Mordecai, Mike | 18 | 11 | 116.0 | 19 | 34 | 1 | 11 | 29 | 34 | .853 | 0 | 1 |
| Alicea, Luis | 1 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ausmus, Brad | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Barnes, Skeeter | 2 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bell, Jay | 14 | 7 | 60.0 | 12 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 20 | .900 | 2 | 0 |
| Blum, Geoff | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Cabrera, Jolbert | 9 | 7 | 60.3 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 16 | .875 | 1 | 0 |
| DeCinces, Doug | 1 | 0 | 2.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Fletcher, Scott | 3 | 0 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Gaetti, Gary | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Grebeck, Craig | 31 | 17 | 167.7 | 26 | 51 | 0 | 8 | 53 | 61 | .869 | 1 | 0 |
| Grudzielanek, Mark | 7 | 1 | 15.7 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Magadan, Dave | 3 | 0 | 4.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| McGwire, Mark | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Mora, Melvin | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Morrison, Jim | 1 | 0 | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Phillips, Tony | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Royster, Jerry | 2 | 0 | 4.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Salazar, Luis | 12 | 8 | 81.3 | 14 | 27 | 0 | 5 | 26 | 29 | .897 | 1 | 0 |
| Schmidt, Mike | 3 | 0 | 4.7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Shumpert, Terry | 4 | 2 | 17.3 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | .875 | 0 | 0 |
| Sveum, Dale | 4 | 1 | 13.0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Valentin, Jose | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Young, Eric | 8 | 2 | 26.0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | .800 | 0 | 0 |
| Cirillo, Jeff | 3 | 2 | 19.0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | .500 | -1 | -1 |
| Concepcion, Dave | 16 | 0 | 104.7 | 13 | 36 | 3 | 12 | 33 | 38 | .868 | -1 | -1 |
| Gallego, Mike | 11 | 3 | 43.0 | 8 | 21 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 15 | .933 | 0 | -1 |
| Garner, Phil | 2 | 0 | 9.0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .667 | -1 | -1 |
| Gonzales, Rene | 10 | 4 | 47.0 | 12 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 17 | .824 | -1 | -1 |
| Sojo, Luis | 5 | 4 | 40.0 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 14 | .786 | -1 | -1 |
| Almon, Bill | 5 | 0 | 12.0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | .500 | -2 | -2 |
| Brookens, Tom | 10 | 0 | 29.7 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | .700 | -2 | -2 |
| Castro, Juan | 85 | 67 | 578.7 | 93 | 179 | 6 | 28 | 166 | 205 | .810 | -1 | -2 |
| Dunston, Shawon | 16 | 8 | 65.0 | 5 | 19 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 22 | .818 | -1 | -2 |
| Gomez, Chris | 23 | 19 | 165.3 | 29 | 65 | 3 | 16 | 60 | 75 | .800 | -3 | -2 |
| Gonzalez, Alex | 112 | 110 | 948.3 | 148 | 270 | 7 | 59 | 250 | 308 | .812 | -1 | -2 |
| Williams, Matt | 2 | 2 | 14.0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | .600 | -2 | -2 |
| Belliard, Rafael | 60 | 21 | 271.7 | 43 | 77 | 2 | 19 | 82 | 99 | .828 | -3 | -3 |
| Griffin, Alfredo | 20 | 18 | 164.0 | 34 | 38 | 3 | 9 | 49 | 60 | .817 | -3 | -3 |
| Martinez, Ramon | 10 | 9 | 81.3 | 12 | 26 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 33 | .697 | -4 | -3 |
| Guillen, Ozzie | 42 | 17 | 181.0 | 26 | 65 | 5 | 12 | 52 | 66 | .788 | -4 | -4 |
| Loretta, Mark | 77 | 62 | 522.7 | 83 | 175 | 8 | 32 | 161 | 201 | .801 | -6 | -4 |
| Speier, Chris | 42 | 0 | 195.0 | 35 | 77 | 3 | 16 | 59 | 71 | .831 | -4 | -4 |
| Trillo, Manny | 14 | 0 | 42.3 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 14 | .643 | -5 | -5 |
| Reboulet, Jeff | 66 | 44 | 411.0 | 89 | 114 | 11 | 36 | 122 | 152 | .803 | -6 | -6 |
| Easley, Damion | 65 | 51 | 464.3 | 73 | 149 | 6 | 24 | 149 | 188 | .793 | -8 | -7 |
| Elster, Kevin | 55 | 52 | 456.0 | 60 | 133 | 11 | 25 | 133 | 168 | .792 | -8 | -7 |
| Trammell, Alan | 166 | 152 | 1336.7 | 255 | 446 | 19 | 92 | 415 | 492 | .843 | -7 | -7 |
| Washington, Ron | 54 | 0 | 431.3 | 82 | 142 | 16 | 25 | 128 | 159 | .805 | -9 | -7 |
| Reynolds, Craig | 48 | 0 | 295.3 | 57 | 98 | 6 | 19 | 84 | 108 | .778 | -9 | -8 |
| Weiss, Walt | 171 | 137 | 1220.0 | 192 | 402 | 27 | 79 | 365 | 450 | .811 | -13 | -11 |
| Larkin, Barry | 426 | 412 | 3431.3 | 585 | 1102 | 45 | 224 | 1085 | 1310 | .828 | -17 | -14 |
GP: Games played
GS: Games started
Innings: Defensive innings at position
PO: Putouts
A: Assists
E: Errors
DP: Double plays
PM: Plays made (fieldable chances converted into outs)
CH: Fieldable chances
ZR: Zone rating (PM divided by CH)
Diff: Difference between PM and PM made by an average defender
RS: Runs saved compared to average
One can only imagine how good Ozzie Smith was in his prime if he was 73 runs above average from ages 36-41. Zone rating covers Smith's career from age 33 on, and he put up a total of 134 runs saved compared to average in 10 seasons, although the final three were part-time. That's roughly equivalent to being 20 runs better than average over a full season on a rate basis, over a time frame that began 10 years removed from the typical middle infielder's defensive peak.
I'd expected to see more players with bigger negative numbers, but I guess this is indicative that teams are pretty smart about moving guys off shortstop when they can no longer hack it defensively. Or it could be that that none of these guys were good enough hitters past age 36 to justify playing below average defense. We're also dealing with a subset of all players since zone rating has only been around for 22 years, which constricts what we may be seeing.
I don't see the Captain matching the Wizard's defensive coda, although my hatred of Jeter may be coloring my expectations. I've got him projected around -4 for 2010, so if he were to play through 40 and follow a typical aging pattern he'd wind up in the -30 to -35 range in total over the next five seasons, bottoming out at around -8 to -10. The good news is CAIRO thinks that even at age 40, Jeter should still be 17 runs above a replacement level shortstop offensively, so he shouldn't be harming the Yankees chances to win on the field too badly, although his salary and the opportunity cost of it may impact how they can fill out the rest of the roster in a way that could.
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