The King of Fielding
I hope you have a great week. While I'm working on some things, I've been watching a lot of baseball these days. I wanted to share some of what I've been up to. Basically, I've been working on some tweaks to my National Series defense database.
I'm focusing on the early 1990s, which were the last years in which the aluminum bat was used. And, as it usually happens, as I find nuggets, I also ask myself some interesting questions. Many of them will be answered in our "Bold Readers" section, because I know that many of my doubts over the years have also been doubts of yours.
Searching for answers, that's all we try to do every day in baseball.
As for the 1990s in Cuban baseball, there are some interesting points to highlight. It was a time of splendor for hitters, due to the use of one of the liveliest balls in the aluminum era. I remember the hits of the aluminum bat. It was a common sonic, but there were differences. The bunts felt lighter. On the other hand, the sound when the sluggers smashed the ball was noticeable. Even without looking at the field, you could feel in a unique way the type of contact the batter had made.
Usually, those of us who follow Cuban baseball and were able to see part of that decade of the nineties have many memories. When we talk about them, the offense almost always plays a leading role. It is reasonable, because the batters got the best of it in those years. But, without a doubt, the pitching and the defense were exposed to face the main challenges. Even so, there were 12 pitchers with at least 80 innings who threw an ERA below 2.00 in the first half of the decade. That small feat probably does not seem so epic if I do not tell you why it has been one of the most memorable moments for pitchers.
Let's start with this reminder, which illustrates the surprising explosion of pitching:
30 CNS: 18 Teams, 12 with 4.00 or less ERA, (67%), 3 with 5.00 or less ERA, (67%).
31 CNS: 18 Teams, 12 with 4.00 or less ERA, (67%), 3 with 5.00 or less ERA, (67%)
32 CNS: 16 Teams, 9 with 4.00 or less ERA, (56%), 2 with 5.00 or less ERA, (13%)
33 CNS: 16 Teams, 6 with 4.00 or less ERA, (38%), 5 with 5.00 or less ERA, (32%)
34 CNS: 16 Teams, 4 with 4.00 or less ERA, (25%), 4 with 5.00 or less ERA, (25%)
35 CNS: 16 Teams, 0 with 4.00 or less ERA, (0%), 13 with 5.00 or less ERA, (81%)
The percentages of teams with less than 4.00 ERA were disappearing, until the 1995-1996 season when the numbers exploded. As you can see from the statistics, 13 of the 16 teams allowed at least 5.00 ERA. That was devastating. Runs scored per game went from 4.4 in 1991 to 6.4 in 1996. When I think about all that, and a lot of inflated numbers, I wonder about the pressure that the fielders were under. Sometimes the work of defense is undervalued too much, and the impact of the hitters is focused much more. In all these seasons in which the aluminum bat and a live ball were used, fielding was also a great challenge.
So my research began, looking for the best fielders per season. I got much more than that. The adjusted statistics made me remember the beginnings of Reynaldo Ordóñez, the “King of Fielding.” Ordóñez played in Cuba until the first three seasons of the nineties, and then defected from the Cuban team in 1993. Three years later, he debuted in the Major Leagues with the New York Mets. From 1997 to 1999 he won three consecutive Gold Gloves.
In 1999, Ordóñez committed only four errors in 154 games. He achieved an incredible streak of 101 games and 417 chances without committing an error. The Mets pitchers adored him. The league's hitters were baffled by Ordóñez's great talent for turning potential hits into sensational outs.
But the episode that is least talked about in Ordóñez's career was his beginnings in Cuban baseball, where he played for just four seasons. For Ordóñez, one thing was always clear: he wanted to play baseball, and show everything he could do with his skills as a fielder. After debuting with the Metropolitanos team in the 1989-1990 season, Ordóñez was promoted to the Industriales team in 1991. But he knew that his playing time would be reduced there, because Germán Mesa was the starting shortstop for Industriales. “El Mago” Mesa was already a shortstop legend. He was, without a doubt, the most sensational shortstop in the game.
So Ordóñez, who was emerging as a virtuoso fielder, didn't get to play as much time as he'd hoped in his second season. Ordóñez filled in for Mesa anyway, and he also played as a replacement in several games. Mesa played in 45 games, fielded .962 and had a 4.959 RF (Range Factor) in 363 innings. Ordóñez played in 29 games, 105 innings, and fielded .956 with three errors. But here's one notable difference that caught my attention: Ordóñez had a 5.571 RF, far outpacing Mesa.