Fantomas
Registered User
- Aug 7, 2012
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He had a good fielding percentage but he couldnt get to near as many balls as any other shortstop at that time. So what if he made the play on balls that were hit right to him. He probably had less range than any other shortstop at that time.
He was probably more suited to play 3rd base. And I'm not saying 3rd basemen are hacks in the field. There are some excellent fielding 3rd basemen, they just didnt have a lot of range. Mike Schmidt was a perfect example. Schmidt was a great fielder but I would have never used him at shortstop.
Advanced stats disagree. Fielding percentage is not a stat anyone has taken seriously since the 90s, so let's not look there. Look at Ripken's dWar - he has a career 35.7 dWar and is historically great. Among the very best. Very few shortstops in baseball history can match that: Cal Ripken Jr. Stats | Baseball-Reference.com
Other interesting things about Ripken:
- His second MVP season in 1991 yielded 11.5 War which is Mickey Mantle-level great. For reference Mike Trout never scored higher than 10.5
- Ripken's first MVP season yielded 8.2 War, but the season after that was even better with 10 War. These numbers are high largely because of his great defense.
- Ripken's career 95.9 fWar is higher than Derek Jeter's (who had 72.4), Barry Larkin's (70.4), and Robin Yount's (77.3).