Lineups 8/24
Brewers:
Lopez – 2B
Catalanotto – RF
Braun – LF
Fielder – 1B
McGehee – 3B
Cameron – CF
Kendall – C
Gallardo – RHP (11-10, 3.56)
Escobar – SS
Nationals:
Morgan – CF
Guzman – SS
Zimmerman – 3B
Dunn – 1B
Willingham – RF
Harris – LF
Gonzalez – 2B
Nieves – C
Balester – RHP (1-3, 6.75)
From the Stats Gurus…
The Nationals are fortunate enough to have two of the best defensive fielders in the game. According to FanGraphs.com, one of the leading websites in baseball statistics, Nyjer Morgan ranks first overall in the Major Leagues in terms of fielding runs above average, while Ryan Zimmerman ranks fifth. No other team has two players within the top 10. Here are the top five:
Name Team Fielding RAR WAR
Nyjer Morgan Nationals/Pirates 26.7 48.0 4.8
Franklin Gutierrez Mariners 18.3 40.3 4.0
Ben Zobrist Rays 17.5 62.6 6.2
Randy Winn Giants 17.2 19.5 1.9
Ryan Zimmerman Nationals 16.5 59.3 5.9
Fielding runs above average means the number of runs a player prevents over the number of runs that the average player would prevent. So for example, Nyjer Morgan prevents 26.7 runs above the average player. The RAR shows the Runs Above Replacement, which factors in a player’s offense and defense and combines that with a replacement-level adjustment and a positional adjustment to determine how many runs a player is worth to his team. Ten RAR equals an extra win for a team, or the Wins Above Replacement (WAR). The Nationals are one of only two teams with multiple players in the top 15 in the Majors for WAR (the other is the Rays, who have three).
