Darwin Barney defensive highlights

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick8914 Comments

Since Darwin Barney set the single season record for an errorless streak at 2nd base last night, I figured we might look back at some of his best plays. Thanks to mlb.com we can do that. As I was looking through these last night I was surprised at two things: there weren't as many outstanding defensive players as I thought there would and there were a lot of very, very good players that Barney just made look so easy. That's part of what makes Barney a great fielder. A lot of great plays by other 2nd basemen just look like good plays to him. There are several videos of him making basket catches or over the shoulder catches and both are very difficult plays. He made the look easy. He made a few glove to glove tosses that looked so easily. He even made a few sliding grabs up the middle and nailed the runner so quickly it wasn't even a close play. Barney isn't that great a hitter, but the guy can play defense.

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  1. WaLi99

    WaLi99 wrote:
    @ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
    Eat with a player you are paying to see play? $50
    Eat with the owner you don’t really care about? $75
    (dying laughing)

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  2. AndCounting

    I’ve wondered before if Barney’s defensive metrics are accentuated by the fact that the Cubs play the shift so frequently to apparent positive effect, but I think that makes this errorless streak a bit more impressive. I would think playing the shift would make errors more likely, both because of the increased chances and the unfamiliarity of playing in different formations than he’s used to. Maybe it’s not huge, but it’s definitely been an impressive run.

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  3. Mucker

    I don’t think I’ll ever give up the Cubs for good, but I’ve definitely stopped following them as much after 2008. I had mlb.tv for 07, 08 and 09 and tried to watch everygame. But I’ve watched maybe 10 games this year. Even when they are on WGN and I see that they are on, I’ll watch the Nationals instead.

    /not a true fan’d

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  4. WenningtonsGorillaCock

    @ WaLi99:
    I’m curious what player they will force to go eat with the fans for $50. It seems a little insulting to the player that it’s only $50. I’m guessing they call up Campana and then DFA him right after dessert.

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  5. mb21

    @ AndCounting:
    I thin it’s likely the shift is affecting his ridiculous DRS (30) that Baseball Reference shows, but FRAA has him at 10.4 and UZR at 11.6. I’d say to ignore the DRS, but he’s been worth 10+ runs defensively.

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