MLB Player Leaders In Defensive Runs Saved
Hi. This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions (the folks that invented Defensive Runs Saved). It's still early with regards to defensive stats being predictive, but they're modestly descriptive with regards to what has happened so far this season. So I'm sharing the current DRS player leaders by position.
1B- Kody Clemens and Pete Alonso 5 (Last: Spencer Torkelson -8)
2B- Cole Young 11 (Bryson Stott -6)
3B- Matt Chapman 8 (Junior Caminero -7)
SS- Bobby Witt Jr. and Jose Caballero 8 (J.P. Crawford -7)
LF- Cody Bellinger 9 (Yordan Alvarez -4)
CF- Pete Crow-Armstrong 13 (Oneil Cruz and Justin Crawford -7)
RF- Wilyer Abreu 11 (Matt Wallner -9)
C- Brandon Valenzuela and Christian Vazquez 6 (Nick Fortes -7)
P- Brent Suter and Luis Severino 3 (Eury Perez -4)
Team- Red Sox 40 (Phillies -21)
Some notes:
* I'm working on an article about Pete Alonso's defense. The gist of it is that he was plagued by throwing errors and mistakes last year but has none in 2026. I'll also point out that range drives DRS for 1st basemen more than handling throws does.
* Cole Young has a 5-run lead at second base. He's basically been the best there from Day 1
* Defensive Runs Saved has been slow to regard Bobby Witt Jr. as a great defender but he's made it impossible to ignore this year with near-perfect play at shortstop this season
* Cody Bellinger looks thrilled in his headshot ... he's a right fielder who can play center, so not surprising that he's been great in left
* PCA got off to this kind of start last year, finished with 15 Runs Saved, so we'll see if he maintains through 162 games.
* Wilyer Abreu has won one Fielding Bible Award already and may be on his way to a second. He's got a 4-run lead over Jordan Walker.
* Brandon Valenzuela may be a guy you've never heard of but he's been quite good at blocking pitches and throwing out basestealers for the Blue Jays.
* Yes, Brent Suter is there, helped by two pitcher caught stealings and a pickoff.
If you have any questions, you can find the stats at FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, and The Fielding Bible.
And if there's something you can't find, or have questions about our calculations, feel free to ask about it here.