u/MarkSimon1975

Hi- This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions (The Defensive Runs Saved inventors). Our updated team Top 10 is as follows.

1. Cubs 86

2. Rays 67

3. Dodgers 53

4. Red Sox 49

5 Braves 40

6. Brewers 34

7. Blue Jays 30

8. Mets 27

9. Giants 24

10. Yankees 23.

* The Cubs have pulled away. They have 4 positions with at least 10 Runs Saved (pitcher, 3rd base, center field, and right field) and only 1 position with a negative total (-1, 1st base)

* The Rays are 2nd on the strength of their defensive positioning, which accounts for 42 of the 67 runs. Their best spots are shortstop and center field (props to Cedric Mullins for his decent season). They are positive at all 3 outfield spots.

* Dodgers are 3rd with center field and second base accounting for 30 of their 53 Runs Saved.

* Red Sox outfield is great and accounts for 46 of their 49 Runs Saved. All 3 positions are in double figures, as is 3rd base.

* Braves are strong in the outfield too and would be higher but their infield positioning Runs Saved total is low.

* Brewers have been very good at second base (Turang) and also third base). They're hurt a little by catcher and first base (combined -11)

* Blue Jays are also hurt by their defensive positioning. Their best positions have been catcher and first base.

* For the Mets, 25 of their 27 Runs Saved have come from pitchers and catchers (thank you Luis Torrens). That's a product of both athleticism on the mound in making plays and limiting steals

* Giants is a little bit weird. Matt Chapman and Casey Schmitt and their other third basemen have combined for 14 Runs. They've gotten little from elsehwere.

* Yankees have 3 positions that have been great- catcher, shortstop and left field have combined for 44 Runs Saved. The team total is 23. That's some rough math at the other positions!

Bottom 5 in Runs Saved -

26. Astros, 27. A's, 28. Reds, 29. Twins, 30. Phillies

If you have any questions or complaints (I prefer questions) about our calculations or about defensive stats in general, feel free to ask. I may refer you to past answers as the same questions come up a lot. Thank you for reading.

You can find the full rankings at The Fielding Bible website, FanGraphs, or Baseball-Reference.

Hi

This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions (the Defensive Runs Saved folks). Here are the updated leaders in that stat

1. Cubs 63,

2. Rays 56,

3. Dodgers 54,

4. Red Sox 44,

5. Braves 36,

6. Diamondbacks 33,

7. Giants 29,

8. Brewers 25,

9. Mets 24,

10. Blue Jays 22

* The Rays leapfrogged the Dodgers in the last 2 weeks to move into 2nd place, and that's largely due to defensive positioning success. If we take positioning out, the Dodgers are 20 runs better than the Rays.

* 39 of the Red Sox 44 Runs Saved come from the outfield. The Braves are good in the outfield too, with 28 of their 36 Runs Saved coming from there

* The reason the Brewers aren't higher is because they have a combined -16 Runs at catcher and first base. They're very strong otherwise.

* The Cubs and Diamondbacks are the only teams to have positive Defensive Runs Saved at each position. The Diamondbacks are pretty good but don't have any position with more than 7 Runs Saved.

* The Mets are a good Defensive Runs Saved team but an eh fielding team overall. They have 24 Runs Saved, 19 from their catchers and pitchers (their young outfielders do look good though)

* The Blue Jays have 16 Runs Saved at catcher, 8 at first base, and very few anywhere else.

The bottom 5 teams are

26. Marlins -13,

27. Reds and Athletics -14,

28. Twins -30,

29. Phillies -35

Questions on our rankings or calculations are welcome. You can find the full rankings at The Fielding Bible website, FanGraphs, or Baseball-Reference.

Hi everyone. I think I've shared some things in here before. This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions. Someone on r/baseball asked me yesterday about why Andy Pages was doing so much better than Pete Crow-Armstrong in Defensive Runs Saved.

I turned my answer into an article.

If you don't wish to read it, the simple version is that PCA and Ceddanne Rafaela both have a lot more range than Pages. But Pages makes up for it with the other thing he does- throw out and hold baserunners at a high rate. And along with that, Pages makes fewer defensive mistakes (such as bobbling base hits) than those other players.

If anyone has any questions after reading, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them here. Thank you for indulging.

https://www.sportsinfosolutions.com/2026/07/17/why-does-andy-pages-have-more-runs-saved-than-pete-crow-armstrong/

Hi

This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions. The team leaders in Defensive Runs Saved are 1. Cubs 56, 2. Dodgers 52, 3. Red Sox 46, 4. Rays 43, 5. Diamondbacks 36, 6. Mets 32, 7. Braves 31, 8. Guardians 22, 9. Brewers 21, 10. Astros 16.

The bottom 5 teams are the Angels and Marlins, Reds, Phillies, and Twins

Since last week, the Cubs jumped back ahead of the Dodgers and 3 new teams entered the Top 10 (Guardians, Brewers, and Astros).

* The Cubs and Dodgers are similarly strong in center field (PCA and Pages) and third base (Bregman and Muncy). The big gap between them is pitcher defense (Cubs 11 runs saved, Dodgers 1). The Dodgers have gotten 37 of their 52 Runs Saved from infield skill and positioning.

* 38 of the 46 Runs Saved for the Red Sox have come from outfielder skill (excluding positioning). They are crushing it in center field and right field

* The Rays have some big weaknesses (pitcher and first base) but make up for it with their defensive positioning and shortstop play. Shout-out to third baseman Junior Caminero

* I'm guessing that people aren't buying the Mets number, but it's a product of pitcher and catcher defense (Luis Torrens), and a good amount from defensive positioning, which is hard to measure by the eye test.

* Braves are solid at all 3 outfield positions. Not quite in the Red Sox class, but next tier down

* Guardians have one of the defensive players of the month for June in Brayan Rocchio.

* Brewers have been very good at second base, shortstop, third base, and left field

* Almost all of the Astros Runs Saved can be accounted for between Cam Smith and Brice Matthews.

Questions on our rankings or calculations are welcome. You can find the full rankings at The Fielding Bible website, FanGraphs, or Baseball-Reference.

Hi everyone

Here's my 'every 2 weeks' update of the player Defensive Runs Saved leaderboard (I work for Sports Info Solutions, the company that invented the stat)

1B- Ty France 10 (T.J. Rumfield 7)

2B- JJ Wetherholt 12 (Cole Young 11)

3B- Matt Chapman 14 (Alex Bregman 9)

SS- Taylor Walls, Geraldo Perdomo, Mookie Betts 8 (Bobby Witt Jr. 6)

LF- Cody Bellinger 17 (Chandler Simpson & Daylen Lile 7)

CF- Andy Pages 16 (Ceddanne Rafaela 15)

RF- Wilyer Abreu 15 (Cam Smith 9)

C- Luis Torrens 8 (Brandon Valenzuela and Tyler Heineman 7)

P- Brent Suter, Nolan McLean 4 (many tied, 3)

Team- Dodgers & Cubs 58 (Red Sox 42)

The bottom of the board looks like this

1B - Ben Rice -9

2B- Jose Altuve -9

3B- Max Muncy of the A's -10

SS- Brooks Lee, Treat Turner, Tristan Gray -7

LF- Isaac Collins -6

CF- Jakob Marsee -12

RF- Matt Wallner -8

C- Logan O'Hoppe -10

P- Eury Pérez -5

Team - Twins -32

Defensive Runs Saved stats can be found at FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, or The Fielding Bible

Questions are welcomed. I can try to answer them here.

Hi everyone. This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions. I know there are self-promotion rules here, so rather than share a link to a recent article I wrote, I'm sharing this image from it, as it covers much of what's in the article.

The Phillies are turning grounders and bunts into outs at a higher rate for Zack Wheeler than other pitchers. This is a 2-year thing ... was largely true last year too.

This year, the Phillies have 9 Defensive Runs Saved on balls hit vs Wheeler and don't have a positive total for any other pitcher in the starting rotation.

Not sure as to the "whys" of it. He's not facing an overly easy set of ground balls, so can rule that out.

Anyways, thought you'd find that interesting. Feel free to ask any questions related to this and I'll try to answer them.

Hi

This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions (the company that invented Defensive Runs Saved. Here are the updated team leaders in Defensive Runs Saved.

1. Dodgers 63, 2. Cubs 52, 3. Red Sox 42, 4. Diamondbacks 31, 5. Braves 30, 6. Rays 29, 7. Mets 26, Tie for 8th- Rangers, Padres, Giants, 19.

Bottom 5 are Marlins, Tigers, Reds, Phillies, Twins (26th through 30th).

The division leaders are 1st (Dodgers), 5th (Braves), 12th (Brewers), 13th (Guardians), 18th (Mariners), 22nd (Yankees).

* I just wrote about the Dodgers- the skill of their players is what's carrying them (moreso than what has in past years, defensive positioning), particularly Andy Pages, Alex Freeland, and the left side of their infield.

* Cubs are not a surprise ... PCA is leading the way there.

* Red Sox outfield accounts for almost all of their Runs Saved.

* Diamondbacks have moved up a bit the last 2 weeks. The only position for them with a negative Runs Saved is pitcher.

* Braves are strongest in left field, center field, and first base (the latter certainly not a surprise)

* Rays have overcome weak player skill (Taylor Walls the exception) with their defensive positioning. They actually have gotten negative DRS from their players

* If you're wondering about the Mets differential between Defensive Runs Saved and Fielding Run Value- the Mets have the best pitcher numbers in baseball and Fielding Run Value doesn't account for pitcher defense.

* Rangers, Padres, Giants are part of a group of teams from 8th to about 13th that are all about the same or close to the same. Matt Chapman is crushing it for the Giants. And the Rangers would be a lot better if not for 2nd base (-15- they miss Semien).

Questions on our rankings or calculations are welcome. You can find the full rankings at The Fielding Bible website, FanGraphs, or Baseball-Reference.

Hi everyone. This is Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions (ex-and-maybe-someday future researcher on Tigers broadcasts)

My colleague u/south-grapefruit-292 (Abraham Dabaja) ran the club baseball team at UM-Flint and works for us now. He just did a comprehensive analysis on how good Dingler has been at stealing strikes this year (several video examples).

https://www.sportsinfosolutions.com/2026/06/15/scouting-report-dillon-dingler-strike-stealer/

If you have any questions, drop em here and we'll try to answer.

Hi

This is Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions, researcher for SF Giants TV and radio broadcasts. Thought I would share the transcript of a recent interview I did with Dusty Baker, who was promoting his book. We talked about all kinds of things- from how Hank Aaron positioned the Braves outfielders, to why Dusty started Shawon Dunston twice in the 2002 World Series, to who the best dancer he ever saw was.

Enjoy (it's not letting me do a link post, so the link is below

https://www.sportsinfosolutions.com/2026/06/11/qa-dusty-baker-on-analytics-before-there-were-analytics-his-new-book/

Hi everyone- this is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions (the Defensive Runs Saved folks). Thought I'd share a clip from an interview I just did with Dusty Baker in which he explained how Hank Aaron handled the positioning of the Braves outfielders when Dusty was there.

Analytics before their were analytics.

I won't overdo the self-promotion so as not to violate any rules, but if people want to hear the full interview, they can message me and I'll share the link.

Hi, it's Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions (the Defensive Runs Saved folks). Here are the updated team leaders in Defensive Runs Saved, with a new #1

1. Dodgers 51, 2. Red Sox 46, 3. Cubs 32, 4. Giants 24, 5. Mets 22, 6. Astros and Diamondbacks 21, 8. Braves and Rays 19, 10. Cardinals 17.

* Dodgers are led by Andy Pages, who is tied with PCA for the CF lead in Runs Saved. Additionally, Max Muncy ranks among the 3rd base leaders with 7 Runs Saved.

* Red Sox have the #1 right fielder (Wilyer Abreu) and the #2 third baseman (Caleb Durbin). Their outfield is solid all the way around.

* Cubs have the previously-mentioned PCA and their next-best position is right field (5 Runs Saved). Their worst negative is -1 in left field.

* Giants being where they are is a credit to Matt Chapman (#1 at 3rd base) and their infield positioning (among the best teams turning grounders and bunts into outs).

* Mets have the catcher leader (Luis Torrens) and an MLB-best 10 Runs Saved from pitchers (combines fielding balls, limiting stolen bases)

* Astros right fielder Cam Smith ranks 2nd at the position in Runs Saved. They've also gotten a solid 5 Runs Saved at shortstop.

* Dbacks have gotten modest contributions that add up. They've gotten at least 4 Runs Saved from 1st base, 3rd base, and center field

* Braves LF have been very good (Yastrzemski and Dubon have a combined 8 Runs Saved) and Michael Harris (5) and Matt Olson (5) have been solid too.

* Rays have a lot of negatives but they've made up for it with their defensive positioning and the #1 shortstop, Taylor Walls. And Chandler Simpson ranks 2nd among left fielders with 6 Runs Saved.

* Cardinals best positions have been 2nd base (JJ Wetherholt) and right field (Jordan Walker). Those positions have combined for 16 Runs Saved. Wetherholt ranks 2nd, Walker 3rd.

Bottom 5 teams are Reds, Tigers, Angels, Phillies, Twins.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to answer them here.

And can we have something other than "Wow, we rank high in Defensive Runs Saved, surely we're in first place" be the #1 most upvoted for a change??? :)

A reminder that Defensive Runs Saved can be found at FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, and The Fielding Bible website.