Please click here for the full introduction/primer to this series.

The Semien Report is an experimental effort to provide advanced fielding splits.  Every week, I’m going to pull UZR, DRS, and DEF from Fangraphs for each fielder with at least 10 IP at each position on the season.  From there, I’ll compare those statistics to the previous week, and in time their numbers from four weeks prior, in an effort to find out who seems to be changing their course, defensively.  There are, of course, some caveats:

• I’m not going to bother with pitcher and catcher.  Pitcher because it’s already a small sample size I don’t want to parse anymore, and catcher just isn’t evaluated very well by these statistics.
• Advanced fielding metrics take a long time to start to mean anything, so take this with a whole salt lick.  It’s very likely that any changes seen for the first few months are just noise, but it’s possible there’s something meaningful there.
• Because I’m breaking down by position, I’ll miss out on utility guys or multi-position wonders.  I’m not sure if there’s a great way around this.

With the arrival of week three, we now have UZR data.  UZR comes out on Tuesday mornings, so I’m shifting this report to Wednesday.  I should note that, to make this report have meaningful comparisons, I re-pulled numbers on Thursday of last week.  This week’s data will be compared to data from that date, as opposed to the DRS/DEF data from last Monday.  If you’d like to view the data for yourself, please click here.  This data was pulled from Fangraphs between Noon and 1 PM PDT on Tuesday, 4/26.

One extra note this week is that there may be some gaps in the data, particularly with Ozuna in center field.  I pull these numbers by hand during my lunch break, and have to adjust manually for new players, and occasionally fat-finger my way into mistakes, causing lost data.  I apologize for the mistake, and I’ll do my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Shortstop:

The Outliers:

A strong week puts Nick Ahmed into the top spot of the DRS leaderboard. +4 is a decent year so far, but his +4 in just this week makes him the leader at +6 on the season. Andrelton Simmons is just behind at +3 on the week and +5 on the season. On the other end, Brad Miller is the worst shortstop this year by DRS at -5. Brandon Crawford retains his elite status with a +4.1 UZR and vicariously a +4.9 DEF rating. The Rockies’ Trevor Story is on the reverse end with -4 UZR.

Best Week Ever:

Nick Ahmed was fantastic this week, while Simmons and Crawford also had excellent weeks by UZR. These three are firmly cemented as the top tier of shortstops so far this year, and this week is no exception.

Worst Week Ever:

The struggles continue for 2015 Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa, as his -3 week by DRS was uniquely bad. To add insult to injury, he had the second worst week by UZR with -2.2, only “topped” by Jordy Mercer at -2.8.

Semien Special:

Marcus Semien sits squarely in the middle of the pack at the moment with an unexciting week. The A’s will take that, though, as his five home runs are where he’s providing his value.

Center field:

The Outliers:

Kevin Pillar and Billy Hamilton have retained strong showings from last week and own +4 DRS scores on the season. Apparently there’s a player named Mallex Smith, which is awesome, and he sits just below the top tier at +3 DRS on the year. His partner in DRS, Dexter Fowler, holds the top spot on UZR with +3.3. Pulling up the rear are are Marcell Ozuna and Tyler Naquin with -4 DRS, while Denard Span is the worst center fielder in UZR so far with -3.8

Best Week Ever:

Ahmed isn’t the only Diamondback who had a good week, as Chris Owings tops the DRS leaderboards for his position with +3. The aforementioned Pillar and Hamilton had excellent weeks by UZR. It’s worth noting that DRS thinks that Hamilton was actually a negative this week, while UZR thinks Owings was just OK. There’s still plenty of room for debate here.

Worst Week Ever:

Tyler Naquin went from “slightly below average” to “worst in the game” this week with a -3 week, though he’s not alone, as Jackie Bradley Jr. had the same results. As far as UZR goes, Denard Span was the worst, though rookie Byron Buxton wasn’t much better.

Keep an Eye on:

Kevin Kiermaier is looking totally mortal this year, after blowing everyone away last year. He’s firmly middle-of-the-pack in every statistic.

Second Base:

The Outliers:

Ian Kinsler leapfrogs his way to the top spot at the position this week, as he’s the only +4 DRS rating. UZR has a two-way tie for first with Daniel Castro and almost all-star Omar Infante both at 2.1.  DRS shows no shortage of miserable keystoners, with a five-way tie for last at -3. UZR has two of them in dead last with -2.4, so I’m going to call Brian Dozier and Jed Lowrie the worst second basemen in the game so far this year.

Best Week Ever:

We’re seeing a trend here, as Diamondbacks’ second baseman Jean Segura put up a strong +4 week in DRS, giving Arizona the sweep up the middle. Daniel Castro had the best week by UZR with +2.1, despite basically making his debut this week. We’ll have to keep monitoring the youngster.

Worst Week Ever:

Daniel Murphy, another member of the five-way club mentioned earlier, had the worst week at -2 DRS. While that may be expected, Jose Altuve‘s spot at -1.3 UZR on the week is not. His poor performance puts his season numbers down to totally un-noteworthy.

Keep an Eye on:

The White Sox don’t have a great history of second basemen, and Brett Lawrie isn’t bucking the trend so far. He’s still getting used to the position full-time, but the results have not inspired praise.

Third Base:

The Outliers:

Adrian Beltre and Nolan Arenado remain neck-and-neck at the front of the pack, as both posted a strong week and sit at +5 DRS. UZR has them 1-2 also, so there’s no disagreement they’re tier 1, though Beltre has a noticeable lead in the second stat. David Wright, unfortunately, can’t claim the same. He is the only man at the hot corner with a -6 DRS. He’s also the worst by UZR with -3.9. A move to first base may be necessary soon.

Best Week Ever:

Marwin Gonzalez and Derek Dietrich both put up +2 weeks, but their low games total may simply suggest a lot of fluctuation in the field. Beltre and Todd Frazier had great weeks by UZR, though, at +2.1. Beltre uses that week to retain his elite status, while Frazier moves into the right side of zero on the year.

Worst Week Ever:

Travis Shaw unequivocally had the worst week by DRS at the position at -3. He tumbles down from a strong +4 showing last week, so there’s hope for a rebound. Unfortunately, UZR agrees that he was miserable last week, as his -3.5 is really, really bad.

Keep an Eye on:

Kris Bryant has a +3.1 UZR, which is all gravy. His bat will play in the corner outfield if needed, but if he can retain this pace, he’s looking like a good bet to hit his superstar ceiling.

Right Field:

The Outliers:

Holy Cow, Adam Eaton. The Pale Hose right fielder had another great week and now is the only man in baseball with a +8 DRS. That’s absurd. What’s even more absurd is his +8.1 UZR, which is more than 2 points above anybody else. This is looking like a blowout. His +7.4 DEF score, which includes a positional adjustment, is far and away the best in all of Baseball. There’s a 3-way tie for last at -5 DRS at the position, but Jay Bruce puts himself behind the rest with a league-worst -5.9 UZR. His DEF score is also the worst in the league at -6.7.

Best Week Ever:

Eaton is joined by four others with +2 DRS on the week, as right fielders in general had a strong showing. Eaton also had the best week by UZR, unsurprisingly, though Jarrod Dyson‘s +2.3 week puts him in the best in the “Non-Adam Eaton” category.

Worst Week Ever:

The Grandy Man Can’t, I guess, as Curtis Granderson was the only -2 DRS score this week. On the UZR front, Miguel Sano‘s struggles continue as he plummets down to a -2.6 UZR score. He’ll need something to change, fast.

Keep an Eye on:

If Adam Eaton is the Warriors, Stephen Piscotty may be the Spurs. UZR doesn’t think he’s anything special, but DRS loves him, and gives him credit for +7 DRS.

Left Field:

The Outliers:

Colby Rasmus continues his torrid pace in left, and improves to +6 DRS on the year. Nobody else is even at +4. Adam Duvall of the Reds is having himself a nice year by UZR, as his +3.3 makes him the best at his position, and a solid fielder even by DEF. Youngster Joey Rickard isn’t sitting as pretty, though, as he holds the worst scores at the position with a -6 DRS and a -4.6 UZR. He’s only second to Bruce for being the worst fielder out there by DEF.

Best Week Ever:

Six different guys, including Rasmus, had +2 weeks by DRS. UZR breaks the tie though as Rafael Ortega gets the nod with a +2.5 UZR. His games total is a bit low, though, so we’ll give the honorable mention to Starling Marte who had a +2.1 UZR.

Worst Week Ever:

Rickard, please see me in my office after class. Diamondbacks darling Yasmany Tomas also put up a rough -3 DRS on the week as he struggles to find a positional fit. Rickard was the worst in UZR, too, but let’s just move on.

Keep an Eye on:

Ryan Braun is having a divisive year. DRS thinks he’s pretty good at +3, but UZR disagrees and puts him at -3.5. That’s definitely something to track as time goes on.

First Base:

The Outliers:

Paul Goldschmidt clings to the #1 spot as he remains the only +3 DRS score. Anthony Rizzo is the best by UZR, though, at a very respectable +2.5. There are too many to list when it comes to -2 DRS players at first, so I’ll just call out Ryan Howard as he was -2 at both DRS and UZR. He isn’t the worst in UZR though on the season. That would be Eric Hosmer at -2.5.

Best Week Ever:

Rizzo is nipping right at Goldschmidt’s heels, as his +2 DRS week puts him as a positive at +1 on the year. Justin Bour, though, was the best in UZR on the week. His +1.5 on the week is pretty good for a first baseman.

Worst Week Ever:

Brandon Moss was one of two guys with a -2 DRS on the week, but his -1.5 UZR score on the week is definitely the worst. You play him for the bat, right?

Keep an Eye on:

John Jaso is playing his first full season at first base, and the results are encouraging. He rates as above-average in all three metrics, though obviously it’s not a position that allows a lot of room to grow.