Greg Maddux...The Best Fielding Pitcher Ever?

Credit: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)

In this article, we are going to explore and analyze the stats of Greg Maddux, possibly the greatest pitcher ever when it came to fielding his position. Maddux played 23 seasons in the Major Leagues across four different teams, most notably with the Atlanta Braves from 1993 to 2003. The right hander from San Angelo, Texas was listed as 6-0 ft tall, weighing 170 pounds. "The Professor" would go on to be a 4x National League Cy Young winner, be named an All-Star 8 times, win 4 ERA Titles, an astonishing 18 Gold Gloves for his position, and win the 1995 World Series with the Braves. Oh, and also, he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

Visually when watching games, Maddux was so successful at getting hitters out with his glove because he would land in a position with his legs to bounce off the mound to field ground balls or line drives. In the following visual and video you can see how after every pitch is thrown by Maddux he lands with his right foot pointing towards the plate (just like his left/plant foot). There is also a slight bend in his legs, so he can be explosive in getting to balls that normally other pitchers wouldn't be able to get to and record the out.

Credit: MLB Vault

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNWVtzvC_7M

Credit: MLB Vault

This table showcases Maddux's year-by-year fielding statistics from 1986 to 2008. There are few methods across the industry used to evaluate the effectiveness of a pitcher's fielding ability, but I will analyze Maddux using the fielding percatage (Fld%), putout (PO), assist (A), and Range Factor (RF) statistics. To explain for later, a putout is when simply the pitcher catches the ball in the air, or directly steps on the bag, being the last player to touch the ball and record the out. An assist is recorded for any player who touches the ball before the out is achieved by another fielder finishing the play.

Sourced from Greg Maddux's Baseball Reference page.

Fielding Percentage

Highlighted in yellow are the fielding statistics we will be looking at. First, fielding percentage (Fld%) is the number of total assists and putouts any player in the field gets divided by the total number of assists, putouts, and errors. Maddux's career Fld% was 0.97 (546 total putouts, 1194 total assists, 53 errors, and 1793 total chances). Compared to the league average fielding percentage (lgFld%) in that time period, which was 0.957, Maddux was .013 points higher.

While it may not seem like much, the above league average Fld% Maddux possessed plays out to substantial difference across a career. This is because Maddux's glove saved himself and his team from allowing less runners on base, which could have resulted in the opposing team scoring more runs, and Maddux's team losing the game. The small things in baseball are what makes the game so fascinating to play, watch, and analyze.

Errors

The 53 errors over the 23 season played in the Big Leagues signals that in the multitude of fielding chances "The Professor" got, he only averaged 2.3 errors per season. Maddux was a reliable glove on the mound that rarely made an error when a ball came his way, which proved his athleticism.

Ranger Factor per 9 Innings

Going into more advanced statistics, we will look at Maddux's Range Factor per 9 innings (RF/9) versus the league average Range Factor per 9 innings (lgRF/9). Range factor is the number of putouts and assists added together times 9, which is then divided by a total number of innings a pitcher has thrown.

Maddux's career average RF/9 was 3.13, which is 1.31points higher than the lgRF9 during that time period of 1.82. This signals how much more likely Maddux was able to make a play getting a hitter out fielding from the pitcher's mound across the nine innings period during a game. This claim is supported by the leaderboard evidence below and the claim at the beginning of the article of how he would bounce off the mound to get to balls put in play and record the putout.

Assists and Putouts

The following leaderboards showcase where he ranks relative to other pitchers in the assists and putout categories. To reiterate, Maddux ranks high on these leaderboards because he is athletic in bouncing off the mound after he pitches.

Maddux ranks 11th all-time in career assists by a pitcher:

Most impressively, Maddux ranks first in career putouts as a pitcher by a wide margin over second place at 388 putouts (158 more putouts):

Conclusion

Besides fielding, Greg Maddux was also a control artist on the mound, being able to throw pitches when and where he wants. He averaged 1.8 walks per 9 innings, leading the league seven different times in that category. Maddux was also efficient in getting hitters out, only throwing an average of 3.3 pitches per plate appearance throughout his career, signaling his ability to produce weak contact to get hitters out quickly. This led to 109 complete games throughout his career with the term a "Maddux" being coined after him, which constitutes when a pitcher throws a complete game shutout in 100 or less pitches.

Simply, Greg Maddux was athletic freak and used his body to the upmost efficiency. He was able to get to balls to catch them and either record the assist if it was hit on the ground, or the putout by catching it in the air. This is why he has elite numbers when it comes to putouts, assists, and Range Factor per 9 innings. Finally, these numbers support his superior fielding ability, but also his "GOAT" and Hall of Fame status in winning the NL Cy Young four times in a row from 1992-1995 and producing many other tremendous feats throughout his career.