Andrelton Simmons is a good defender, but… he’s not the best at his position this season. *GASP* "Oh, heavens above!"

Hold your horses. So far, Simmons is tied for 2nd best in defense among all players in 2018, behind another shortstop- Jose Iglesias. Now, keep in mind that it’s May 22nd, the season is a marathon, not a sprint, and so on. Plus, the defensive rating (DEF) difference between the two is so small that it can be made up rather quickly (7.5 to 6.8).





Simmons was the best defender in the league last year by a landslide. In defensive rating (DEF), which combines other fielding statistics like defensive runs saved and compares them across positions, Simmons was leagues above 2nd placed Brandon Crawford. And in 2016, he placed 6th amongst shortstops- but keep in mind he played about 300 less innings than the leader in DEF that year.





Basically, Andrelton Simmons is a top-notch defender- arguably, the best in the league. But unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you would know that from watching him play or watching announcers gush over his skills. However, Simmons is turning himself into quite the two-way player.

So far, Simmons has been hitting at .329, nothing to scoff at. He’s definitely due for some regression, due to a BABIP well above his career numbers, but so far, his offensive numbers have been better across the board. Here are some reasons:

He’s striking out less. His current K% sits at 5.3%, an extremely low number considering his career percentages have never dipped below 7.9%. This is due to him just swinging less in general. His Swing percentage (the amount of times he swings at a pitch) has reached a career-low 41.2%. For reference, his swing percentage has covered around 46% for his career. He’s swinging at bad pitches less. His O-swing% (Outside the Zone Swing Percentage- basically, balls) has dipped to 21.6%, down from his old career-low of 26.9%. Typically, when you swing at bad pitches less, you get ahead in counts more often, and get more favorable pitches. He’s hitting the ball hard. His Hard% (percentage of hard contact made) has jumped to 36.1%, up from last year’s 29.2%. Each year with the Halos, Simmons has seen his Hard% jump roughly 6%. So, they must be doing something right with him. He’s hitting more line drives. Going against the new hitting revolution, Simmons has been elevating the ball less this season, dropping his flyball rate from 31.5% to 29%, and increasing his line drive rate from 19% to 21.9%.

These aren’t the only reasons, and some of his hitting has to do with luck, but if Simmons continues at his current trends, he could be in line for some solid offensive production.





Remember the DEF rating from before? Well, there also happens to be an offensive rating that calculates a player’s offensive rating above average, called OFF. Simmons happens to be performing at a 10.2 OFF rating, which is higher than it has ever been in his career. Last year’s performance was the best of his career, at 4.6 OFF. Simmons could be in line for his best offensive season statistically.

One last indicator of his success: WAR. Simmons is currently producing 2.4 WAR. Pretty good for late May. That 2.4 WAR is also good enough for 10th best in the league. At his current pace, Simmons is projected to pass his career-high 5.1 WAR from last season, but again, Simmons is due for regression.

Ultimately, we will have to continue watching Simmons to see how much he truly regresses, but if he can keep it up, we could be looking at a race for MVP that contains two players from the Halos.





*All stats are taken from fangraphs.com, all opinions are taken from the writer's brain*

Please leave your thoughts/opinions/feedback in the comments! I’m always looking to improve as a writer.



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