The Cubs Probably Have the Best Defensive Middle Infield in Baseball, Right?

(I didn’t intend to do multiple “ooh, hey, Cubs best in baseball!” posts today, but the bullpen thing was just something I’d wanted to check in on, and then a Sun-Times piece prompted me to look at some other double-play combos in baseball, and boom, a post happened. Forgive me!)

It can be a little easy to suggest that, simply because the players on the team you follow are Very Good at Thing X, they are up there among the best in baseball at Thing X. Other teams have really, really good players, too. Data helps, obviously.

When it comes to defensive stuff, though, particularly in a sample too small for advanced defensive metrics to truly help you weed out your biases, it’s all the more difficult not to figure that the really good defenders you see on the Cubs are probably also among the best in baseball. Surely other teams don’t have guys who look THIS good!

So I’ll caution not to get too Cubs-centric when evaluating defenders, but I couldn’t help notice the quote from David Ross in the latest at the Sun-Times on the special middle infield the Cubs are rocking right now.

‘‘Having potentially two Gold Gloves up the middle is extremely strong and important and makes you feel confident that when a ball is hit toward those guys, a play is gonna be made,’’ manager David Ross said. ‘‘That’s a special group out there.’’

The article is full of praise for Báez and Hoerner, each of whom was a Gold Glove finalist last year (with Báez winning), and each of whom continues to turn heads this year (Báez had that stretch where he was making some really ugly errors, and we later learned he was playing through – among other things? – a back issue). The eye test tells you both are exceptional, and the data we do have for the last couple years tells us the eye test is probably correct.

Are the two the best defensive middle infield in baseball right now? I actually think the answer is … probably? Your quick and dirty way to eyeball the question is to look at the consensus top defensive shortstops, and then see if the guy’s double-play-mate is a top-tier defender like Hoerner.

You’ve got Nick Ahmed with the Diamondbacks, who tends to be right up there with Báez in defensive ability, but he’s paired with Eduardo Escobar, who is not at second for his glove. Andrelton Simmons will absolutely get the Twins in the conversation, though it’s not yet clear whether Jorge Polanco (converted from shortstop, where he was quite poor) is better than average at second. You’ve got Brandon Crawford balling out with the Giants this year, but Tommy La Stella (currently injured) is average at best at second. Francisco Lindor would get the Mets in the conversation, but Jeff McNeil (injured) is also merely average at second. The available data are mixed on just how good J.P Crawford is, so we’d just need a longer track record there. Carlos Correa was a Gold Glove finalist last year, but he rates out more as a “solid” defender than a great one. Similarly, the Braves’ middle infield duo of Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies are both just solid. Miguel Rojas and Jazz Chisholm are pretty good up the middle for the Marlins, but I’m not sure you’d put a “best” label on them.

If you go to second base, and use that as your jump-off point, the guy who immediately comes to mind is Kolten Wong, but the data are definitely mixed on his new shortstop, Willy Adames. David Fletcher has been outstanding with the Angels, but the formerly awesome Jose Iglesias has fallen waaaay off by the metrics the last few years.

I could go on with some groups, but you do kinda run up against the same questions: just how good is a guy, just how established is a guy, etc., and thus I can pretty easily make the argument that, with the Cubs, you’re talking about a shortstop who is very established and very elite, and a second baseman who is not yet as established, but who has rated out as elite.

I really think these are the guys right now, when you consider everything and pair ’em together. It doesn’t “matter” at the moment, because we’ve got most of a season to play out, and then the Cubs face the possibility of Báez leaving in free agency. I just thought it was a neat thing to note.

nico hoerner javy Báez cubs hugging
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

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Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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