Checking in on Tex’s defense

Mark Teixeira’s UZR rating in 2009 is -2.8 and his UZR per 150 defensive games is -4.3. In 2008, Tex was one of the better defensive first baseman in baseball, however, his excellent defense seems to have been an extreme aberration as his UZR this season indicates that he is a below average defender at 1B (in range runs and double play runs—he’s above average in error runs).

This notion goes beyond 2009, though. Here’s what I wrote in January about Tex’s defense.

In 2007, Mark Teixeira had an UZR of -3.5. He was actually 15th on the leaderboard at his position (under Carlos Delgado). In 2006, Teixeira’s UZR was -1.8 and he was 12th on the leaderboard (Ryan Howard beat him with a 0.2). In 2005, Tex’s UZR was -2.5 and he was 11th on the list. Hmmm, I’m not the biggest UZR user but it appears as though Tex’s defense may be overrated a bit. In fact, it appears as though Teixeira is, based on his history, an average to below average first baseman (although slightly below average).

UZR can sometimes vary significantly from year to year but Teixeira’s 2009 is very representative of his work with the glove since 2005 (with 2008 being the lone exception). Of course, after years of dealing with Jason Giambi’s poor defense at first, I’m sure Yankee fans are enjoying Tex’s work there this year, and rightfully so. However, when discussing he best defensive infielders in the game (at 1B), I think we must temper our praise as it would be inaccurate to lump him in with a Kevin Youkilis or a Casey Kotchman.