Why are Jung Hoo Lee's defense and baserunning stats so bad?
I didn't really understand how Lee, who has been a league average hitter, and passes the eye test as an athletic runner and fielder, has been worth just 0.1 WAR. Apparently, this is because he has been the 34th-worst defender in baseball and the 16th-worst baserunner, out of 177 qualified players. He also has no SBs and no CS. But I dont understand how that's possible, he looks mostly fine in both those components. Like, apparently Ramos has been a better defender. What am I missing?
So looking at some basic stats. He only has 1 error this year. By fielding bible stats, he's been a positive defender, with his only negative component being his arm. However, when looking at statcast, he has been average by OAA and -1 by FRV, also due to his throwing. If we look at his route metrics we can see though where he suffers. Lee's reaction times are actually average and his routes are above average. However, he is the 6th worst defender in baseball by his "burst" metric, meaning the amount of range he covers between 1.6 and 3 seconds after the ball is hit. And he's not slow, so it's hard to know what to make of that. My best guess is he is playing overly conservatively, or maybe the park factors of RF in Oracle dont give him many opportunities to run to his right.
As for the baserunning and throwing, it seems there have been 41 instances where runners advanced against him, even though his arm strength is very good. I dont really know what to make of that either without watching each play. I guess he isnt very accurate? And lastly he's been thrown out twice (3/31, 4/18) on attempted advances as a baserunner, though has been modestly aggressive. And of course, he hasn't stolen any bases.
Anyway, curious what people think. He can't be negative as a runner and fielder and be very valuable.