Interesting Point about Omar Vizquel

aw00d05 said:

Vizquel>Smith

Vizquel's next hit will pass Luis Aparicio for most hits by a Venezuelan all time. Also Barry Zito has a no-no, so lets see that go away soon.

Click to expand...

kdailey4315 said:

aw00d05 said:

Vizquel>Smith

Vizquel's next hit will pass Luis Aparicio for most hits by a Venezuelan all time. Also Barry Zito has a no-no, so lets see that go away soon.

Click to expand...

His record and his last outing doesn't show it but Zito is pitching lights out this year.

Click to expand...

Mozzie22 said:

Omar Vizquel is frequently compared to Ozzie Smith not only because of his Gold Gloves but because he actually has a higher career fielding percentage than Ozzie. Fielding percentage is a flawed statistic because it fails to take into account range factor (RF). Range factor is what is truly important for a SS and in this comparison. Ozzie had a career range factor/game of almost 1.0 higher than his league average. Vizquel’s is around .3 better than league average. In fact, the year Vizquel made only 3 errors, his range factor is below league average. More assists are more valuable than fewer errors and Ozzie is the king of assists.

Ozzie Smith had a career range factor of 5.22 versus a league average of 4.78. Omar’s RF was 4.64 versus a league average of 4.62. Ozzie Smith had a range factor of over 5.00 8 times in his career as opposed to Vizquel who never had a RF over 5. Simply put, Ozzie gets to balls that Omar just watches go by.

Omar Vizquel is a fine fielding SS but to anyone who has seen them both play it is just obvious that Ozzie was the superior fielder. Am I biased? Of course. Bill James knows more about baseball and baseball statistics than just about any person alive and he said that Ozzie is not only the greatest fielding SS of all time but he is the single greatest fielder at any postion in the history of the game... I agree. Also, I have an article around here somewhere that was written on ESPN.com or some place that makes a pretty good arguement that states compared to the era's they played in that Ozzie was actually the better offensive player too, but I'm more concerned with the defense.

Click to expand...

kdailey4315 said:

So you say that Ozzie was better because he had more range?

Click to expand...

kdailey4315 said:

So you say that Ozzie was better because he had more range?

Click to expand...

Mozzie22 said:

kdailey4315 said:

So you say that Ozzie was better because he had more range?

Click to expand...

Not just because of that but that is a determining factor that fielding % fails to adequately show. Simply put, Ozzie Smith got to more balls and was subsequently penalized with errors for those that he was unable to come up with, than Omar was even able to attempt.

Omar is one of the best fielding shortstops of all time but he simply was not as good as Ozzie Smith. Ozzie is my favorite player but all bias aside he was simply better DEFENSIVELY than Omar. Even if you take every single expert opinion (Bill James, John Dewan from the Fielders Bible, etc) out of the equation it boils down to the smell factor. If you have seen both players field you just know Ozzie was better.

You cannot discredit range factor and the fact is that Ozzie was light years ahead of the league average while Omar was slightly better.

Here is a great article on the subject:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7196 ... ime-part-1

Click to expand...

kdailey4315 said:

Mozzie22 said:

kdailey4315 said:

So you say that Ozzie was better because he had more range?

Click to expand...

Not just because of that but that is a determining factor that fielding % fails to adequately show. Simply put, Ozzie Smith got to more balls and was subsequently penalized with errors for those that he was unable to come up with, than Omar was even able to attempt.

Omar is one of the best fielding shortstops of all time but he simply was not as good as Ozzie Smith. Ozzie is my favorite player but all bias aside he was simply better DEFENSIVELY than Omar. Even if you take every single expert opinion (Bill James, John Dewan from the Fielders Bible, etc) out of the equation it boils down to the smell factor. If you have seen both players field you just know Ozzie was better.

You cannot discredit range factor and the fact is that Ozzie was light years ahead of the league average while Omar was slightly better.

Here is a great article on the subject:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7196 ... ime-part-1

Click to expand...

What about the fact that Vizquel was a better hitter? Better average more RBI's

Click to expand...