Down (a bit) on Upton's defense

B.J. Upton appears to be a very good defensive center fielder. He threw out 16 runners in 2008, almost double the number of any other center fielder. He appears to have a lot of range. His range rating (2.84) was third in baseball this year for his position, behind only the speedy Carlos Gomez (3.15) and the somewhat surprising Aaron Rowand (2.95). Upton's speed allows him to play shallow and get to a number of balls other player couldn't reach.

That said, he might be lacking in a single area. I think he plays too shallow. Maybe the Rays encourage this, thinking Upton can make up ground behind him with his impressive speed, but it doesn't seem to do so in actuality. Two cases in point - I've seen Upton now have no chance on what would've been potentially routine fly balls this postseason, because he was playing too shallow. The first came against the White Sox, the second came tonight with a Coco Crisp ground-rule double in the ninth of game two in the ALDS. Upton also carries a below average zone rating for center fielders. That means he's not getting to a number of balls considered to be hit to his area.

Are the balls he struggles to get hit mostly over his head? Baseball should follow this stat (balls hit over outfielders head) to help us determine how often a fielder tends to be in position. There could also be stats kept on balls that get past fielders to their left and right. We'd get a pretty good idea of which players overplay in certain directions versus other fielders. Tendencies of incorrectly overplaying fielders could be examined regarding how teams position their players for certain batters, pitchers, etc. Just a thought.

Update: Upton just ran one down at the track - another ball that almost got over his head.