AA Errors by Position

My post on AAA errors by position is here. Today I'm focusing on AA players. Conveniently, fewer players spent time with more than one AA team last season. I assume this has to do with fewer AA players being on the fringes of 40-man rosters and thus prone to being placed on waivers and claimed by other teams.

AA Pitchers

AA Pitchers Sorted By Most Errors
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Brodie Downs	West Tenn	SEA	26	8	.692
Matthew Buschmann	San Antonio	SDP	50	5	.900
Robert Mosebach	Arkansas	LAA	48	5	.896
Garrett Broshuis	Connecticut	SFG	45	5	.889
Brandon Magee	New Hampshire	TOR	38	4	.895
Jess Todd	Springfield	STL	37	4	.892
Phil Coke	Trenton	NYY	30	4	.867
Julio Cesar Pimental	Northwest Arkansas	KCR	26	4	.846
Justin Thomas	West Tenn	SEA	26	4	.846
Jason Berken	Bowie	BAL	22	4	.818
Michael Bowden	Portland	BOS	21	4	.810

League	TC	E	FPct.
Eastern League Pitchers	3017	163	.946
Southern League Pitchers	2681	139	.948
Texas League Pitchers	2076	136	.934
AA Pitchers	7774	438	.944

The fielding percentage table is pretty similar to the errors table so I axed it. The only pitchers that cracked the top ten with fewer than 4 errors in more than 20 total chances were David Huff (.857) of Akron, Frank Herrmann (.870) of Akron, Fernando Rodriguez (.870) of Arkansas, and Blake Johnson (.885) of Northwest Arkansas. Johnson was tenth on the list, so use the pitchers from the first list with lower fielding percentages to round out the leaderboard. Looking at the league numbers, it's strange how the Texas League is so much worse than the others. I don't know why that would be. Only three of my bottom ten qualifying pitchers in fielding percentage played in the Texas League, compared to two in the Southern League and five in the Eastern League, but that's not really strange considering the distribution of teams between the leagues.

AA Catchers

AA Catchers Sorted By Most Errors
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Anthony Recker	Midland	OAK	952	13	.986
Brandon Yarbrough	Springfield	STL	542	13	.976
John Jaso	Montgomery	TBR	545	12	.978
Brad Davis	Carolina	FLA	598	11	.982
Lou Marson	Reading	PHI	611	9	.985
Adam Moore	West Tenn	SEA	806	8	.990
Lucas May	Jacksonville	LAD	748	8	.989
Max Ramirez	Frisco	TEX	287	8	.972
7 tied with				7

AA Catchers Sorted By Lowest FPct. (minimum 400 total chances)
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Brandon Yarbrough	Springfield	STL	542	13	.976
John Jaso	Montgomery	TBR	545	12	.978
Brad Davis	Carolina	FLA	598	11	.982
Ben Johnson	Arkansas	LAA	441	7	.984
Lou Marson	Reading	PHI	611	9	.985
Devin Ivany	Harrisburg	WSN	422	6	.986
John Otness	Portland	BOS	430	6	.986
Anthony Recker	Midland	OAK	952	13	.986
John Hester	Mobile	ARI	579	7	.988
Salomon Manriquez	Binghamton	NYM	593	7	.988
EAS Catchers			12882	132	.990
SOU Catchers			10878	113	.990
TEX Catchers			8846	108	.988
AA Catchers			32606	353	.989

Much like Jason Jaramillo in AAA, Anthony Recker appears on top of the errors list thanks to his durability. He caught just over 100 more innings than the AA runner-up (1014.3 to 914.0). He started 112 of his team's 140 games. Having so many more chances gave him a leg up on the competition to commit the most errors. Brandon Yarbrough tied him in errors despite catching a little over half as many innings. Once again the Texas League lags behind the other two leagues in fielding percentage, but the difference isn't noteworthy this time.

AA First Basemen

AA 1B Sorted By Most Errors
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Ryan Roberson	Erie	DET	1045	13	.988
Rhyne Hughes	Montgomery	TBR	769	12	.984
Chris Errecart	Huntsville	MIL	927	11	.988
Kala Kaaihue	Mississippi	ATL	823	11	.987
Jeff Kindel	Tulsa	COL	1303	10	.992
Tonys Gutierrez	Chattanooga	CIN	965	10	.990
Bryan Byrne	Mobile	ARI	936	10	.989
Aaron Bates	Portland	BOS	787	10	.987
Brock Peterson	New Britain	MIN	662	9	.986
Mike Carp	Binghamton	NYM	568	9	.984

League	TC	E	FPct.
Eastern League 1B	15354	154	.990
Southern League 1B	12742	122	.990
Texas League 1B	10752	97	.991
AA 1B	38848	373	.990

Once again you can pretty much construct the fielding percentage leaderboard from the errors list. Only two players appear in the top ten (minimum 500 chances) without having committed at least nine errors. They are Kila Kaaihue (.988) of Northwest Arkansas and Johan Limonta (.985) of West Tenn. Anyone from the first list with a fielding percentage of .989 or lower would show up on the leaderboard. After trailing the other two leagues on the mound and behind the plate, the Texas League finally leads the way at first base.

AA Second Basemen

AA 2B Sorted By Most Errors
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Mike Bell	Huntsville	MIL	559	23	.959
Christopher Coghlan	Carolina	FLA	555	18	.968
William Rhymes	Erie	DET	562	16	.972
Drew Sutton	Corpus Christi	HOU	500	16	.968
Eric Young	Tulsa	COL	548	14	.974
Nate Sutton	Arkansas	LAA	503	13	.974
Victor Mercedes	Birmingham	CHW	439	13	.970
Emmanuel Garcia	Binghamton	NYM	429	12	.972
Olmo Rosario	Connecticut	SFG	301	12	.960
3 tied with				11

AAA 2B Sorted By Lowest FPct. (minimum 250 total chances)
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Mike Bell	Huntsville	MIL	559	23	.959
Olmo Rosario	Connecticut	SFG	301	12	.960
Jeffrey Dominguez	West Tenn	SEA	336	11	.967
Christopher Coghlan	Carolina	FLA	555	18	.968
William Bergolla	Harrisburg	WSN	309	10	.968
Drew Sutton	Corpus Christi	HOU	500	16	.968
Victor Mercedes	Birmingham	CHW	439	13	.970
William Rhymes	Erie	DET	562	16	.972
Shelby Ford	Altoona	PIT	391	11	.972
Emmanuel Garcia	Binghamton	NYM	429	12	.972
EAS 2B			8540	211	.975
SOU 2B			6837	164	.976
TEX 2B			5748	144	.975
AA 2B			21125	519	.975

Mike Bell appears on top of both lists, joining Brodie Downs as the two players to do that in the positions covered so far. Bell does have the largest gap between his error total and that of the runner-up through the first four positions. If anyone's curious, the two Suttons that appear in the errors list are not related to each other.

AA Third Basemen

AA 3B Sorted By Most Errors
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Mat Gamel	Huntsville	MIL	364	30	.918
Tony Blanco	Tulsa	COL	192	29	.849
Wes Hodges	Akron	CLE	276	28	.899
Seth Johnston	San Anthonio	SDP	333	27	.919
Neil Sellers	Reading	PHI	296	27	.909
Chris Johnson	Corpus Christi	HOU	253	23	.909
Corey Smith	Arkansas	LAA	274	22	.920
Chris Nowak	Montgomery	TBR	282	19	.933
4 tied with				18

League	TC	E	FPct.
Eastern League 3B	4607	336	.927
Southern League 3B	3788	264	.930
Texas League 3B	3230	232	.928
AA 3B	11625	832	.928

Gamel has a reputation as a good-hit, no-field type prospect. While this does little to suggest that reputation is unwarrented, at least he can take solace in the fact he's not the only AA third baseman who struggled last year. Blanco is a former Rule 5 pick of the Nationals who had his best season as a pro last year, at least with the bat. Despite the abysmal 2008 fielding percentage (.050 below runner-up Hodges), his career fielding percentage at third actually went up. Speaking of Blanco and Hodges, to construct the fielding percentage leaderboard, look at the first list and take out Nowak. Then put in David Maroul (.913) of Connecticut, Jeff Nettles (.924) of Bowie, and Christopher Malec (.926) of Trenton and sort. Voila.

AA Shortstops

AA SS Sorted By Most Errors
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Elvis Andrus	Frisco	TEX	574	32	.944
Jose Coronado	Binghamton	NYM	626	30	.952
Robert Valido	Birmingham	CHW	538	27	.950
Javier Guzman	Mississippi	ATL	411	24	.942
Christopher Nelson	Tulsa	COL	345	24	.930
Ian Desmond	Harrisburg	WSN	450	22	.951
Ramiro Pena	Trenton	NYY	463	21	.955
Chris Valaika	Chattanooga	CIN	439	21	.952
Ivan DeJesus	Jacksonville	LAD	407	21	.948
Mark Kiger	West Tenn	SEA	404	21	.948

League	TC	E	FPct.
Eastern League SS	7777	339	.956
Southern League SS	6323	275	.957
Texas League SS	5555	219	.961
AA SS	19655	833	.958

This is another convenient errors table when it comes to determining the lowest fielding percentages. Replace Ramiro Pena with Jason Donald (.949) of Reading and sort and you're done. If anyone thinks Mark Kiger's name is familiar, check out his Baseball-Reference.com page. He was the first player in over a century to make his MLB debut in the playoffs when he took the field during the 2006 ALDS. A rash of injuries left the A's shorthanded in the middle infield, so Kiger was called upon to flesh out the roster. Is it weird that I'm a little disappointed Southern League shortstops couldn't get 343 more chances to bring them up to 6666?

AAA Outfielders

AA OF Sorted By Most Errors
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Ambiorix Concepcion	Binghamton	NYM	258	12	.953
Maurice Gartrell	Birmingham	CHW	187	10	.947
Deik Scram	Erie	DET	301	9	.970
Greg Golson	Reading	PHI	300	8	.973
Steven Murphy	Frisco	TEX	219	8	.963
Mitch Einertson	Corpus Christi	HOU	190	8	.958
10 tied with				7

AA OF Sorted By Lowest FPct. (minimum 200 total chances
Name	Team	Org.	TC	E	FPct.
Ambiorix Concepcion	Binghamton	NYM	258	12	.953
Steven Murphy	Frisco	TEX	219	8	.963
John Raynor	Carolina	FLA	203	7	.966
Jon Zeringue	Midland	OAK	215	7	.967
Deik Scram	Erie	DET	301	9	.970
Jamie Hoffmann	Jacksonville	LAD	245	7	.971
Colin Curtis	Trenton	NYY	222	6	.973
Greg Golson	Reading	PHI	300	8	.973
Antoan Richardson	Connecticut	SFG	277	7	.975
Cole Gillespie	Huntsville	MIL	213	5	.977
EAS OF			10712	225	.979
SOU OF			8654	203	.977
TEX OF			7019	132	.981
AA OF			26385	560	.979

Ambiorix Concepcion struggled in the field this year, but he's not quite at the level of Luis Terrero. Golson and Scram were two of only five AA outfielders to reach 300 total chances this past season, giving them some excuse for showing up on the first list.

So that's the errors situation at each position in AA. Obviously errors and fielding percentage aren't the best or even a particularly good way to measure defense. But when those are the two numbers that get bandied about the most when it comes to prospects and other minor leaguers, it helps to have some context, right?