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The Fielding Bible
Previously available exclusively to Major League Baseball teams, John Dewan and Baseball Info Solutions reveal their revolutionary approach to fielding analysis. In the process, they will completely change the entire perception of fielding statistics in Major League Baseball. Key features In-Depth Analysis by Position, Where Hits Landed, Bill James’ brand new Relative Range Factors, and John Dewan’s newly redesigned Zone Ratings.
- GenresBaseball
241 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 17, 2025
3.5 rounded up.
I'm not certain how long this has been on my shelf, but the correct response is "too long" regardless of the answer. It is the first volume produced under this title and I think Dewan is now up to at least volume V (published in 2020). Moreover, Dewan and colleagues have been recognizing talented fielders annually as part of the Fielding Bible Awards for at least 2006 to 2025. The book and related project have definitely had staying power.
That's not true of the information contained in this volume. The players covered in this initial book are all retired now -- though a few of them managed to play into the 2020s. In fact, the book reflects a different era of baseball in so many ways. Defense has arguably become less important thanks to the huge increase in strikeouts in the games (partly related to rising velocity, reduced usage of individual pitchers, and pitch design laboratories). Catcher framing is now readily measured and contributes to those strikeout totals. That's not in the book. Infield shifts began to run rampant in the years after this book appeared and then sparked a major rules change about player positioning. Stolen bases became more important after another rules change, which also increased the importance of catcher defense (pop time, really).
Bill James contributes a couple of essays to this book and they are good. James points out in one of those that he looks for internal consistency in defensive stats and wonders about volatility in year-to-year defensive results. This book all-too-rarely discusses these issues. I noted some consistency here -- everyone seems to agree that Adam Everett was an excellent defensive SS over a period of several years (ranked #1 for 2003, 2004, and 2005). However, some obvious volatility is ignored -- the 3 year defensive rankings for OF Vernon Wells are strange (24-3-12) and the year-to-year changes in defense for Steve Finley (1 to 27), Johnny Damon (3 to 30), David DeJesus (5 to 19th) and Vladimir Guerrero (Sr) (26-30-5) are odd.
Some of those changes could be age related and the book annoyingly does not present age information with the short player summaries. Notations about injuries might also have helped.
The pages with team charts lack player names so the information is presented with a high level of ambiguity. Perhaps these errors were corrected in later editions.
I'm not certain how long this has been on my shelf, but the correct response is "too long" regardless of the answer. It is the first volume produced under this title and I think Dewan is now up to at least volume V (published in 2020). Moreover, Dewan and colleagues have been recognizing talented fielders annually as part of the Fielding Bible Awards for at least 2006 to 2025. The book and related project have definitely had staying power.
That's not true of the information contained in this volume. The players covered in this initial book are all retired now -- though a few of them managed to play into the 2020s. In fact, the book reflects a different era of baseball in so many ways. Defense has arguably become less important thanks to the huge increase in strikeouts in the games (partly related to rising velocity, reduced usage of individual pitchers, and pitch design laboratories). Catcher framing is now readily measured and contributes to those strikeout totals. That's not in the book. Infield shifts began to run rampant in the years after this book appeared and then sparked a major rules change about player positioning. Stolen bases became more important after another rules change, which also increased the importance of catcher defense (pop time, really).
Bill James contributes a couple of essays to this book and they are good. James points out in one of those that he looks for internal consistency in defensive stats and wonders about volatility in year-to-year defensive results. This book all-too-rarely discusses these issues. I noted some consistency here -- everyone seems to agree that Adam Everett was an excellent defensive SS over a period of several years (ranked #1 for 2003, 2004, and 2005). However, some obvious volatility is ignored -- the 3 year defensive rankings for OF Vernon Wells are strange (24-3-12) and the year-to-year changes in defense for Steve Finley (1 to 27), Johnny Damon (3 to 30), David DeJesus (5 to 19th) and Vladimir Guerrero (Sr) (26-30-5) are odd.
Some of those changes could be age related and the book annoyingly does not present age information with the short player summaries. Notations about injuries might also have helped.
The pages with team charts lack player names so the information is presented with a high level of ambiguity. Perhaps these errors were corrected in later editions.
November 23, 2007
this is an essential to any dedicated fan who loves baseball and statistics. Errors and fielding percentage are from the stone age and now Zone Rating and Range Factor are old news because they've been improved upon by John Dewan and Bill James and the new plus/minus system demonstrates even further how far dedicated baseball men are willing to go to understand fielding.
Play by play analysis of every fielding play using 260 vectors on the field and split into three categories of how hard the hit is and 4 types of hits? Yes please!
Play by play analysis of every fielding play using 260 vectors on the field and split into three categories of how hard the hit is and 4 types of hits? Yes please!
November 13, 2008
For real nerds only. The essays are interesting, but the bulk of the book is simply stats, in line with the authors' intent to compile as much information as possible.
Even so, it's the expository sections that are most compelling. The stuff on Jeter is pleasing. More interesting is not only *that* but *why* Mike Lowell is overrated, or the hints of A-Rod's strengths and weaknesses (sure hands and fielding the bunt).
A little outdated by this point, as the most recent stats are from 2005.
Even so, it's the expository sections that are most compelling. The stuff on Jeter is pleasing. More interesting is not only *that* but *why* Mike Lowell is overrated, or the hints of A-Rod's strengths and weaknesses (sure hands and fielding the bunt).
A little outdated by this point, as the most recent stats are from 2005.
November 5, 2007
Statistics on defensive ability haven't been improved in a long time. This book makes a good attempt at doing so.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews