Monday, October 8, 2012

Participate in the 2012 Fan Scouting Report

The reminder went up on FanGraphs today, so I figured I would give it a shoutout since right now the Nats only have like 22 responses.

IF YOU WATCH BASEBALL, PARTICIPATE IN THE FAN SCOUTING REPORT BY CLICKING HERE!
(and if you don't watch baseball, I am confused as to why you are reading my blog, but thanks anyways!)
quoted straight from the project's page. emphasis is mine
The Project
What I would like to do now is tap that pool of talent. I want you to tell me what your eyes see. I want you to tell me how good or bad a fielder is. Go down, and start selecting the team(s) that you watch all the time. For any player that you've seen play in at least 10 games in 2012, I want you to judge his performance in 7 specific fielding categories.

  Try to judge 'average' not as an average player at that position, but an average player at any position. If you think that Ben Zobrist has an average arm, then mark him as average, regardless if you've seen him play 2B, SS, or RF.
DO NOT CONSIDER THE POSITION THE PLAYER PLAYS!
DO NOT CONSIDER THE POSITION THE PLAYER PLAYS!
DO NOT CONSIDER THE POSITION THE PLAYER PLAYS!

If you don't have an opinion on a particular characteristic of that player, then go on to the next characteristic for that player. This applies especially for you TV watchers, and you can't tell how well Peter Bourjos can read the ball off the bat.
And, most importantly, do not, absolutely do not, look at any numbers. Don't look at his fielding percentage, range factor, zone rating, UZR, or anything else that someone else is telling you. I just want you to rely on your eyes. You are the scout. I need you to rely completely on your own observations.
We know the fans know what they are talking about. We know they know how to observe good and bad fielding. Now, I just want to know what the fans know. And, hopefully, so do you.
Note: The rosters are based on any player with at least 90 innings played for a particular team in 2012. If you have any write-in candidates beyond that, tell me.