Nationals' Fielding 'Weekly' #6

I took a break in posting the Fielding Weekly for the Washington Nationals last week because there had only been four games after the All-Star Break. (Also, I had a lot of work on last week.) This week's figures could be read as giving some support to the notion that Mr Riggleman's new routine is having some effect, nothwithstanding this horror story. The problem with taking that too far is that Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) is not so enthusiastic as Revised Zone Rating (RZR). See an explanation for these stats after the table.

The big movers are Dunn, Dunn and Morgan, which sounds like an old-fashioned firm of stockbrokers. Morgan's really made a big difference, and I wonder if he's responsible for some of Dunn's improvement in leftfield this week. Anyone who tells you to trade Nick Johnson and move Dunn to first base should be shown Dunn's RZR. It makes this grown man cry.

Player              UZR   Change  UZR/150  Change  RZR   Change   MLBaverage
Zimmerman          13.3   + 3.7    19.4     +2.6  .753   +.014     .717
Johnson           - 6.4   - 1.8   - 7.8     -1.0  .760   +.008     .783
Guzman            - 4.0   - 0.1   - 6.2     +0.5  .767   +.010     .803
Dunn (LF)         -12.0   - 0.3   -23.1     +4.3  .849   +.036     .890
Hernandez           1.0   - 0.2     2.0     -0.6  .848   +.004     .816
Kearns (RF)         0.4   + 0.3   - 0.9     +2.3  .887   +.006     .907
Willingham (LF)   - 1.3   + 0.5   - 4.0     +1.3  .908   +.003     .890
Harris (CF)       - 5.0   - 0.3   -15.0     -0.6  .938   +.002     .933
Dukes (CF)        - 5.6   + 0.3   -21.1     +0.7  .898   n.c.      .933
Gonzalez (ss)     - 4.5   - 1.3   -22.5     -0.1  .689   +.007     .803
Belliard (2b)       1.5   + 2.6     6.8     -0.2  .889   +.020     .816
Willingham (RF)   - 1.3   - 1.5    -4.4     -5.9  .977   -.023     .907
Dunn (RF)         - 6.7   + 0.1   -33.9     -0.2  .756   n.c.      .907
Morgan (cf)         4.9   + 4.2    26.5    +22.0  .969   +.027     .933
Dukes (RF)        - 0.2    n.c.   - 3.4     +0.1  .952   n.c.      .907
Gonzalez (2b)     - 1.9   - 1.0   -14.5     -1.5  .794   +.021     .816
Harris (2b)       - 2.4    n/a    -27.6     n/a   .739   n.c.      .816
Dunn (1b)         - 3.6   - 0.5   -44.5     -1.7  .545   -.055     .783

The table is in order of innings played at the position, with the cut-off at 75 innings.

UZR converts fielding statistics into a +/- rating reflecting the number of runs saved or given away. There is a basic version, which is based on the number of innings played by the player, and a normalized version that assumes everybody plays 150 games. It also is forced to sum to zero, so a player can have his UZR adjusted even when he doesn't play.
RZR is like a fielding 'batting average', dividing the number of plays made by the number of opportunities. Unlike old Zone Rating, it excludes plays made 'out of zone'. (Zone Rating divides the field into zones, and assigns responsibility among the players.) For comparative purposes, I've put at the end of each player's line the MLB average RZR for position.