In Mark Simon's latest piece for the ESPN blog SweetSpot, he rolls out the latest adjustments to their advanced defensive metrics, and finds that 2B Darwin Barney of the Chicago Cubs ranked as the best defender of the month of July:
Cubs manager Dale Sveum has prioritized defensive positioning, and that seems to have benefited Barney, who has a high rating on both balls hit to the right of where a second baseman makes most plays (10 plays better than average, and to the left (12 plays better than average).
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But Barney passes the eye test, too. He had 16 of what the BIS video-trackers call "Good Fielding Plays" in July, and only five Defensive Misplays & Errors.
Barney, 26, has also had his best year at the plate since coming up in 2010. He has hit 5 home runs with a .269/.310/.390 slash, which about league average for a second baseman.
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