A rock solid defense can be the biggest check on the other teams hitters. Not every pitcher can blow high heat by the opposition, but a pitcher who pitches to contact sometimes is only as good as the men in the field behind him. A good example is Derek Jeter, who had an incredible talent for being so in sync with pitcher Andy Pettitte, that he knew where to set up in the field based on where Andy was pitching the ball. As a result, he was always in a prime spot to field grounders hit his way and made it all look easy. The drawback for Jeter is since he rarely had to make diving plays, people thought that meant he *couldn't* do them as opposed to never *having* to do them. The Bot works off the same prejudices, a big example to why you can rattle off all the numbers and sabermetrics you want, but it's the *intangibles* that separate the greats from the all time greats.
But, for every one the Bot gets wrong, there are plenty of examples where the Bot not only gets it right, but produces some crazy defensive cards. Here is another all star defense team for your consideration. A reminder of the classic "perfect" defensive stats for Showdown cards:
C: 10+
1B: 1
2B: 5
3B: 3
SS: 5
CF: 3
LF/RF: 2
Pudge was a great hitter in his own right, but what made him a no-brainer HoF candidate was his fantastic throwing arm from behind the plate. That +14 arm means everyone needs to be real sure they have a chance because even a roll of 7 would be enough to gun down A speed people.
First base is usually the low priority when assembling a good defense. Usually you find big slow power hitters stationed there. Some teams get lucky and get themselves an elite hitter who can also field with the best of them (like Don Mattingly). Vic Power was was far from a great hitter, but Cleveland got themselves some automatic outs with anything hit or thrown his way in the field.
Last time I couldn't find a better than perfect 2nd Baseman so I settled on Billy Martin and his heads up championship saving play. This time we have Frankie Frisch and his +7 ability at 2nd. Finding a perfect +5 man is rare enough in Showdown, so when you get +7 to go along with an pretty decent offensive showing, you know you've struck gold.
I'd argue that this isn't the best framing I've done for a card, but the 1927 Cardinals had a very unique uniform for that season, and there was only one image I could find for Frankie...and I really wanted to highlight the audacity of the Cardinals for wearing uniforms that said "World Champions" on them.
Graig Nettles was a human wall at 3rd base. He had heroic moments in World Series play that to this day makes Dodger fans gnash their teeth. 1976 brought a +5 season at the hot corner which makes a dangerous combo with a power hitter.
I first took notice of Simmons and his freaky good defensive skills when making his
WBC card. And in case you were wondering, no, his better than perfect defensive play was not limited to just one season.
Paul Blair was a menace in Center in the 60s and 70s, winning an insane 8 Gold Gloves for the Orioles. Other teams would try to utilize his skill later on, but it's in orange that he did his best work with a glove.
The corner outfield spots continue to be difficult to go beyond perfect with, so instead we'll highlight standard perfect outfielders who were recognized with Gold Gloves. It seems wrong to depict Minoso in something other than a White Sox jersey, but it was with Cleveland that the Bot recognizes a +2 glove. Mondesi meanwhile is shown taking advantage of that early promise, before the latter years made him more forgettable.
So if we compare a perfect infield and outfield in Showdown and against the assembled team here, what kind of upgrade are we dealing with?
Standard perfect Showdown: +14 infield, +7 outfield.
Better than perfect team: +20 infield, +8 outfield.
My goodness, and infield double-play that automatically wins against standard 20A speed runners. "Automatic out" has a new definition.
Great fielding pitchers are always the most underrated aspect of a defense. And while they offer no numbers advantage in Showdown, the first ever Gold Glove winner at pitcher, Bobby Shantz, offers a Gold Glove icon on his card, which makes it an additional weapon for smart managers to utilize.
