In Defense of George Foster

[Makofan]

I always assumed George Foster was the 1970's version of Joe carter at the plate, and a poor fielder. But I looked up his stats recently at baseball-reference.com and found this

 Year Ag Tm  Lg Pos   G     PO    A    E   DP    FP   lgFP  RnF  lgRnF  LF   CF   RF
 1972 23 CIN NL  OF   47     71    1    2    1  .973  .978  1.53  1.96    2    1   44
 1973 24 CIN NL  OF   13     19    1    0    1 1.000  .977  1.54  1.96    1   11    5
 1974 25 CIN NL  OF   98    172    2    2    1  .989  .979  1.78  1.96    6   45   69
 1975 26 CIN NL  OF  125    299   11    3    3  .990  .978  2.48  2.01   95   30   18
 1976 27 CIN NL  OF  142    322    9    2    3  .994  .979  2.33  2.03  116   36   24
 1977 28 CIN NL  OF  158    352   12    3    1  .992  .978  2.30  1.93  136   32    1
 1978 29 CIN NL  OF  157    319   10   10    1  .971  .980  2.10  1.94  154   11    0
 1979 30 CIN NL  OF  116    214    7    4    1  .982  .979  1.91  2.00  116    0    0
 1980 31 CIN NL  OF  141    295    6    1    1  .997  .980  2.13  1.98  141    0    0
 1981 32 CIN NL  OF  108    224    8    2    1  .991  .980  2.15  2.02  108    0    0
 1982 33 NYM NL  OF  138    289   12    8    4  .974  .978  2.18  1.91  138    0    0
 1983 34 NYM NL  OF  153    314   12    4    3  .988  .980  2.13  1.92  153    0    0

His range factors are copmparable to center fielders while playing left field, and his fld pct was also good. Do any of the Defensive Win Sahres experts have a better handle on the defense of George Foster?

[SmedIndy]

I always thought foster was a fairly decent OF until he got lazy and / or old. He was the main CF for the Reds in 1971 and the fact that as late as 77 he had 32 games in CF (and that's with Geronimo and Armbruster around) means he could handle it fairly well.

[Crash Course]

I cannot comment on Foster's glove, range, arm, etc., as I did not have the benefit of watching him play in the field for 100 or more games a year, for several seasons.

[Makofan]

Originally Posted by Crash Course

I cannot comment on Foster's glove, range, arm, etc., as I did not have the benefit of watching him play in the field for 100 or more games a year, for several seasons.

That's hilarious Crash Course

[KCBOOMER]

Foster was an okay, if awkward, defender. He didn't get paid much for his defense.

[sweaver]

Originally Posted by Crash Course

I cannot comment on Foster's glove, range, arm, etc., as I did not have the benefit of watching him play in the field for 100 or more games a year, for several seasons.

I did....well, not 100, but 30 or so on TV and most of them on the radio. In his youth, Foster had good speed (he scored the winning run of the 1972 NLCS as a pinch-runner, on Bob Moose's wild pitch) and played a lot of CF. As he got older and was known as a power hitter, he paid less attention to his defense and was of limited value. His arm was average to below.

He wasn't great, but he wasn't bad. About average, above when younger, below when older.

[Skip]

This is foggy from another Reds fan from the 70s, but I remember Foster as adequate on defense with the exception of having a poor throwing arm. So overall, slightly below average.

[Crash Course]

Denny Doyle says "Weak arm, my foot!"

[Makofan]

Originally Posted by Skip

This is foggy from another Reds fan from the 70s, but I remember Foster as adequate on defense with the exception of having a poor throwing arm. So overall, slightly below average.

This is all anecdotal, my recollections being similar to Skip's. But does anyone have the hard numbers?

[sweaver]

James say the WS give him a "C+"

Clay Davenport has him at +32 career on FRAA (fielding runs against average).