I recently came across an article featured on The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), originally posted in the 2006 Baseball Research Journal, about performance in a player’s walk year, which refers to the final year of a player's contract before they become eligible for free agency. As stated by the article, “conventional wisdom would say they do perform better in the year before they become free agents, at least according to the stereotype of the greedy player, who will put out extra effort only when he will be rewarded financially. Traditional economic theory agrees. Like all rational economic actors, baseball players should produce more of a product when the going price rises.”

The author, however, found that baseball players do not give extra effort that results in an outperformance of their career numbers in their walk years.

Does the same conclusion hold true today?

Photo Credit: Nick Wass/AP Photo

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter came only one vote shy of a unanimous Hall of Fame selection in 2020. At the end of his 20-year career, Jeter found himself 6th on the all-time hits list and 20th on the all-time oWAR (Offensive Wins Above Replacement) leaderboard, leaving little doubt that the one voter who snubbed him did so either because of a grudge or due to his perception of Jeter’s defense.

In this post, I’ll take a look at how the advanced defensive metrics graded Jeter throughout his career. Furthermore, I will improve upon the metrics by adding a level of complexity: how the strikeout rate of Jeter’s pitching staffs impacted the number of defensive chances he had.

Photo Credit: Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox/Getty