San Francisco Giants 2016 Season Grades: Infielders and Catchers
B. . SS/2B. San Francisco Giants. KELBY TOMLINSON
Kelby Tomlinson might just be a fan favorite. He would’ve been a valuable fill-in for Joe Panik, just like he was last year, but he was hurt himself. Tomlinson provided plus defense and a great bat, even better than Panik’s off the bench. I love Kelby for the backup role that he plays, and frankly would rather them just use him as the backup middle infielder over Adrianza. I’ll discuss that a little later. Let’s look at Tomlinson’s numbers.
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Kelby had a .292 average in 120 plate appearances, and Had an OBP of .370. However, Tomlinson managed to only slug .330. The OPS is nowhere near as high as it should be. With that slashline, Tomlinson’s wRC+ was 98. The scale that wRC+ is on means that Kelby created runs at a level two percent less than the league average. While that seems bad, five players had a lower wRC+ than him, and three were regular starters (Span, Panik, and Duffy).
Kelby’s glove was pretty decent as well, with only three errors in 214.1 defensive innings. Two of those came from playing shortstop, with only one error in 140+ innings at second. He’s not Panik when it comes to defense at second, but he’s still pretty darn good. His bat, combined with his glove is worth keeping him around over Adrianza.