Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Jack Wilson, starting a double play with a diving stop and a flip from his glove in a 2005 game against Colorado, completed fewer double plays with second baseman Jose Castillo last season.

By Brian O'Neill
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto is the only shortstop in baseball history to make more double plays than Jack Wilson during his first six seasons.

Wilson and Rizzuto were in a dead heat through their first five seasons, but Wilson fell off the Scooter's pace last year. Rizzuto had 634, Wilson 603. That's according to Sean Foreman, founder of baseball-reference.com, who researched this at my request.

Call it an obscure contest, but only 26 shortstops had even topped 500 DPs at the same point in their careers. So what do we make of this?

The cynical view is that playing shortstop for the Pirates is like working in a lab designed for the gestation of double plays. The pitchers put a lot of guys on base, throw ground balls and don't give up many home runs. Of course, a shortstop handles a ton of DPs in that petri dish.

That can't explain this away. Wilson had plenty of opportunities, but he made the most of them. Many of the prominent "counting" stats in baseball, such as RBIs and pitcher's wins, are situation-dependent. You have a guy who tops any all-time list over an extended period, he's good.

So for those asking, that's my answer to "Who does Wilson think he is?" That question came up when Wilson said he expected more of his DP partner, Jose Castillo, this season than either of them showed last year.

Ever since that calculated critique, I've been thinking about the chemistry of these two more than any healthy man should. Because the stats show that what was once a great strength on a poor team is slipping just as the pitching staff needs it most.

John Dewan, author of "The Fielding Bible," has done much to advance this new frontier in baseball research. Dewan confirmed what ardent fans know: Wilson and Castillo are masters of the DP.

Wilson was the third-best shortstop in baseball at starting double plays the past three seasons, behind Jhonny Peralta and Craig Counsell. Castillo was the third-best second baseman on the DP pivot in the same period, behind Alex Cora and Jamey Carroll. Last year, though, Wilson dropped to 10th and Castillo to 14th.

We look at shortstops starting and second basemen turning double plays because in each case that's the more difficult play. Castillo and Wilson have benefited from this match. On fielding ground balls, however, Wilson is among the best and Castillo the worst.

Dewan has a plus/minus system and, in the past three seasons, Wilson is a plus-43, third among shortstops to Adam Everett (plus-98) and Clint Barmes (plus-46). In other words, Wilson made 43 more plays than the average shortstop would with the same number and types of balls hit his way. He did that despite slipping to a mere plus-1 last year.

Castillo never had Wilson's range and, as he got heavier, he got worse. A minus-6 and a minus-8 on ground balls his first two seasons, he slipped to minus-14 last year. Castillo's DP acumen can't make up for that, Dewan said, but does bring his overall defensive game back toward average and helps Wilson.

Need confirmation? Baseball Prospectus offers a team stat called "double play percentage." With less than two outs and at least one runner on base, the average NL team makes a double play close to 13 percent of the time.

Last year was the first year a Pirates team with Wilson at shortstop did not beat the league average. The Pirates' 12.6 percentage in double plays was the team's worst number since 12.0 in 2000, when Pat Meares played shortstop and Warren Morris second.

The Pirates jumped from 12th in DP percentage to fifth when Wilson joined the big club in 2001. In succeeding years, with Wilson the constant as the infield shuffled around him, the team finished second, seventh, second, second and then ninth last year in DP percentage. No NL team has finished as high as first or second as many times as the Pirates in that time.

Another clue that last year's drop was more Castillo's fault is that he played the equivalent of 139 nine-inning games, the most by far in his career, and Wilson played 127, the fewest since his rookie year.

Other stats also point an accusing finger to the right side of second base, but now that Wilson and Castillo are said to be back to their younger, slimmer bodies, and Castillo is battling Jose Bautista for a job, fans can hope last year's DP shortfall was an aberration.

A pitching staff like the Pirates' needs a shortstop and second baseman who make more than their share of double plays. Castillo, even more than Wilson, needs to hit better, too, but that's a column for another day.