Torii Hunter doesn't really believe in sabermetrics either

The AL Gold Glove awards were announced today, and, as should be expected after decades of players and managers proving time and time again that they know very little about the game they play, they got it wrong. Torii Hunter and Ichiro are quality defenders (with Ichiro being the superior fielder of the two), but even Ichiro has Ryan Sweeney, Franklin Gutierrez, Carl Crawford, J.D. Drew, David DeJesus, Juan Rivera, Nelson Cruz and B.J. Upton ahead of him in terms of defensive prowess in the AL. And Hunter? Well, let's just say that Hunter Pence's name shows up long before Torii Hunter's and leave it at that. Then there's Adam Jones, who won a gold glove with the best arm in the AL and a bottom five UZR/150 rating (amongst CF's who logged 950+ innings in center in 2009).

Alas, I digress.

Torii Hunter had a thing or two to say about Sabermetricians earlier today. Quote:

Hunter, dubbed by Angels manager Mike Scioscia the "captain of the outfield," isn't about to give in to age any more than he would to an approaching outfield wall.

"I take great pride in playing center field at a high level. I'm aware of some of the stat guys who are saying I've lost something," said Hunter, 34. "Well, I just wanted to let you know I'm still me. I still can play the game. I know how to play center field. I still feel like I'm one of the best. That's not being cocky. That's confidence."

It's nice to know that Torii Hunter does not believe in aging and the effects of aging, but unless you are Chris Rongey, there are plenty of empirical reasons believe otherwise (or not). We, at GOI, assume credible and empirical stats as valid representations of reality until otherwise discredited. According to Torii Hunter's Fangraphs profile, he has been defensively below average each of the past four seasons. Hunter has fluctuated from really bad (a full defensive win below average) to acceptably average (-1.4 defensive runs last year). Surprisingly enough, however, Hunter's speed score has floated in the low 5's since coming to the Angels in 2008, after posting mid-4 speed score numbers for most of his tenure with the Twins. Oh, but then there's the matter of the steadily decreasing arm rating...so yes, Hunter may still run like he is 25 (in 1999, when he posted a league average speed score of 5.0), be he sure don't shag balls like B.J. Upton or even Ichiro, for that matter...