Jock Math: Joe Bendik and MLS keepers by the numbers

Passing completion percentage:

1. Steve Clark – Columbus – 75.9%
   
2. Erik Kronberg – SKC – 71.2%
   
3. Nick Rimando – SLC – 64.7%
   
4. Joe Bendik – TFC – 60.1%
   
5. Clint Irwin – Col – 58.7%
   
6. David Ousted – Van – 58.6%
   
7. Jon Busch – SJE – 58.2%
   
8. Luis Robles – NYRB – 55.3%
   
9. Zac MacMath – Philly – 54.1%
   
10. Raul Fernandez – FCD – 54.0%
    
11. Stefan Frei – Sea – 53.0%
    
12. Bill Hamid – DCU – 52.9%
    
13. Jamie Penedo – LAG – 52.2%
    
14. Dan Kennedy – Chivas – 49.6%
    
15. Tally Hall – Hou – 49.5%
    
16. Sean Johnson – Chivas – 48.8%
    
17. Troy Perkins – IMFC – 48.6%
    
18. Donovan Ricketts – PDX – 48.6%
    
19. Bobby Shuttlewortrh – NER – 47.0%
    

So, maybe Bendik isn't as bad at the distribution as fans think. But, how many of those passes were long? How often does Bendik hit his man on a goal kick?

Completed long passes per 90 can try and tell us.

1. Busch 11.4
   
2. Johnson 8.
   
3. Clint Irwin 8.0
   
4. Rimando 8.0
   
5. MacMath 7.9
   
6. Hamid 7.6
   
7. Perkins 7.6
   
8. Kennedy 7.5
   
9. Fernandez 7.3
   
10. Hall 7.3
    
11. Shuttleworth 7.2
    
12. Clark 7.2
    
13. Kronberg 7.2
    
14. Bendik 6.9
    
15. Ousted 6.7
    
16. Frei 6.1
    
17. Robles 5.9
    
18. Penedo 5.8
    
19. Ricketts 4.9
    

Not quite as strong, but still close to a mid-pack numbers. Perhaps fans should reconsider their position that Bendik is poor at distribution?

Is he as good as people think at shot stopping though? Let's look.

First we look at a keepers ability to control his area. Again, this is a difficult thing to measure. Not attacking a ball might be the right move sometimes, but you cant measure that. About all you can measure is how often a keeper wins the ball in the air per 90 minutes.

So, we did:

1. Ousted 0.6
   
2. Hamid 0.5
   
3. Clark 0.5
   
4. Hall 0.5
   
5. Robles 0.4
   
6. Kronberg 0.4
   
7. Johnson 0.4
   
8. Perkins 0.4
   
9. Frei 0.4
   
10. Paedo 0.4
    
11. Rimando 0.4
    
12. Kennedy 0.4
    
13. Irwin 0.4
    
14. Busch 0.4
    
15. Shuttleworth 0.3
    
16. MacMath 0.3
    
17. Fernandez 0.3
    
18. Bendik 0.2
    
19. Ricketts 0.2
    

As written above it's not a perfect measure of a keeper's presence in the box. It's just a measure. It's up to you to decide how much value to place on it.

Lastly we looked at the most basic keeper stat of all -- how often does a keeper stop the ball.

We all understand that not all shots are the same and a keeper that faces a lot of high quality shots will probably stop less shots than a keeper that barely has to move to win a game.

With that caveat, here's the numbers:

1. Hamid 76.3%
   
2. Rimando 73.9%
   
3. Busch 73.2%
   
4. Fernandez 72.5%
   
5. Clark 72.5%
   
6. Penedo 71.0%
   
7. Ousted 70.5%
   
8. Ricketts 70.4%
   
9. Shuttleworth 70.1%
   
10. Robles 68.9%
    
11. Kronberg 67.1%
    
12. Frei 66.4%
    
13. Johnson 66.2%
    
14. Bendik 66.1%
    
15. Perkins 65.3%
    
16. Kennedy 62.0%
    
17. MacMath 61.6%
    
18. Hall 60.3%
    
19. Irwin 59.8%
    

Since we've gone this far we might as well crunch the numbers to get a final ranking. Using a weighted formula, we worked the stats and came up with the following:

1. Rimando
   
2. Clark
   
3. Busch
   
4. Hamid
   
5. Ousted
   
6. Kronberg
   
7. Fernandez
   
8. Johnson
   
9. Irwin
   
10. Robles
    
11. Penedo
    
12. MacMath
    
13. Hall
    
14. Frei
    
15. Bendik
    
16. Perkins
    
17. Kennedy
    
18. Shuttleworth
    
19. Ricketts
    

Is the list 100 percent perfect? No. We've been clear on that. But, it's a discussion starting point.

Discuss away.