Cabrera stays in a zone with his glove

Entering last weekend, Orlando Cabrera led all major league shortstops with a defensive zone rating of .936, which put him ahead of the New York Mets’ Jose Reyes (.924), San Francisco’s Omar Vizquel (.920), Houston’s Adam Everett (.904) and the Chicago White Sox’s Juan Uribe (.896).

Not that Cabrera was impressed.

“Zone rating? What the heck is that?” Cabrera said. “They come up with some crazy stuff to make it more complicated. You never know if it’s good or bad.”

For the uninitiated, zone rating was developed by STATS Inc., which, in an effort to quantify defense beyond errors and fielding percentage, divided the field up into 22 zones.

Each player is responsible for handling balls that are hit into a certain number of zones, and the rating is the percentage of batted balls he successfully fields in his assigned zones.

Though Cabrera wouldn’t know a zone rating from a movie rating, he did admit he’d rather be among the best at something than the worst.

“But for me, it’s all about total chances,” Cabrera said. “How many times do you touch the ball, and how many plays do you make?”

By those counts, Cabrera measures up. Entering tonight’s game against Cleveland, he has committed one error -- an errant throw in Friday night’s 5-1 win over the White Sox -- in 141 total chances for a .993 fielding percentage, best among big league shortstops.

Last season, Cabrera committed four errors in the Angels’ first 13 games and finished with 16 errors, more than twice as many (7) as he made in 2005.

Cabrera’s struggles mirrored that of the Angels in 2006 -- the team committed an American League-high 122 errors and gave up 80 unearned runs.

But this season, Cabrera has been superb, and the Angels, thanks in large part to the addition of center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., Vladimir Guerrero’s improved play in right, the return of first baseman Casey Kotchman and some outstanding work at second by converted shortstop Erick Aybar, have been more dependable.

Though their error total (23) is a little on the high side, the Angels have given up only 11 unearned runs in 32 games, putting them on pace for 56. They lead the league with 37 double plays and have been making more difficult plays.

“I’m pretty happy with the way everyone is playing defensively,” Cabrera said. “Last year, everyone was making errors, making mistakes, and it was contagious -- someone would see a guy make an error, and they’d make one, too. Now, everyone is making good plays.”

That has eased the burden on Angels pitchers, who have enough on their shoulders, with the offense often struggling to score runs.

“You don’t see all the guys trying to strike people out now,” Cabrera said. “I saw a lot of that last year. [John] Lackey was trying to strike everyone out. Now, they’re like, ‘Let me throw this sinker here and try to get a double play.’ They’re throwing the ball in the strike zone more, because they know we can make plays.”

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The Angels have been patient -- far too patient, some think -- waiting for designated hitter Shea Hillenbrand’s bat to heat up.

Usually a fast starter, with a .299 career average in the first half, Hillenbrand is batting .232 with two doubles, no home runs and seven runs batted in through 32 games, and a good portion of his 23 hits have been of the bloop or broken-bat variety.

But if Hillenbrand, who averaged 18 homers and 82 RBIs over the last five seasons, continues to struggle, the Angels could give Robb Quinlan, who hit a home run and two doubles in Sunday’s loss to Chicago, more time at DH.

Quinlan, who can play first base, third base and the corner outfield spots, usually only starts against left-handers -- he has a .324 career average against them -- but he also hit .313 (30 for 96) against right-handers last season.

“He got off to a slow start, but he’s coming around now, staying behind the ball and seeing the ball better,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “With [Garret Anderson] out, we’re going to have to get creative. There’s no question that if Q heats up, we will try to find more ways to get his bat in the lineup.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com