Angels’ Andrelton Simmons good, not great, with glove this season

It took Andrelton Simmons little time to construct a reputation as the best defensive shortstop in baseball. Since his 2012 rookie season in Atlanta, scouts and advanced metrics have agreed on his superlative fielding.

It’s early yet, but that unanimity is no more. Fifty games into 2017, the statistics measure him as good but no longer great. He’s third among MLB shortstops in Ultimate Zone Rating, instead of his typical first, and far off his own usual pace.

While it remains far too small of a sample to draw any definitive conclusions, Simmons notably agrees with that assessment.

“Not great, but not bad,” he said this week when asked to evaluate his own performance. “Not the best. I’m making the routine plays.”

The 27-year-old shortstop has made more errors than is typical for him, but he does not base his judgment off those mistakes. He said he has failed to convert some improbable plays.

“I know what my best is,” Simmons said. “I haven’t been great, but I haven’t been terrible. Maybe I’ve been bad without knowing. You can tell me. But whenever I feel like maybe I could’ve done better, well, there’s only so much you can do.”

On offense, he has continued the improvements he implemented near last season’s end, focusing on pitches he can hit hard rather than pitches he can just hit. As a result, he’s driving more balls, with 20 hits in his last 13 games, including seven in the four-game series against Tampa Bay.

“Look, we talk a lot about Mike Trout, and we should,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “But Simmons, for this series, it seemed like he beat us up just as much and got big hit after big hit.”

The Angels often are hitting Simmons fifth. The cleanup hitter Thursday afternoon, Simmons said he still has not felt exactly right, as he did when he hit .400 through the season’s first week.

“I don’t feel the same thing I was feeling before when I was going good,” Simmons said. “It comes and goes sometimes. I’m feeling good right now, seeing the ball good, and executing my plan better than I was at parts of the season. You gotta figure out a way to get out of it.”

Simmons missed more than five weeks at this time last season after he suffered a torn thumb ligament against these same Rays. Helped by a medical innovation that allowed him to begin his rehab two days after surgery, he beat the prognosis by several weeks.

One year removed from the recovery, he said the thumb does not bother him “99%” of the time.

Short hops

Albert Pujols received Thursday off. He has rested for seven of the club’s 50 games this season. … Recovering relievers Huston Street (lat) and Mike Morin (neck) each pitched scoreless innings in their rehab assignment debuts Wednesday with triple-A Salt Lake, and fellow injured reliever Cam Bedrosian (groin) is nearing his first time facing hitters at the club’s spring-training facility in Arizona. … The Angels will play at Marlins Park in Miami for the first time this weekend.

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Follow Pedro Moura on Twitter @pedromoura