2020 Positional Power Rankings: Center Field
This morning, Ben Clemens assessed left field. Now Craig Edwards examines the position the best player in baseball calls home.
Mike Trout is the best player in baseball. Mike Trout plays center field. Ergo, Mike Trout is the best center fielder in baseball. After Trout, we have another genuine star in Cody Bellinger, a very good player in George Springer, and then a whole lot of maybes. There’s a lot of youth and athleticism here, as one might expect from a position that requires covering a lot of ground, but there aren’t a lot of guarantees when it comes to production. Byron Buxton, Ramón Laureano, and Luis Robert are all in the top 10. So are Lorenzo Cain and Aaron Hicks, both coming off down years. While we could see some breakouts, the projections are fairly conservative, only anticipating three teams above 1.5 WAR, which would be a four-win campaign in a full season.
Craig Edwards can be found on twitter @craigjedwards.
David Fletcher > Mike Trout
Lewis Brinson posting a 0.0 WAR is still very optimistic for him.
It will be interesting if his spring stats indicate a real change. He seems like one player who could potentially put up -2 or +2 WAR this year.
He’s projected for negative zero. Which I assume is a relic of rounding, but still kinda funny.
Lewis Brinson could be a fun player. It’s a shame he sucks so much ass.
Agreed
Maybe/Hopefully some woke team will trade for him or sign him when cut and then unlock his potential by combining science, math, and technology in some kind of lab
Great factoid about Billy Hamilton’s averaging 2 wins/600 PA despite a 67 wRC+. Two related factoids:
1. Hamilton’s 67 wRC+ is the lowest of anyone over 3,000 PA since 1947 with a positive runs above average (offense plus defense).
2. Mark Belanger just missed your cutoff with a 71 wRC+. Nevertheless, he had a 34.9 WAR over 6,602 career PA, an average of 3.1 per 600 PA. In 1975, despite a 66 wRC+ and not having enough PA to qualify for the batting title, he finished 16th in the AL with 4.3 WAR – better than 23 of the 24 seasons Omar Vizquel compiled in the majors.
Belanger has some truly eye popping defensive value numbers, which I guess you have to take with a grain of salt given how long ago it was but still. I think that ’75 season is among the best ever for a non-Catcher.
This is just further proof that Defensive WAR is overrated compared to Offensive WAR aside from the battery. In reality, even without considering playing time at DH, it’s easily preferable to have an outfielder who can hit but can’t field over one who can field but not hit.
Jackson Pollock and Plato jokes for the win!
“The projections seem to have concerns about Mercado’s power that make him look more like a fourth outfielder than a starter, but if he can hit another 15 homers, he shouldn’t have a problem being at least an average player this season.”
Ummm…pretty sure Mercado has zero chance of hitting 15 home runs in a 60 game season. And if he does, he’ll be much more than an average player this year.
Anyway, I thought CF would be the one OF position where Cleveland would be ranked at least average. But it seems like the projection systems really hate Mercado. Which is a bit puzzling since he had a solid rookie season at age 24, including showing no discernible platoon split. Sure he has holes in his game but he’s still young enough to improve. We normally expect young players to keep developing/improving, so projecting Mercado to regress seems strange.
Nimmo put up a wRC+ of 88 in before going on the injured list because he was injured a month or so before he was placed on the injured list as he ran into the wall in mid April. The Mets kept throwing him out there anyway for whatever reason. Nimmo was himself in September with a massive walk rate and as long as he stays healthy I think he’ll put up a wRC+ around 130 and if positioned better play a cromulent CF, and imo that’s a top ten CFer.
I guess we just need to see if he can maintain that walk rate. Surely pitchers will challenge him in the zone until he demonstrates he can hurt them with extra bases.
To quote from the Red Sox analysis, “He (Jackie Bradley, Jr.) could use a good platoon partner, allowing him to sit against righties” seems to forget which side of the plate JBJ hits from.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOL Cubs
So about 20% of the MLB CF WAR is in LA, huh?
Caveats about what should be considered “LA” aside, that’s pretty nuts.