Who's No. 1? Ranking the best at RF, C, 2B, 3B

[BillyWilliams]

Who's No. 1? Ranking the best at RF, C

 

Jan. 20th, 2019

 

MLB Network's countdown of baseball's best players at each position will run every Saturday night through Feb. 9. The second installments of the "Top 10 Right Now!" series featured the game's right fielders and catchers.

 

The five-week program hosted by Brian Kenny used rankings based on player performance over the last two seasons, a number of offensive and defensive metrics, both advanced data and traditional numbers and analysis by the MLB Network research team.

 

The series features appearances from MLB Network on-air personalities and former Major Leaguers Eric Byrnes, Cliff Floyd, Mike Lowell, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds, Ron Darling, Jim Thome and Joe Girardi, as well as roundtable discussions with Kenny, president of SABR Vince Gennaro, the Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and MLB.com analyst Mike Petriello. Each episode also featured a fan-generated Top 10 Right Now list compiled via voting on MLB Network's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages using #Top10RightNow.

 

Below is a breakdown of this year's rankings results:

 

Top 10 right fielders right now

We know what you are thinking, Aaron Judge over Mookie Betts, after the season Betts just had?

 

But consider this: These lists are dictated by The Shredder, MLB Network's player rating formula, which looks back at the last two seasons and weights them evenly. Over the past two years ….

 

Judge: .282/.409/.584, 79 homers, 15 steals, 162 wRC+

Betts: .301/.388/.541, 56 homers, 56 steals, 143 wRC+

 

And while Betts is a stud on defense, Judge also rates highly in the outfield, with the third-most Defensive Runs Saved among right fielders in the last two years, which allowed him to hold Betts off for the top spot.

 

1. Aaron Judge

2. Mookie Betts

3. Christian Yelich

4. Mitch Haniger

5. Bryce Harper

6. Brandon Nimmo

7. Yasiel Puig

8. Andrew McCutchen

9. Nicholas Castellanos

10. Stephen Piscotty

 

Top 10 catchers right now

There is a strong argument that J.T. Realmuto is the best catcher in the game right now, but Buster Posey still gets the edge, buoyed by a strong 2017 campaign that is still weighted heavily. Given recent trends, there is a very good chance that this is Posey's last year at the top.

 

1. Buster Posey

2. J.T. Realmuto

3. Yasmani Grandal

4. Gary Sanchez

5. Willson Contreras

6. Yadier Molina

7. Kurt Suzuki

8. Wilson Ramos

9. Mike Zunino

10. Salvador Perez

 

Top 10 second basemen right now

This position is going through a bit of a transition, with a bunch of youngsters entering the mix, though veterans such as Jose Altuve, Jed Lowrie and Robinson Cano are still holding strong.

 

1. Jose Altuve

2. Jed Lowrie

3. Whit Merrifield

4. Robinson Cano

5. Chris Taylor

6. Scooter Gennett

7. Joey Wendle

8. Gleyber Torres

9. Ben Zobrist

10. DJ LeMahieu

 

Top 10 third basemen right now

This might be the most stacked position in baseball right now, and you can argue for about six different guys at No. 1.

 

1. Jose Ramirez

2. Justin Turner

3. Nolan Arenado

4. Anthony Rendon

5. Alex Bregman

6. Matt Carpenter

7. Matt Chapman

8. Kris Bryant

9. Josh Donaldson

10. Eugenio Suarez

 

Schedule of remaining shows

Airing at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET, respectively

Jan. 26: Top 10 left fielder and center fielders

Feb. 2: Top 10 first basemen and starting pitchers

Feb. 9: Top 10 shortstops and relievers

 

MLB Network top 10 at each position

WWW.MLB.COM

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A new season means it's time to rank the top 10 players at each position around MLB. It's always fun not only to do the ranking, but to see how the list has changed year over year and who the newcomers are. The lists for the 2020 season were unveiled

[moonslav59]

Nifty choice of a two year sample size.

 

On DRS, yes Judge is 3rd, but the differential is huge-- 51 runs saved to 23. UZR is 36.7 to 14.5.

 

3 years:

UZR/150

20.2 Betts

9.7 Judge

 

WAR

24.0 Betts

13.0 Judge

 

wRC+

155 Judge

140 Betts'

 

2 Year WAR

15.7 Betts

11.5 Judge

 

[jacksonianmarch]

You cannot use 3 years. Judge barely played in 2016. Convenient sampling.

 

Also, Judge missed time with a broken wrist last yr. Here is the rub. If Judge played 155 games like he did the year before, he'd have had a 7WAR season. He had an 8.2 season in 2017. He and Betts are both 7+ WAR per season players. It is gonna be fun debating their worths over the next few years

Edited January 22, 2019 by jacksonianmarch

[Slasher9]

oh this is easy. whomever the yankees player is at each position is the best.

duh.

[Slasher9]

You cannot use 3 years. Judge barely played in 2016. Convenient sampling.

 

Also, Judge missed time with a broken wrist last yr. Here is the rub. If Judge played 155 games like he did the year before, he'd have had a 7WAR season. He had an 8.2 season in 2017. He and Betts are both 7+ WAR per season players. It is gonna be fun debating their worths over the next few years

 

LOL at the "if". hahahahahahahahaha.

hammer has become the nail.....

[moonslav59]

You cannot use 3 years. Judge barely played in 2016. Convenient sampling.

 

Also, Judge missed time with a broken wrist last yr. Here is the rub. If Judge played 155 games like he did the year before, he'd have had a 7WAR season. He had an 8.2 season in 2017. He and Betts are both 7+ WAR per season players. It is gonna be fun debating their worths over the next few years

 

Is used 3 year not to punish Judge, but to not penalize Betts for his off 2017 season. Plus, I switched to UZR/150 and wRC+,so there was no cumulative-based assessment used.

 

lso, Betts missed some time last year, too. Many felt he played hurt in 2017, and that's why his numbers were down. Betts only played in 24 more games than Judge last year.