He contributed across all batting categories, slugging 28 HR with 75 RBI, 84 runs, and 25 stolen bases. Buhner also played solid defense in right field and his cannon of a throwing arm gunned down 100 baserunners, including 48 from 1991 through the strike-shortened season of 1994. Tyler O'Neill experienced a litany of injuries in 2022 that inhibited the power he demonstrated in 2021. Meusel threw strikes to any base from the outfield. Julks was solid in 2021 but had a breakout season in 2022. He might be an empty batting average/OBP player, though, so don't expect much more than 15 HR if you pick him. Consistent at the plate as well as in the field, Van Slyke spent his formative years patrolling the middle of the outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates, between Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds. as Active Spin. Making a case for him to go 1.1 in 2023 drafts isn't difficult. A two-time gold glove winner, Mondesi's career high for assists didn't come until 2001 with the Toronto Blue Jays, when he threw out 18 baserunners from right field. Honestly, he doesn't take many pitches, period, as he sits in the first percentile in chase rate. Week 1- First Day. 14. Corbin Carroll mashed his way through the minor league system and arrived in Arizona for his debut in 2022. The charges would later be dropped. The stolen bases are most likely gone forever, but he could pair nicely with a speed guy from Round 1. Julio Rodriguez led the 2022 youth movement throughout MLB, skipping Triple-A to win Rookie of the Year with 29 of 30 first-place votes and electrifying the crowd at the HR Derby in July. Heres Astros outfielders, since 2020. Harris should be a 20/20 guy for the foreseeable future, and he is surrounded in the lineup by guys who will boost his counting stats. Proportional frame w/ well developed strength and athleticism. First, standing at home plate, he only needed three attempts to throw a ball over the center field wall, 410 feet away. The 26-year-old and his new found power led the Astros system with 31 HR in 130 games, all coming in Triple-A. Heres what his 43rd-hardest throw looks like its clearly one hes putting effort into. The best outfield arm of the 80's, Barfield led the league in outfield assists five times, including three years straight from 1985 through 1987. After injuries limited him to just 78 games in his first season with the Blue Jays, Springer bounced back with a 131 OPS+ in 133 games while earning his fourth career All-Star selection. Arm Strength. Its been well over a year since his last 80 mph+ throw, much of which he spent at shortstop; Arizonas Ketel Marte, comparatively, has six such throws just this month. After accumulating 35 assists in his first two seasons, baserunners simply chose not to try and advance when Puckett had the ball in his hand. His 10 hardest throws of the season are as an outfielder, and his 20 hardest throws are at positions other than second base. When you call Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth your teammates, you tend to get overlooked. Owner of 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards, Griffey made impossible plays not only possible, but look nowhere near as difficult as they actually were. How hard, in miles per hour, a fielder throws the ball. In 2021, still at shortstop, that was down to 79.1 mph, largely believed to be related to a midseason elbow injury. Realmuto can top at the position. No, I'm a California resident looking for the California Consumer Privacy Act form. of his glove and to the base on a stolen base or pickoff Partly because of time missed due to injury, largely because of his reputation, people generally don't try to run when Ankiel has the ball in his hand, which would help to explain how someone with that strong of an arm has never reached double-digit assists in any season as an outfielder. Soto is worth every penny of a top draft pick. Let's meet the 40 players who had the best outfield arms in the history of the game. It only took two years for the American League to learn that you can't run on Kirby Puckett, a 10-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove award winner. the ERA scale, A measurement of a player's top running speed, expressed on March 4, 2023. As Mookie Betts enters his age-30 season, there is some expected decline in a few areas (fly ball rate increased but led to a lower ground ball EV/BABIP). Evans had six seasons of at least 10 assists, and the 157 he has for his career leaves him tied with Andre Dawson. time of a pitcher's first movement or pitch release. Today, the Prep Baseball Report Mississippi scouting staff takes a deeper look at outfield performances from the June event. Yet when Meusel had the ball in his hand, anyone who was still running the bases was a candidate to get picked off by one of his powerful throws. Mike Trout missed 30 games at midseason with a back issue and still finished eighth in AL MVP voting while taking home his eighth Silver Slugger Award. How much time, in seconds, it takes a runner to get from White Sox first baseman Jos Abreu has about the same number of tracked throws as Rodrguez does. Ronald Acuna Jr. appeared in 119 games last year, a significantly higher number than the original projection of a July return from his torn ACL injury. On the home-to-first leaderboards, the same gap -- between truly elite speed and a catcher with bad knees -- is all of 1.23 seconds. Outfielders get the average of the top 10% of their throws. In 2019, for example, Austin Meadows was the No. Phelps would only play poorly in parts of two seasons in the Bronx. xERA is a simple 1:1 translation of xwOBA, converted to How hard, in miles per hour, a pitch is thrown. But theres also this, that Story has 195 tracked throws of at least 80 mph in his career -- he even topped 90 a few times early on -- but its happened only once since the 2021 All-Star break. 25 attempts). With everyday playing time, 2023 could be a big year of growth for the 24-year-old. Not that his arm is weak by any means but it is not his strongest point.". Seven times in his 23-year-career Yaz won a Gold Glove, and seven times he led outfielders in assists, including a career-high 19 in 1964. As MLB.com Tom's Tango has detailed, when looking at players who have played multiple positions, outfielders consistently throw about 3 mph higher than themselves at shortstop and third, 7 mph higher than at second, and 10 mph than they are at first base. and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed. He still has a microscopic walk rate, but he also took four points off his K%. able to make a catch on an individual batted ball. As for Vlad, well he only had 13,000 innings. Guys who could throw, suddenly can't throw. 20. pitch. Other bad news includes a Statcast page that is almost entirely blue, meaning he was ineffective in almost every meaningful statistical category during his first season in Philadelphia. With 5.3 WAR, he joined Jason Heyward (6.4, 2010) and Dusty Baker (5.1, 1972) as the only rookie outfielders in Atlanta Braves history with a 5-WAR season, and he edged out teammate Spencer Strider for NL Rookie of the Year honors. Palm Beach, Fla - It's early, but with each passing day Jordan Walker 's case to break camp with the Cardinals major league team gets stronger. He leads all active outfielders in career assists with 134. . Statcast defines a 'hard-hit ball' as one hit with an Pop Time to 2B: 1.6 sec to 2.5 sec Pop Time to 3B: 1.2 sec to 2.5 sec Exchange: .4 sec to 1.3 sec Mlb Outfield Arm Strength Rankings There is no definitive answer when it comes to ranking MLB outfielders by arm strength, but there are a few metrics that can be used to make an educated guess. His OBP was the second-lowest of his career at .323, but his xwOBA was .375, so hopefully, some improvement is in the cards for 2023. Steamer projections have him at 43/109/104 for the upcoming season, and his ratios should see a small decline as well. Mar 12, 2021. His slash line was an other-worldly .311/.425/.686 with an xwOBA of .463 and wRC+ of 207. There is a lot to love about O'Neill in fantasy formats, but there is a lot to question as well. Cedric Mullins stole 30+ bases for the second consecutive year in 2022, though the power disintegrated, lowering his home total to 16 from 30. With the addition of Xander Bogaerts, the return of Fernando Tatis, Jr., and the presence of Manny Machado, this is a real-life team you want multiple pieces of in fantasy. He is an OF5 being drafted in the OF4 range because of the cliff the position drops off of in drafts. His strikeout rate crept above 30% for the first time since his rookie year. + Allen Williams, LHP/OF, Cleveland Central, 2019 Early 2023 Fantasy Baseball Outfield Rankings: Top 30 offers an abundance of power-speed bats, but also risk You may think a top 30 only scratches the surface, but outfield thins quickly The umpire called the runner safe, but it was a bad callClemente's throw beat him to the bag, and it wasn't close. 2. level 2. His throwing arm used to be a relative weakness. (And even that one, a force out at home plate, came back in 2015.). Guys who could throw, suddenly can't throw.". 3. In traditional 5x5 leagues, he can anchor any fantasy outfield you put him in. Brandon Nimmo was a 5-WAR player for the first time in his career in 2022, just in time to test the free agency waters. His arm recorded 195 assists over the course of his career and only adds to his case to be called the greatest of all time. Arm strength is measured on "max effort" throws, or the average above a player's 90th percentile performance. Steven Kwan put together a 5.5-WAR debut season with an old school game built on contact ability, speed and defense. He played one year of baseball for the school, but it was during a football game that his left arm was injured to the point that doctors gave serious consideration to amputating it. Long toss is the commonly mentioned method to strengthening a baseball . Hendersons throw was clocked at 85.2 mph, and took 0.87 of a second to reach first base. A lot of things went wrong for Giancarlo Stanton in 2022. Potentially ever, though we certainly cant go back through history here to see how hard Shawon Dunston or whatever shortstop of your choice might have thrown. George Springer continues to appear on the What Could Be All-Star Team after playing 133 games in 2022 while dealing with elbow and knee injuries that left him with many "DTD" tags. It's time to put a bow on the 2022 MLB season with Bleacher Report's final positional rankings. xBA measures the likelihood that a batted ball will raw numbers and as a measurement against average. How far, in feet, a runner is ranging off the bag at the Its the chicken-and-the-egg question of our times. That out of the way, lets ask some of the fun questions. The movement of a pitch is defined in inches, both in He's also had nearly 2,000 tracked throws since Statcast came online in 2015, and exactly one of them -- one! Known primarily as a right fielder, a position he played for 1,283 games, Dawson patrolled center for the Montreal Expos in more than 1,000 games as well. While Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is best remembered for Carlton Fisk's dramatic, game-winning and series-extending home run in the bottom of the 12th inning, Evans was responsible for turning a double play in the top of the 11th inning that made Fisk's heroics possible. Outfielder Jump. Exit Velocity & Barrels. OF-95 mph. one base to another, like Home To First. The 27-year-old struck out 156 times in 586 at-bats while drawing only 46 free passes; if you believe it, these were improved numbers from 2021. The immortal Vin Scully put it best: "Clemente could field the ball in New York, and throw out a guy in Pennsylvania.". The best player at the position was Ronald Acuna (.280 with 127 runs, 41 home runs, 101 RBI, and 37 steals . Unless you're in a quirky league where defense counts, Melendez fills a scarce position with decent skills. Flexibility, mechanics and total-body strength are key factors coaches and trainers stress in order to increase arm strength. He finished his career with 109 assists, 61 of which came in a four-year period for the Philadelphia Phillies, from 1984 through 1987. Vaughn has underestimated power and maintains a good batting average. All rights reserved. Junior had 154 assists for his career, a number that would have been significantly higher were it not for the rash of injuries that he dealt with. Another year, another pile of accolades for Mookie Betts who won his fifth Silver Slugger, sixth Gold Glove and made his sixth trip to the All-Star Game in the third season of a 12-year, $365 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His 10.6 WAR led all of baseball, as did his ridiculous 211 OPS+ meaning he was more than twice as productive as the average hitter. At his current ADP of 129, he is an absolute steal, even taking into account that he won't play 150 games. Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst, who both played and managed against Roberto Clemente, gave Whiten's throwing arm the ultimate compliment: "As far as arm strength goes . Who would have guessed an under-the-radar rookie who didn't crack Baseball America's Top 100 prospect list and ranked as the No. Jesse Barfield was considered to have the best outfield arm in the '80s and he wasn't shy about reminding his opponents. A batted ball with the perfect combination of exit He is currently going in the 180s and has enough RBI upside to take a flier on him at that ADP. An 18-time All-Star and the last man to win the American League Triple Crown, a feat he achieved in 1967, Carl Yastrzemski played excellent defense in left field and had a strong, accurate throwing arm. The outfield will be the foundation of many fantasy teams in 2021. After all the hype over Cruzs 97.8 mph dart in July that stands as the fastest throw on an infield assist Statcast has tracked, hed better be atop a list like this, and he is, by a pretty large 4 mph gap over Cincinnati's Jos Barrero. Assists, while a somewhat useful statistic in gauging how strong someone's throwing arm is, doesn't tell the whole storyit's hard to throw someone out when they don't even try to run. The talent is enormous but now, at age 33, the injury concerns continue to grow as well. What is not of concern are the 81 games he gets to play at Yankee Stadium this year and each one after until 2031, thanks to his 9-year, $360 million free-agent contract. time of a pitcher's first movement or pitch release. Given that there is no rulebook definition of "a throw where the player is trying hard," and many non-competitive lobs are captured, we have elected to take the average of the top portion of a player's throws. Statcast refers to the spin that contributes to movement A range-based metric of skill that shows how many outs a The first half of 2022 found him in a terrible lineup, so opposing pitchers walked him 95 times in 436 plate appearances. Statcast Outfielder Jump Leaderboard | baseballsavant.com Outfielder Jump Leaderboard Current: Outfielder Jump 2022 Minimum Attempts (Q) Update Download CSV Jump is calculated only on plays that are Two Stars or harder, meaning with a 90% Catch Probability or lower. Indeed, the 25-year-old came back in late April, immediately began stealing bases, and rewarded fantasy managers who used a high draft pick on him. Only a starter in four of the 11 seasons he played, Whiten ended his career with 77 assists, an impressive number when you figure that he was often a pinch-hitter or late-inning replacement. But it is best to exercise some caution and ensure you have outfield depth if you plan to roster him. Ugly defensive metrics (-15 DRS, -17.7 UZR/150) and the fact that he was essentially a platoon player (57 PA vs. LHP) kept Pederson from ranking any higher, but he was a terrific bargain on a one-year, $6 million deal. Compare that, for example, to the 211 such throws from shortstops, or the nearly 2,500 from right fielders (which almost certainly underestimates the truth in the early years). Mays fired the ball back into the infieldby his own admission, he had no idea where the ball was goingbut it stopped Al Rosen from advancing to second base and, more importantly, stopped Larry Doby from scoring, forcing him back to third base. Raul Mondesi did just that, compiling 112 assists over his 13-year playing career, including 53 between 1994 and 1997 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. outfield. His slash line declined to .263/.327/.445, though that average is misleading as his expected was .234. He'll lope after a ball to see if he can get you to run, picks it up . He may suffer some of the typical rookie issues, but all signs point to a quick adjustment and solid fantasy production. . Christian Yelich played in 154 games in 2022, his highest total since his last year in Miami in 2017. Hes also No. A full season alongside Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. in the San Diego Padres lineup would provide him with the best protection he's had at any point in his career, and with free agency fast approaching after the 2024 season he's playing for a huge payday. as Active Spin. Greene played well in center field, finishing in the 71st percentile in Outs Above Average, 67th percentile in arm strength and 75th percentile in outfielder jump, according to Statcast. Nicknamed the "Reading Rifle," Furillo led all outfielders in assists in 1951 with 24, and he has 151 for his career. When he was 13 years old, Shoeless Joe Jackson began pitching on the baseball team of the textile mill in which he worked. How quickly a player can get the ball from glove to hand and on its way can sometimes make up for a deficiency in arm strength. At the time his throw slapped into first baseman Ryan Mountcastle's glove, Longoria's throw was still 15 feet away from his own first baseman, Wilmer Flores. Catch up on the Top 25 in 2022 series: Catchers, First Basemen, Second Basemen, Shortstops, Third Basemen. Once the No. It will be very important to keep track of where Happ is batting in the revamped Cubs lineup. He led the league with 17 assists in 1982, and has 166 for his career. It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man. His arm was so impressive that Expos manager Dick Williams is said to have compared it to Roberto Clemente's, a bold statement to say the least. outfield. The Bulldogs and Sooners are joined by California (which is off to a strong 6-1 start) and Ohio State (a . With the Montreal Expos, Valentine was part of a young, talented outfield that included Warren Cromartie and Andre Dawson. (Those downsides are only injury concerns (he played in 135 games last year), and his outfield eligibility will probably expire after this season.) Rankings Top 15 MLB Corner Outfielders for 2023. An intimidating physical presence standing 6'5" and weighing 235 pounds, Dave Parker only exacerbated things by walking around the field with a shotgun. Suzuki struggled to adjust to the different levels of pitching, but he is a prime candidate for a bounceback season. In 2021, before he was injured, that went up to 88.2 mph. MLB Advanced Media, LP. However, his .336 BABIP is unsustainable and will take a bite out of his batting average when it corrects. These should correct to be nearer to his baseline, in which case fantasy managers are drafting a 30/20 guy with high on-base skills who bats smack in the middle of what is, essentially, an All-Star team. However, he took it to another level Friday night when he unleashed a pair of critical outfield assists. His xwOBA and xSLG are both near the 90th percentile, and he hit particularly well at Camden Yards in spite of the extended left field fence. and 32 degrees. Are you looking to contact Customer Support about a subscription or account related question? From 1986 through 1991, Snyder led the league in assists with a total of 61. Fantasy managers can deal with those considering he is above the 90th percentile in Avg EV, Max EV, HardHit%, barrel%, outs above avg, and sprint speed. While "The Catch" is unquestionably one of the great plays in the history of the game, the part of the play that is often overlooked is the throw that Willie Mays made immediately following it. ), Slice and dice them as you like. How far, in feet, a fielder or runner has traveled on a 12 finisher at outfield on the strength of a .291 average, 33 homers, 83 runs, 89 RBI, and 12 steals. Along with his stellar offensive numbers, Tucker also won his first career Gold Glove while posting stellar defensive metrics (13 DRS, 4.6 UZR/150) in right field. Youd think measuring throwing arm strength would be easy. Then during a throwing competition where competitors were given a six-step running start, Gorbous launched a ball 445 feet and 10 inches from the right field corner to left field, setting a world record that stands to this day. He is a pure contact hitter who gets on base and isn't afraid to run (19-for-24 in SB attempts). At the end of his breakout season, Justin Dirden felt fatigued. If he returns to 2021 form, he can be a five-category contributor, but he comes with plenty of risk in 2023. one base to another, like Home To First. Meanwhile, Boston's Bobby Dalbec currently shows up with a 74.8 average as a first baseman, but he's got plenty of throws north of 80 mph as a third baseman (and, once, a shortstop). Yordan lvarez actually played more games at designated hitter (77) than he did in the outfield (56), but since there are not enough everyday DHs for us to do a top 25 list for that position, he's being included here alongside the rest of the league's best outfielders. He batted third or fourth for most of 2022, but his skillset reads like a No. Where do you draft the superstar who will only play half the season at most? The steals are why he goes so early in drafts because it is certainly not his patience at the plate. A lifelong Dodger, Carl Furillo was a master at playing the tricky right field corner of Ebbets Field, becoming adept at fielding balls off of the 40-foot-high wall that loomed over him. Its sort of like pitching; all things being equal, youd much rather throw 100 mph than 90 mph, but it also might not matter so much if you cant throw strikes. Week 1 - Days 2and 3. How high/low, in degrees, a ball was hit by a batter. . For a pitcher it is the average of his softest 50% of batted balls allowed. "feet per second in a player's fastest one-second Since the demands of each position grouping are different, the averages and qualifiers are different as well. The 31-year-old hits the ball hard, in the 90th percentile in HardHit% and maxEV, and his BB% is a stellar 13.1%. raw numbers and as a measurement against average. Strength is only one aspect of what makes a great throwing arm. The four-category stud is worth a first-round pick. Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA). 2 prospect in baseball when the season began, he lived up to the hype and then some by hitting .284/.345/.509 with 25 doubles, 28 home runs, 75 RBI, 84 runs scored and 25 steals in 132 games. window.". Default = Experts with most recent updates. Current: Not any more. Exit Velocity & Barrels Leaderboard Current: Exit Velocity & Barrels A table displaying leaders in Statcast metrics such as Sweet Spot % (SwSp%), Barrels, Exit Velocity (EV), Batted Ball Distance (DST), Projected Home Run Distance (HR-DST), Launch Angle (LA) and Batted Ball Events (BBE) . Luis Mieses OF (Prev. He also posted well-above-average defensive metrics (5 DRS, 19.7 UZR/150) in left field, which makes it much easier to justify including him in these rankings. How far, in feet, a runner is ranging off the bag at the And a tenth of a second really doesn't sound like very much. 15. the ERA scale, A measurement of a player's top running speed, expressed Expect him to be one of the faces of baseball for the next decade-plus and a strong contender for the No. Opponents quickly learned that they couldn't run on Geronimo and they stopped trying, which explains his 81 career assists, one of the lower totals of those on our list. Meusel finished his career with 157 assists, including a three-year period from 1921 through 1923 where he racked up 69. Ruth carried his strong pitching arm into the outfield, where he threw out 204 runners over the course of his career. Or is it because players with weaker arms are less likely to be allowed to play the left side in the first place?