best outfield arms in mlb 2021

The question that resonated at the end of October is about the best position player on the planet -- Betts, or Mike Trout? But that represents the bulk of the 26-year-olds big league experience. He earned a starting nod in the All-Star Game, and he deserves a ton of credit for the job he did protecting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. out of the cleanup spot in the Toronto lineup. A former Gold Glove winner in left field, he is a roughly average defender in center field. To qualify for inclusion, a player had to have at least 200 plate appearances. Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, PadresKey stat: 91.8 mph average max-effort arm strength in 2019. This is not unusual: Cal Ripken Jr. spent his whole career fighting for feel, winning two MVP awards but also posting seven seasons in which he batted in the .250s or lower. Free agency, trade talk, offseason news . March 1, 2023. In Trout's only three games in the postseason, as the Angels were swept by the Royals in a 2014 division series, he went 1-for-12 with a solo home run and three walks. It must be noted here that Tatis did have an issue with throwing miscues that drove down his overall defensive value. He has a 103 OPS+ with 22 home runs, 84 RBI and an NL-leading 32 doubles. With the Astros first pick the 2021 draft, they took a prospect who fell right in their laps. The 26-year-old had 32 doubles, 20 home runs, 20 steals and 94 runs scored, and he was a Gold Glove finalist in left field. One of the tougher players to slot on this list, Buxton played in only 61 games while missing time with a hip strain and fractured hand. Managers who don't grab an outfielder in the first two rounds will still have an ample supply of impact players Throughout the year, we released monthly updates to our position-by-position power rankings, selecting the top 10 players at each spot. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining . 17. And I'm talking about strong arms, not merely accurate ones. Bobby Abreu has had one of the strongest and most accurate arms in baseball in recent years. At 321 feet, it was the longest on-the-fly throw for an outfield assist tracked by Statcast (since 2015). Or his game-saving throw from center field to the plate against the Red Sox in the 10th inning of Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. In Game 6 of the 1971 World Series, Clemente showed off this arm on a fly ball hit by Frank Robinson. September 10, 2021 | 00:05:48. While his .286 on-base percentage and 31.2 percent strikeout rate leave something to be desired, he was a stellar defender (16 DRS, 11.8 UZR/150) to go along with his power production in a 3.8 WAR season. However, he was also a 4.2 WAR player at the time of the trade. Mejia, 25, is hitting .263/.323/.429 with 20 extra-base hits, and he has thrown out 32 percent of base stealers on the year. Let's keep our 2021 MLB Player Rankings series rolling with a look at the top 25 outfielders. Through all the excess options, it becomes even more important to find the top values and to not settle for "good enough" production. His career will always be under a microscope, but it's hard to call his 2021 performance anything but superstar-caliber. This is a pretty straight forward category. For a boost in the batting-average category, target McNeil, Verdugo or Brantley. Scouts noted that he has a plus arm in the. We're going to try something a little different. He compiled 157 outfield assists in his 20 major league seasons. Walker was known for his abilities at the plate, but he also had a gun for an arm. Soto, in my opinion, has that. $0.99 With club control through the 2025 season, he is a long-term building block for the O's. That duo has started all but one game behind the dish for the Rays this year and posted the following combined stat line in the process: Zunino, 30, was an All-Star for the first time this year. The 24-year-old has a 131 OPS+ with 23 doubles, 27 home runs and 76 RBI, and he has also made significant strides defensively at the hot corner. Backup catcher Curt Casali (180 PA, 97 OPS+, 5 HR, 23 RBI) has also been solid at the plate, and the pitching staff has a fantastic 2.63 ERA with him in the crouch. Which outfielder has the strongest arm 2021? He even threw a ball 100.8 mph on April 21, though it didnt result in an assist. The MLB Tonight panel breaks down the components of a good outfield arm. Seven of the first 15 players in MLB.com's player rankings are outfielders, including four of the top five. Scott Pianowski continues his tiered positional rankings by examining the outfield landscape for 2023 fantasy baseball drafts. But Verdugo ingratiated himself with teammates and staff with his passion and play, and he seemed to earn the early respect of socially distant Red Sox fans. Slowed by a variety of injuries in 2020, Bryant returned healthy and productive this year. The MLB Tonight panel breaks . 2y Buster Olney. Some of Mookie Betts' former teammates watched him go through the postseason last year and believed he really was out of sorts at the plate. He homered 12 times in a 10-game stretch at the end of June, but he missed most of July with a hamstring strain. Jackson had 183 outfield assists during his 13 year career. Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs/San Francisco Giants. This situation happens when an outfielder can make a great throw to try to nail the runner that is heading home. Rather than ranking individual players, we set out to name the best multi-player units in baseball. After a slow start, reigning NL MVP Freddie Freeman is once posting elite numbers. More MLB videos How Does Carlos Correa Fit on the Giants? Mike Yastrzemski, San Francisco Giants. The former Red Sox great and six-time Gold Glove winner is known for his arm. Need more power? Carlos Correa (Twins): 95.0 mph 5. Great teams are composed of . Of the 60 games Ozuna played last season, only 21 were in the outfield, so if you wanted to make the argument that he should be ranked among designated hitters, well, you'd have a good case. The best arms tend to have lower rates because they get run on less, though Clemente is barely in the top 70 all time and IIRC Vlad doesn't even crack the top 200 Though I guess my point agrees with you, he wasn't great but he wasn't awful 2 Buzzed27 San Francisco Giants 5 yr. ago Not sure what you're talking about exactly. Sits in the Top Ten of draft. The Mariners sent pitchers Gerson Bautista, Justin Dunn, Anthony Swarzak and outfielder Jay Bruce to Seattle for infielder Robinson Cano and pitcher Edwin Diaz. Here are the Cubs' 2023 Top 30 prospects. Cobb's 392 outfield assists are second all-time. Mervis' busy spring preparing him for Majors. Who Are the Best Outfield Arms in MLB? . The Tampa Bay Rays began the offseason by declining their$4.5 million club option on catcher Mike Zunino, who logged a 50 OPS+ and minus-0.2 WAR in 118 games with the team in 2019 and 2020. 2. The aisle of youth had two of the best young arms in Cuba but Raisel Iglesias and Yoan Lopez now represent two of the best Cuban arms in the Majors. Trout is about halfway through his career, maybe even further along than that. In 2019, it was all about arm strength for Laureano. Something that jumped out to Giants staffers last year was Yastrzemski's fearlessness in two-strike counts: After the count reached no balls and two strikes, he hit .222; after the count was 1-2, his OPS was 1.033. That notably excluded Mike Trout (146 PA). He hit the walk-off home run in the NL Wild Card Game and had a three-homer game in Game 5 of the NLCS. The 28-year-old hit .291 with 35 homers, 97 RBIs, 106 runs and an .899 OPS the last time we saw him. Ozuna, meanwhile, is back with the Braves after signing a four-year contract. Colavito is another player on this list who has a legendary arm. The eight-time Gold Glove winner was finally inducted into Cooperstown in 2010. Braves manager Brian Snitker mentioned during the playoffs that he liked to hear Ozuna predicting to teammates in the dugout the pitch sequencing he was about to see -- and a lot of the time, Snitker said, Ozuna would be exactly right. One evaluator said that Bellinger's swing is so unusual that he'll probably always struggle for consistency, for finding the feel he needs to be successful, and because of that, he'll probably have a lot of ups and downs. An intercostal strain limited Winker to only one game after Aug. 15. Frelick also climbed three levels in his first full season, and the 2021 first . After back-to-back 20-plus-homer seasons in 2018 and 2019, Teoscar Hernandez showcased a more well-rounded offensive game last year, hitting .289/.340/.579 for a 146 OPS+ in 50 games to finish 11th in AL MVP voting and win a Silver Slugger Award. He has never finished lower than third on the MLB pop time leaderboard since Statcast launched, and 2019 was his fastest season yet. The 30-year-old showed a less patient approach at the plate, which resulted in a middling .318 on-base percentage, but his power production is enough to earn him a spot here. Prior to a game in the 2004 ALDS versus the Yankees, Guerrero threw a ball 370 feet in warm-ups. Follow @RickWeinerBR Just Missed the Cut 1 of 42 Barry Bonds Shin-Soo Choo Mike Hershberger Andruw Jones. Free shipping for many products! Hitting with discipline is something you elect to do. Guerrero currently ranks fifth on the active list for outfield assists. Honorable Mention:Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Washington Nationals. Baseball Savant. As we wait, Buster Olney continues his annual ranking of the 10 best players at each position heading into the coming season, based on input from industry evaluators. He led the National League in outfield assists twice in his career. Whether it's unleashing the ball from deep in the outfield, across the infield or behind the plate, it can make the seemingly impossible happen. Mondesi has a tattoo of a cannon shooting out a baseball on his right arm. Let's get right into it. He had just 18 swings and misses at in-zone pitches in the entire regular season. 7. Gorbous is the answer to the trivia question: "Who has the longest throw in baseball history"? Barfield would consistently throw strikes from right field to home plate. Rodriguez was a top 10 prospect on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 international prospects list for 2019-20 when the signing period opened up in July of 2019. . The 28-year-old hit .305/.394/.556 for a 140 OPS+ with 32 doubles, 24 home runs and 71 RBI in 485 plate appearances, earning his first All-Star selection. The damage he did in the playoffs and World Series, against some of the best pitchers in the world, was absolutely staggering. He did it across 72 games and 322 plate appearances on a Washington Nationals team that was floundering at the bottom of the NL East standings. In the short 2020 season, he had more walks (49) than strikeouts (43). 6 player in the Razzball Player Rater, despite playing just 130 games; give him Vladimir Guerrero's 161 games and he would've topped him for the No. Only 30 MLB hitters had a lower rate of soft contact than Jimenez -- Fernando Tatis Jr., Corey Seager, Anthony Rendon and Freddie Freeman were among those ranked ahead of him. Runners were hesitant to try to take an extra base when the ball was hit to right in Coors Field between 1995 and 2003. Those being Eric Cross, Chris Clegg, Mick Ciallela, Justin Johnson, Jorge Montanez, David Mendelson . Two seasons into his 13-year deal with the Phillies, his production has been excellent -- a .385 on-base percentage, an OPS+ of 134, 139 runs in 215 games. best outfield arms in mlb 2021 This is the best team in baseball. MLB Tonight: Outfield Arm. The 27-year-old batted .308 last season, with a .534 slugging percentage. The 26-year-old got off to a slow start this year, but he caught fire in May and never looked back. The longtime utility man split his time between center field (93 games) and second base (47 games), and he posted a 107 OPS+ with 58 extra-base hits in a career-high 585 plate appearances. Cobb is widely regarded as one of the best baseball players in the history of the game. Realmuto paced all full-time catchers (min. Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide, The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. It is a shame that his career was cut short as the result of a hip injury. He racked up 4.7 WAR despite missing 35 games early in the season with a fractured rib. Up next is the 22-year-old Soto, whose production over his first three seasons has him drawing comparisons to Hall of Famer Ted Williams. Each player was included in the rankings at the position where he played the most innings. Honorable Mention: Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays. You might not realize just how strong his arm is, though, because the focus tends to be on his hitting first, then his running, then his defense. 1 spot. Even though Meusel played just 11 seasons, he still recorded 157 outfield assists. He hit .264/.367/.487 with 29 doubles, 23 home runs and 10 steals, which, coupled with his usual standout defense in right field, was enough for him to finish fourth in WAR on a stacked Dodgers roster. Other good MLB outfielders right now include Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton, J. D. Martinez, and Aaron Judge. He is considered to be one of if not the best center fielders of all-time. The quick reaction and retreat and leap before taking extra bases away from Brandon Lowe in Game 4 of the World Series. Yes, Gallo hit .160 with a 38.6 percent strikeout rate after the Rangers traded him to the Yankees. Reynolds hit.302/.390/.522 with 35 doubles, 24 home runs, 90 RBI and 93 runs scored for a 146 OPS+ despite having little in the way of protection in a bad Pittsburgh lineup. Previous picks: DJ LeMahieu (hit), Aaron Judge (power), Ronald Acua Jr. (run), Matt Chapman (defense). Mantle earned one Gold Glove in his career and threw out 117 base runners from the outfield. 8 prospect in the game. These guys. That success has come despite myriad injuries and significant roster turnover. Through Soto's age 21 season, he has played 313 regular-season games -- two full seasons, basically -- and has 228 walks, 69 homers among 146 extra-base hits, and an OPS of .972. Cedric Mullins hit .225/.290/.342 with seven home runs and 10 steals in 115 games scattered across his first three big league seasons. He was ranked the 40th-best free agent this offseason, per Giants Baseball Insider's rankings. Evans was considered to have one of the greatest throwing arms in baseball in the 1970s. Arozarena is coming off a postseason for the ages, on top of a strong finish in the regular season. Teel is an excellent athlete with a strong arm, and has a good swing with excellent hand acceleration, but he had some bad BABIP luck last year and hit just .276/.402/.439, a drop from his strong . That Betts is the best right fielder in the game is assumed. The Milwaukee Brewers aren't far behind with a 3.11 ERA, and they have a trio of bona fide aces atop the staff that have helped lead them to the top of the NL Central standings. It has been suggested that the Indians have been cursed after trading Colavito, a fan favorite, to the Detroit Tigers in 1960. He was forced to retire at age 30 as the result of a broken jaw which forced him to play with a facemask for a few years. The fourth tier features OF3 candidates of every type. Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs, Brandon Nimmo, New York Mets; Kyle Lewis, Seattle Mariners; Aaron Hicks, New York Yankees; Victor Robles, Washington Nationals; Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins. those in the top 10 percent of a players sample. Adj ER Saved - Our metric for catcher value in staff handling (similar to Catcher ERA but with important adjustments) The corner outfield duo of Nick Castellanos and Jesse Winker both rank among the MLB leaders in a number of offensive categories: Joining them isTyler Naquin, who earned a spot on the MLB roster on a minor league contract and is earning $1.5 million on a one-year deal. There's no doubting that the Chicago Cubs farm system is vastly improved from where it was in 2021. He ultimately found his way back to Tampa Bay on a new one-year, $3 million deal that includes a 2022 club option. He had nine assists in 2022. . The goal is to decide which team has the best catchers, infielders, outfielders, bench, starting pitchers and relief pitchers. Mar 22, 2021. But imagine him with this cannon attached to his shoulder. All in the family: how three generations of Jaquezes have ruled West Coast basketball, Alonso says Aston 'living a dream,' eyes podium. Despite missing almost all of September with a hairline fracture in his left thumb, Bez tied for third in Defensive Runs Saved (26) and placed second among all players in Outs Above Average (+19). One of the most exciting defensive plays in baseball occurs when there is going to be a play at the plate. Lagares easily has the most rARM per 1,000 innings over the last three seasons. In order to qualify for the leaderboard, a player must have more Two-Star opportunities than team games / 5. In the third season of a five-year, $60 million contract, Pollock enjoyed his best season in a Dodgers uniform, hitting .297/.355/.536 for a 137 OPS+ with 27 doubles, 21 home runs and 69 RBI. It's fitting that Smoltz, Maddux, and Tom Glavine came back-to-back-to-back on this list, because for over a decade . He is, by any measure, the best outfielder and player of his generation. Joey Votto travels with Ted Williams' book "The Science of Hitting" and has built a Hall of Fame rsum based on a lot of the principles that Williams espoused -- like not doing the pitcher a favor by chasing pitches out of the strike zone. A.J. The towering right fielder posted a 149 OPS+ with 39 home runs and a career-low 25.0 percent strikeout rate. Wilmer Flores (358 PA, 102 OPS+, 15 HR, 44 RBI), LaMonte Wade Jr. (249 PA, 123 OPS+, 16 HR, 41 RBI) and Darin Ruf (230 PA, 151 OPS+, 14 HR, 33 RBI)have all been extremely productive in utility roles. Yelich is 29 years old. The Red Sox acquired him at the deadline, and he finished with a 148 OPS+ and 32 home runs in 113 games, posting a .266/.374/.554 line that represented career highs across the board. With George Springer, Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert all missing considerable time and Cody Bellinger struggling through a down year, the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers narrowly missed the cut for the title of MLB's best outfield unit in 2021. Myles Straw, Houston Astros/Cleveland Guardians. Nothing less should be expected from a man who was nicknamed "Muscles". Mays is in the discussion for the greatest player of all-time. Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman, 505 PA, .235/.309/.504, 56 XBH (31 HR), 76 RBI, 75 R, 4.3 WAR. It's worth remembering that during the 2018-19 seasons, Pham had an on-base percentage of .368 and scored 179 runs in 282 games. Even at age 36, Ichiro was consistently able to throw out runners trying to take an extra base. Gallo, Soler, Lewis, Yastrzemski, Happ, Rosario and Mountcastle can provide it. And it would be a crime not to grab Bellinger in this five-tools exercise somewhere. Mays' throwing arm deserves more recognition as he was he had the second strongest arm of any outfielder in the 1960s. The Gators routinely welcome recruiting classes that rank among the top in the country, and the class of 2023 will be no exception. Those are absurd numbers to maintain for a full week, let alone half of a season. 6. Luis Mieses OF (Prev. His contract and track record mean more is expected of him, but he was still a top-15 outfielder. The wild card in this tier is Kelenic, MLB Pipelines No. He's hit .300 or better in five of the last seven seasons, and in the two he didn't, he batted .299 (in 2017) and was injury-ravaged in the other (2016). Dave Roberts, Dodgers. With Charlie Morton and Blake Snell both departing during the offseason and Tyler Glasnow lost to Tommy John surgery, more pressure has fallen on the relief corps to prop up the pitching staff. This week, MLB.com is tasking five reporters with building the ultimate five-tool Superman, by picking the best examples of each tool from the talented pool of current big leaguers. Now it's time to finalize those rankings while expanding the list out to the 25 best at each position on the diamond, which means each position is going to get its own article. But despite all of that offensive imperfection, the lasting impression Betts left behind is that of the closest thing you can have to a perfect player in a sport filled with moments of failure. Abreu's strong arm helped him win his only Gold Glove in 2005. After missing much of the 2019 season and all of last year with a gruesome injury, Haniger finally returned to action, posting a 122 OPS+ with 39 home runs and 100 RBI for the upstart Mariners. His 26 home runs trail only Salvador Perez among all backstops. Rob Neyer ranked him as our best right fielder in his Big Book of Baseball Lineups (pre-Bautista). 1 guy is pretty obvious, through the compilation of thought from folks around the industry. Seven of the first 15 players in MLB.com's player rankings are outfielders, including four of the top five. 3 overall player, followed by Trout, who continues to deliver at the plate year after year and remains among fantasys top five players despite his decline on the bases (one steal in 2020). Giants Sign Carlos Correa to 13-Year, $350 Million Deal Dansby Swanson's Market Is Heating Up With Merv Retterman on third base, Robinson knocked the ball more than 300 feet deep in center field. The 24-year-old hit .251 with 10 homers, 10 steals and 42 runs in 59 games for the Padres last year. Nearly every player on this list has been an All-Star, and all the rest have a chance to make their first Midsummer Classic this season. He also once again took home Gold Glove honors in a 6.3 WAR season. Previous picks: Mookie Betts (hit), Joey Gallo (power), Christian Yelich (run), Harrison Bader (defense), Cody Bellinger, CF, DodgersKey stat: 101.1 mph max arm strength. He hit .271 with a .349 on-base percentage, tallying 34 extra-base hits, 30 steals and 3.2 WAR, and he was also a Gold Glove finalist in center field. Ramon Laureano, Oakland A's A 2021 20th-round pick . In the 60-game season, Bellinger hit .239 and was moved down in the lineup to the No. The third tier is filled with enticing players, but its also rife with uncertainty. His swing rate on all pitches dipped to 35% (in '20), which ranked 141st among 142 qualified hitters. There's still a chance we'll see him in the Majors before the end of April, however, so he's someone to keep in mind in the latter half of fantasy drafts. All told, he hit .333 with 17 homers and a 1.158 OPS over 43 games in 2020. Castellanos and Blackmon, meanwhile, faded dramatically after blazing starts. That seems almost impossible. However, the slugger has missed nearly a full seasons worth of games (142) over the past three years due to an assortment of injuries, which is something for fantasy managers to keep in mind. Among players with at least 200 plate appearances last season, the 23-year-old had the fourth-highest chase rate, the third-highest whiff rate and the sixth-highest strikeout rate, making him a high-risk, high-reward pick in the early rounds. Bellinger could be a great pick for any tool -- hit, power, speed, glove or arm. Here are five options going much later in drafts than they should based on their . He immediately impressed both his manager and scouts with his impressive throwing arm. He had an average max-effort arm strength of 94.1 mph, seventh-fastest among MLB outfielders (min.