That doesn't happen without Furillo's play. Had he only been able to stay healthy, we could be talking about the greatest player in the history of the gamebefore he got injured, there was no better player in the game. Baltimore Orioles. With the score tied at three and Harold Reynolds on first, Seattle catcher Scott Bradley hit a double to left. The 28-year-old has recorded no less than 11 assists in each of his seven seasons, and not only is his throwing arm powerful, but it's deadly accurate, as we can see in the video. The fact that Dave Roberts might deploy him enough at 2B to give him that eligibility is just icing. Run: 7.10 runner in the 60. It's time to put a bow on the 2022 MLB season with Bleacher Report's final positional rankings. "[Those throws are] something that I do all natural," Acua said at the time. Not only was it probably the better part of 300 feet, it was dead on line and in the air the whole way.". So is that because the elbow isnt allowing harder throws -- not that its mattered much, as hes been excellent defensively -- or because his new position doesnt demand it? outfield. Teammate Bob Meusel had a better arm than the Babe, but Ruth wasn't far behind. One of baseball's legendary figures and the greatest switch hitter who ever lived, Mickey Mantle's defense and rocket of an arm are often overshadowed by his offensive numbers. You can see video of the play here (the actual play starts around the 40 second mark). 1 prospect in baseball with the Red Sox in 2017, Benintendi never quite lived up to expectations in Boston, but he has set himself up for a nice free agency payday after a strong 2022 season. His slash line declined to .263/.327/.445, though that average is misleading as his expected was .234. The shortstop position has become one of the deepest and most talented positions in fantasy baseball over the last decade. How much time, in seconds, it takes a runner to get from play. It is difficult to predict what effect the new running rules will have on his SB total, but fantasy managers can safely count on 10-15 in this area. Current: time of a pitcher's first movement or pitch release. He hit 16 homers, his most since 2019, but he only stole 18 bases, a severe drop off from the 47 he snagged the year before. 3) Players throw differently at different positions, right? An All-Star and Gold Glove winner for the first time, Happ hit .271/.342/.440 for a 119 OPS+ with 42 doubles, 17 home runs, 72 RBI, 72 runs scored and 4.4 WAR in 158 games. He batted leadoff 64 times, indicating the Royals are dedicated to getting him plate appearances in front of Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. He is above the 90th percentile in all of the power categories and sprint speed, and when he is on the field, he is a dynamic player who contributes mightily to fantasy teams. a batted-ball event with a launch angle between eight The 28-year-old is capable of making a greater impact in half a season than most players can in a full 162 games, and he racked up 4.0 WAR and 44 extra-base hits in 92 games this year while earning his first All-Star selection. become a hit. window.". Going back to 2015, he has two of the three hardest throws ever tracked by an infielder. His EV and HardHit% certainly showed no signs of slowing down, and he remains an on-base machine batting at the top of a fearsome lineup. 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. 3. And he was smart as well as stronghe never threw to the wrong base and kept the double play in order, which, to a pitcher, is BIG.". Fantasy managers are scared because of injury risk or age, but Stanton is going to mash. From his Rookie of the Year season in 1977 through 1983, Dawson averaged nearly 10 assists a season, racking up 69 over those seven years, including a career high 17 in 1978. Its not that his arm suddenly got weaker on the right side of the infield, of course. 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. A mainstay in Boston for nearly 20 years, Dwight Evans is the owner of eight Gold Glove awards and one of the best throwing arms of the 70's and 80's. Mar 22, 2021. He is one of the best pure hitters in the game today, and the six-year, $115 million extension he signed in June already looks like an absolute steal for the Astros. He is projected as a 15/15 outfielder and worth a look in the double-digit rounds. It's understandable that fantasy managers who drafted him thinking they secured a 30/30 guy were disappointed at the end of the season. the ERA scale, A measurement of a player's top running speed, expressed Van Slyke unleashed a throw to Pirates catcher Mike LaValliere that arrived in time to nail Oquendo, who was blocked from the plate by LaValliere's left leg long enough for the catcher to apply the tag. player has saved over his peers. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. the fastest reactions and most direct routes in the How hard, in miles per hour, a pitch is thrown. In that case, he is a perfect complement to whatever three true outcome player you draft for power. It was his hardest throw in nearly three calendar years. Acuna should return to his former self with the extra time post-surgery. Now it's time to finalize those rankings while expanding the list to the 25 best at each position. 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. 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. Pittsburgh has a good long history of trading great players once they reach arbitration, so chances are that he will don a different uniform come Opening Day. It's not natural. However, he can be a mid-round source of stolen bases either way. How hard, in miles per hour, a fielder throws the ball. Nicknamed "Muscles," Mantle's throws were both accurate and strong. Statcast refers to the spin that contributes to movement Michael Harris II played 43 games in Double-A last year before getting called up to the majors and proceeded to hit 19 HR, steal 20 bases, and slash .297/.339/.514 on his way to winning the NL Rookie of the Year award. All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. Long toss is the commonly mentioned method to strengthening a baseball . . A seven-time All-Star who won only one Gold Glove award, Reggie Smith had one of the great throwing arms of the 1970's. The deal to acquire him from the St. Louis Cardinals prior to the 2020 season in exchange for prospect Matthew Liberatore looks like a major win. Seiya Suzuki arrived to MLB and kicked off his career in the States with a bang, hitting four HR and getting on base at a .398 clip. MLB Advanced Media, LP. He's barely a half-season into his career. How much spin, in revolutions per minute, a pitch was At his current ADP of 129, he is an absolute steal, even taking into account that he won't play 150 games. All rights reserved. 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. On Saturday . For a batter, Best Speed is an average of 50% of his hardest hit balls. -- came in above 72 mph. His throwing arm used to be a relative weakness. Aaron Judge put together one of the greatest offensive seasons in MLB history in 2022, setting the AL record with 62 home runs while making a legitimate run at the Triple Crown by hitting .311/.425/.686 with 131 RBI and 133 runs scored. But thats hardly true for position players, where you might sometimes be throwing at your maximum effort (heres Julio Rodrguez with a 99.6 mph cannon to nail a runner at third base) and sometimes you are absolutely not (heres Rodrguez with a 21.6 mph [!] This year, thats all the way up to 90.7 mph, which is about 75th percentile among outfielders. No one, I mean no one, runs on him.". I Suzuki 2. Despite his age and limited upper-minors experience, he didn't miss a beat in the majors, hitting .297/.339/.514 with 27 doubles, 19 home runs, 64 RBI, 75 runs scored and 20 steals in 22 attempts over 114 games. 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. He was one of only two qualified hitters with a strikeout rate below 10 percent, and he also won Gold Glove honors thanks to his brilliant defensive metrics (21 DRS, 8.4 UZR/150) in left field. His strikeout rate crept above 30% for the first time since his rookie year. Or is it because players with weaker arms are less likely to be allowed to play the left side in the first place? It only continues to get better, as about half of these prospects below have a good shot to earn consistent playing time this upcoming season. Zerby, a sophomore outfielder, hit .365 with 8 runs batted in and 8 stolen bases. MLB.com lists Ramon Laureano (average 94.8, top 100.1) and Cody Bellinger (101.1 top) as two outfielders with some of the best arms in the league. This will probably be the 26-year-old's last season with catcher eligibility, but in non-keeper leagues, he is a good asset. Making a case for him to go 1.1 in 2023 drafts isn't difficult. Fantasy managers can draft him with confidence. Here we go. How far off the mound, in feet, a pitcher releases the Seven of the first 15 players in MLB.com's player rankings are outfielders, including four of the top five. The Arkansas commit is an explosive athlete that burned a 6.62 in the 60-yard dash, then showcased a sizzler of an arm, 90 mph across the infield and 95 . Nicknamed the "Reading Rifle," Furillo led all outfielders in assists in 1951 with 24, and he has 151 for his career. He will . In traditional 5x5 leagues, Garcia can provide value from the fifth round on. It seems likely that one of Volpe or Peraza will shift over to third base or . From 1956 until he retired in 1964, he only threw out 32, due largely in part to the injury. He could pop double-digit homers, but all fantasy managers need to care about is that he keeps running well (23-for-26 SB in 2022) and with impunity. The Major League average Pop Time on steal attempts of second base is 2.0 seconds . The 29-year-old posted a 113 OPS+ with 66 extra-base hits, 101 RBI and 25 steals, while making modest improvements to his walk rate (5.1 to 6.1 percent) and strikeout rate (31.2 to 27.9 percent) in a 3.5-WAR campaign. The biggest downside is that he most likely does not have OF eligibility in your league, so make sure your UTIL slot is free for him. window") of the runner is at least 30 ft/sec. Andre Dawson epitomized the tern "five tool player" for more than a decade before 12 knee surgeries and age began to take their toll. That out of the way, lets ask some of the fun questions. Signed to a four-year, $79 million deal during the offseason, Schwarber slugged an NL-leading 46 home runs in his first season with the Phillies. Daulton Varsho - 4.6 fWAR. the ERA scale, A measurement of a player's top running speed, expressed In order to account for that, outfielders receive the average of their top 10% hardest throws as a seasonal average. 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. Unless you're in a quirky league where defense counts, Melendez fills a scarce position with decent skills. 1 / 20. No, I'm a California resident looking for the California Consumer Privacy Act form. In eight years of Statcast tracking, only two first baseman throws have come in above 91 mph, and each of them -- both from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., one shown below -- were on relays. Reynolds hit 27 HR and slashed .262/.345/.461 and yet scored 74 runs and knocked in only 62. produces a result. Proving ineffective, the Blue Jays featured one of the worst defensive outfields in the majors last season, ranking 18th in Outs Above Average (-3) and 21st in Defensive Runs Saved (-6),. He finished his career with one Gold Glove award and 117 assists, largely in part to the fact that nobody was crazy enough to try running on him after awhile. Signed pitcher Zack Greinke to a one-year, $8.5 million contract. There may be many ways to arrive at a logical ranking of outfield throwing arms, but assists minus double plays is telling. 25 attempts). The outfield will be the foundation of many fantasy teams in 2021. xBA measures the likelihood that a batted ball will (Those downsides are only injury concerns (he played in 135 games last year), and his outfield eligibility will probably expire after this season.) Its that the demands of different positions are, well, different. Even with his torn UCL last season, he still slashed .286/.364/.514 and powered the Phillies to the World Series. Corbin Carroll mashed his way through the minor league system and arrived in Arizona for his debut in 2022. Jump is a Statcast metric that shows which players have 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. Corey Julks. Glen Gorbous might actually have the greatest throwing arm in the history of the world, but because his incredible feats were primarily accomplished outside of game action, he finds himself closer to the bottom of the list. His 10 hardest non-relay/pivot throws on the right side of the infield average 75.7 mph, maxing out at 78.2 mph. Escape Velocity takes the average of a player's batted ball velocities subtracted from 88. Kaline was a master of putting himself in perfect position when a ball was hit in his direction where he would make the catch and fire the ball back into the infield in one, fluid motion. 2. attempt. Let's meet the 40 players who had the best outfield arms in the history of the game. At the end of his breakout season, Justin Dirden felt fatigued. thrown with. Which is a great lead-in to our next question 4) Do second basemen have weaker arms than shortstops because they dont need to throw as far? Let's freeze the play to show you exactly what we mean: If you check out the pop time leaderboards, the gap between absolute best and dead last is just 0.28 seconds. 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. To get past that, the averages work like this. The stolen bases are most likely gone forever, but he could pair nicely with a speed guy from Round 1. Defensively, he is a great player. Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies. Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA). Just make sure you have enough IL slots. Its the chicken-and-the-egg question of our times. 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). Follow @RickWeinerBR Just Missed the Cut 1 of 42 Barry Bonds Shin-Soo Choo Mike Hershberger Andruw Jones Mark. When he was 13 years old, Shoeless Joe Jackson began pitching on the baseball team of the textile mill in which he worked. His arm strength is middling, but he makes good throws nonetheless. 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. able to make a catch on an individual batted ball. 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. the fastest reactions and most direct routes in the The 25-year-old hit .298/.373/.400 with more walks (62) than strikeouts (60) while adding 89 runs scored and 19 steals. The likelihood, in percent, that an outfielder will be Speaker refused, worked like a maniac to rehab the arm, and not only went on to become a Hall of Fame player and one of the greatest center fielders to ever play the game, but to have one of the best throwing arms that the game has ever seen. The 25-year-old ranks in the 100th percentile in average EV, HardHit%, xwOBA, xBA, xSLG, and Barrel% while coming in the 99th percentile in MaxEV. In 2021, still at shortstop, that was down to 79.1 mph, largely believed to be related to a midseason elbow injury. Some players have power, whereas Yordan Alvarez has POWER. He had the hardest-hit ball of the evening, but he also showed off his arm, uncorking a pair of throws -- each tracked at over 95 mph. 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. Jump is a Statcast metric that shows which players have Beyond the gaudy numbers, he was the one consistent in a Yankees lineup that dealt with injuries and under performance, and he did it all while also playing a career-high 632.2 innings in center field.