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| TODAY: Monday, May 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player ratings: Center field | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome to the ESPN.com player ratings. Our panel of baseball authorities will rank the top 10 players at each position. The basic question is this: Which player do you want at that position for the 2000 season?
For more about our panel, check the the catchers page. The numbers used in the chart below are explained at the bottom of the page.
Other positions: C | DH | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | LF | RF | SP | CL
Position comments Graham Hays: Help is on the way, maybe. A number of teams have young outfielders literally at the center of their future development plans. Ruben Mateo, Vernon Wells, Juan Encarnacion, Preston Wilson, and Corey Patterson are among a crop of 25 and under players poised to make runs at the top 10. Not surprisingly each one, except Toronto's Wells, has yet to demonstrate a mature grasp of the strike zone. Florida's Wilson may have the best numbers at the end of the 2000 season, but at 25 years of age he also has the least time to jump from prospect status to stardom. To make that move he'll have to shed a few of his 154 strikeouts without sacrificing too much of the power that led to a healthy .502 slugging percentage. Underrated: Doug Glanville. Lost amid the surprise returns of Glanville's breakout season at the plate was the fact that he's always been one of the best defensive players in the game. A repeat of his 1999 on-base percentage (.376) will mean Philadelphia has everything but power coming out of center field, and that's a trade-off they'll happily accept. Overrated: Devon White. Some players in every sport live off an undeserved defensive reputation simply because there aren't easily accessible statistics available to measure that aspect of the game. This explains why White's reputation as a terrific glove man is still front and center in baseball culture, despite his skills having beat a hasty retreat several years ago. To be fair, White has posted some of the best offensive numbers of his career in recent years. Unfortunately the improvement still hasn't allowed him to crack .800 in OPS, leaving him deficient at the plate and mediocre in the field at the age of 37. Keith Law: Ken Griffey gets called the "best player in baseball" about as often as he picks up a glove, but he's not even the best center fielder. That distinction belongs to Andruw Jones, a player who has already set the standard for center field defense the way Bill Mazeroski set the standard at second base. Andruw also hits for power, is a good basestealer and last year drew 76 walks. And he'll turn 23 on Easter Sunday. Underrated: Jose Cruz smacked major league pitching around in the second half of 1997 to the tune of 23 homers, but Toronto has rewarded him with two years of demotions, inconsistent playing time, and public floggings. Overrated: Marquis Grissom is still employed? By whom? Oh, that explains it. Grissom has minimal basestealing value, never figured out how to get on base, and has lost most of his defensive value as well. Dumping his contract was one of John Hart's best moves. David Schoenfield: No, Mike Cameron isn't Ken Griffey Jr. But he's a wonderful defensive center fielder, probably better than Griffey, just minus the hype. He'll drive Lou Piniella crazy with all his strikeouts, but he'll post a decent enough OBP, steal bases at a good clip and provide some power. Of course, he's not who they built Safeco Field for, is it? Underrated: Jose Cruz Jr. gets ripped because of what he hasn't become. If the Blue Jays would quit concentrating on the negatives (low average, looks bad on curveballs) and concentrate on the positives (draws walks, has some power, can run) they'd realize they have a decent player on their hands. Overrated: The Tigers should have kept Gabe Kapler and sent Juan Encarnacion to the Rangers. His lack of plate discipline (113 K's, 13 BB), probably mean he's destined to never achieve the potential his tools dictate. Rany Jazayerli: Ruben Rivera has been so maligned over the last year -- and with good reason, considering he hit just .195 last year -- that everyone seems to have forgotten just how devastating a player he was before injuries took their toll. As bad as he was last year, he hit for power (only Rob Deer had ever hit 20 homers with a sub-.200 average) and is an excellent defensive center fielder. He's only 26, and while I don't think he'll ever be a star, the Padres can't afford to give up on him just yet. Underrated: Give Doug Glanville his due. He came up with the Cubs as a free-swinging banjo-hitter, and through sheer hard work has made himself, in his late 20s, into an excellent all-around player. He drew a career high 48 walks last year, had 55 extra-base hits, and was the best percentage basestealer (34-for-36) in baseball. Overrated: Not only is Garret Anderson not a great player, he's not even an average player, and the Angels' inability to see that (preferring to keep him over Jim Edmonds) is explanation enough for the Angels' residence in the cellar of the AL West. Brandon Funston: Marvin Benard was one of my favorite success stories of '99. He worked his way out of a platoon role and did a more than adequate job as a full-time leadoff hitter and center fielder for the Giants. The pride of Nicaragua (I've been there and, believe me, they are proud), found some previous untapped power and slugged 16 home runs. He also led the NL with a 70.2 percent rate of extra bases taken and 33 bunts in play, showing that he is willing to do whatever it takes to help the team. I expect more of the same in 2000. Underrated: Roger Cedeno. In an age where true leadoff hitters are about as common as 8-track tape players, it amazes me that Cedeno has been traded twice already in his short career. He has great strike zone judgment, gets on base and has developed into a big-time base thief, capable of swiping a bag even when the opponent knows he's going to run. Overrated: Tom Goodwin. By know, everyone knows that Goodwin is a paper weight at the plate, but can run like the wind. However, his career stolen base percentage of 73 is unspectacular if you consider the speed he possesses. The Rockies gave Goodwin a 3-year, $10.75 million dollar contract. Figure that for the major league minimum, Cleveland will play Dave Roberts and get about the same production that Goodwin offers. The numbers We've avoided most of the traditional numbers in favor of "sabermetric stats": Pts: Total points from our panel (10 for first, etc.) G: Games played OBP: On-base percentage SLG: Slugging percentage OPS: On-base + slugging RC: Runs created. Using all of a player's offensive statistics, tells how many "runs" a player was responsible for. Added together, individual runs created match closely with a team's overall run total. OW%: Offensive winning percentage. The percentage of games a team would "win" with nine of that player in the lineup, given average defense and pitching. |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||