xERA is a simple 1:1 translation of xwOBA, converted to With a seasoned Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson in front of him, Santander will fill your power categories in the tenth round or so. Guys who could throw, suddenly can't throw. . 2022 Offensive Stats: 592 PA, .235 . He once again tallied more walks (135) than strikeouts (96) while hitting .242/.401/.452 with 25 doubles, 27 home runs, 62 RBI and 93 runs scored. In early September, he tried to throw out Jose Altuve, who was tagging up on a sacrifice fly. games / 5. The 25-year-old hit .298/.373/.400 with more walks (62) than strikeouts (60) while adding 89 runs scored and 19 steals. The Coors effect isn't going to bring the 31-year-old back near his prime, but he should put up better numbers in 2023 and recently stated he would be ready to go for Spring Training. Once he had the ball in his hand, anyone who was still running on the bases was a candidate to be thrown out. From 1986 through 1991, Snyder led the league in assists with a total of 61. Pirates starting pitcher Mel Queen hit a fly ball into the gap between right and center. So, here are the leaders in ARM over the past three years: Alfonso Soriano - +25.6 runs Jeff Francoeur - +23.4 runs Ichiro Suzuki - +12.5 runs Nick Markakis - +10.8 runs Michael Cuddyer - +10.4. How quickly, in seconds, a catcher can get the ball out Flexibility, mechanics and total-body strength are key factors coaches and trainers stress in order to increase arm strength. At his current ADP of 129, he is an absolute steal, even taking into account that he won't play 150 games. Escape Velocity takes the average of a player's batted ball velocities subtracted from 88. 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. This year, thats all the way up to 90.7 mph, which is about 75th percentile among outfielders. Acuna should return to his former self with the extra time post-surgery. Ruth carried his strong pitching arm into the outfield, where he threw out 204 runners over the course of his career. attempt. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. play. Taylor Ward's breakout in his fifth MLB season was interrupted by a nagging hamstring injury that cut into his ability to be a consistent fantasy asset. Trout might be the best player to ever live when all is said and done, but for years, he was never really a five-tool player because his throwing arm wasnt really a strength. Its the chicken-and-the-egg question of our times. Just look at the 2022 averages on competitive throws from those positions. We can't blame the Pirates for Reynolds's increased K% (23.0) and decreased BB% (9.1%), but we certainly can put the onus on them for his putrid runs and RBI numbers. The movement of a pitch is defined in inches, both in He was unsuccessful, but the throw was tracked at 94.8 mph. velocity and launch angle. 27 prospect in the Cleveland organization would finish as one of the 10 best outfielders in baseball? Ramon Laureano, Oakland Athletics. 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. Longoria, who at nearly 37 years old has the weakest qualified third base arm (75 mph), got his off at 76.6 mph and it took his throw 0.97 of a second to get to first. Kwan is in the 100th percentile of K% after striking out only 60 times in 638 plate appearances. player has saved over his peers. Anything below 88mph is considered 0. He should also get to move back to the infield and play 1B now that Jose Abreu is in Houston. However, he took it to another level Friday night when he unleashed a pair of critical outfield assists. It's been said that the Indians have been cursed ever since they traded Colavito to the Detroit Tigers in 1960, getting Harvey Kuenn in return. And a tenth of a second really doesn't sound like very much. 6) Do first basemen really ever have to throw hard? In stints with the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers, Smith threw out 127 runners from the outfield, spending significant time in both center field and right field. in "feet per second in a player's fastest one-second He once again tallied more walks (135) than strikeouts (96). outfield. xwOBA is formulated using exit velocity, launch angle 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. Were talking raw speed here, not accuracy. All rights reserved. Outfielders with strong throwing arms not only result in outs, but they make the opposition think twice about even trying to run when they have the ball in their hands. Andre Dawson epitomized the tern "five tool player" for more than a decade before 12 knee surgeries and age began to take their toll. In 2021, still at shortstop, that was down to 79.1 mph, largely believed to be related to a midseason elbow injury. A Batted Ball Event represents any batted ball that How far, in feet, a fielder or runner has traveled on a Mike Trout unleashed a throw from center field Monday night at Dodger Stadium that looked more . pitch. . He played in 84 games last season, slashing .295/.358/.500 with 16 HR, 54 RBI, and 40 runs. How fast, in miles per hour, a ball was hit by a batter. Heres Astros outfielders, since 2020. Ken Griffey Jr. is one player you look at and bemoan "Had he only been able to stay healthy". As an outfielder, Sheffield racked up 108 assists for his career, including a career high 17 in 2001 when he patrolled left field for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That was by far the best throw I've ever seen in 10 or 11 seasons. Watch more top videos, highlights, and B/R original content, Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images, Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Defensively, he is a great player. Luis Mieses OF (Prev. Fantasy managers are scared because of injury risk or age, but Stanton is going to mash. If anyone needs a change of scenery in order to maximize his talent, Bryan Reynolds is that guy. He hit .320 with a .387 on-base percentage in 93 games with the Royals before he was traded to the Yankees at the deadline, and while he battled injury down the stretch, his combination of contact ability and defense still made him a 3.2-WAR player in 2022. 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. 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. 14. That out of the way, lets ask some of the fun questions. "feet per second in a player's fastest one-second His ratios were down across the board, but he improved his K% and BB% and suffered from some bad luck with BABIP. He was big guy, very strong, very muscular. The 30-year-old slashed .267/.316/.491 with 25 HR, 77 RBI, and 71 runs scored. xBA measures the likelihood that a batted ball will The "Free Kyle Tucker" movement didn't garner the momentum fantasy managers were hoping for as he continued to bat in the sixth spot way too often. xwOBA is formulated using exit velocity, launch angle Meet Pete Crow-Armstrong, whom the Mets selected with their first pick. raw numbers and as a measurement against average. 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 [!] Hes also, so far as Statcast is concerned, the owner of the strongest throwing arm in baseball this season -- or at least thats what being atop the newly released arm strength leaderboards for position players, available publicly for the first time, would imply. 3) Players throw differently at different positions, right? Christian Yelich played in 154 games in 2022, his highest total since his last year in Miami in 2017. He played at least 50 innings at six different positions and hit .281/.394/.379 with 27 extra-base hits and a 12.8 percent walk rate in 126 games, posting a 4.1-WAR season that earned him a third-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting. I Suzuki 2. Oscar Gonzalez does not take walks. He finished his career with 109 assists, 61 of which came in a four-year period for the Philadelphia Phillies, from 1984 through 1987. Another outfield prospect the Cardinals traded away before he broke out, Garca had a 31-homer rookie season in 2021, but he was a more well-rounded offensive player this season. OF-95 mph. He is near the bottom of the league in K%, Whiff%, BB%, and chase rate. Exit Velocity & Barrels. When you walk around calling yourself "El Caon" (translation: the cannon) and you tell Maryann Hudson of the LA Times, "I don't know why they keep running on methey know I'm going to throw them out"only a month into your rookie seasonyou'd better be able to back that up in the field. Fantasy managers can count on significant strikeouts and not many walks, but he is at or above the 90th percentile in five power-hitting categories that can be a salve for those burns. 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. On Saturday . In 2020, his average on competitive throws was 86.6 mph, an almost exactly-average number. Then again, Hendersons throw got there about 11% faster. Byron Buxton staying healthy is the carrot dangling in front of fantasy managers every offseason. Therein lies the problem, of course. As for Vlad, well he only had 13,000 innings. 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. Where do you draft the superstar who will only play half the season at most? a batted-ball event with a launch angle between eight outfield. 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. The 21-year-old earned an All-Star selection, won Silver Slugger honors, finished seventh in AL MVP voting, and easily took home the AL Rookie of the Year Award. produces a result. A Batted Ball Event represents any batted ball that All rights reserved. More often than not, your eyes will not be deceived by what is displayed on a throw. 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. Traded outfielder Michael A. Taylor to the Twins for pitchers Steven Cruz and Evan Zisk. Bob Forsch, a teammate of his with the Cardinals, remembered Reggie's arm: "It was FUN being on the same team as he was. In 2022, thats down again, to 76 mph. window") of the runner is at least 30 ft/sec. window") of the runner is at least 30 ft/sec. His throwing arm used to be a relative weakness. Paul Goldschmidt, for example, is an MVP candidate this year, and a borderline Hall of Famer. These are available back to 2020, that being when Hawk-Eye was installed in all 30 stadiums as the hardware that powers Statcast. As Reynolds was rounding third, Jackson unleashed a throw that not only reached Royals catcher Bob Boone on the fly, but in plenty of time to stop Reynolds from scoring the winning run. One answer to that is in the context of his new position; 76 mph is one of the weakest marks of any regular second baseman. The fact that Dave Roberts might deploy him enough at 2B to give him that eligibility is just icing. Judge is the guy if fantasy managers want to shore up their slugging early. That doesn't happen without Furillo's play. Kris Bryant in Coors Field was supposed to be a party and instead, the guest of honor got plantar fasciitis and played in only 42 games for the entire year. I thought he (Van Slyke) had no chance, to be honest with you," said Pirates manager Jim Leyland after the game. 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. Perhaps most important of all, he played in a career-high 151 games, proving he can stay healthy for a full season after injuries had significantly limited him in 2019 (69 games) and 2021 (92 games). 25 attempts). and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed. The former top prospect posted a 109 OPS+ with 23 doubles, 27 home runs, 74 RBI, 79 runs scored and 16 steals, and he was a Gold Glove finalist in right field in a 4.9-WAR season. in "feet per second in a player's fastest one-second xERA is a simple 1:1 translation of xwOBA, converted to For example, if you're an outfielder and they want you to improve your arm strength for a training period goal, you can pour spare points into arm strength even after meeting your goal;. The strength of the club lies in its outfield with seniors Ethan Beal and Benjamin Jurenko back. Arm Strength. and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed. His strikeout rate crept above 30% for the first time since his rookie year. pitch. Not that his arm is weak by any means but it is not his strongest point.". It gets you from Point A to Point B more quickly. In traditional 5x5 leagues, he can anchor any fantasy outfield you put him in. The four-category stud is worth a first-round pick. Now it's time to finalize those rankings while expanding the list to the 25 best at each position. Catch up on the Top 25 in 2022 series: Catchers, First Basemen, Second Basemen, Shortstops, Third Basemen. a batted-ball event with a launch angle between eight The 25-year-old outfielder hit everything in sight at Double-A Corpus Christi, slashing .324/.411/.616 with 20 home runs in 93 games . His 149 OPS+ ranked eighth among all qualified hitters and trailed only Aaron Judge (211) and Yordan lvarez (187) among outfielders. On August 4, 1983, while warming up in the outfield with one of the Toronto Blue Jays' ball boys in the middle of the fifth inning, Winfield's throw hit a passing seagull, killing the bird and found Winfield arrested for cruelty to animals. Acua maxed out at 101.5 mph this season, and on Aug. 13, he had a 99.1 mph outfield assist, throwing out Joey Wendle trying to stretch a single into a double from the right-field 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. 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. Hardly the same, is it? His 10 hardest non-relay/pivot throws on the right side of the infield average 75.7 mph, maxing out at 78.2 mph. Zerby, a sophomore outfielder, hit .365 with 8 runs batted in and 8 stolen bases. Corbin Carroll mashed his way through the minor league system and arrived in Arizona for his debut in 2022. The 27-year-old is miscast as a center fielder (-14 DRS, -3.2 UZR/150) and that undercut his overall value a bit. Some, obviously, but its not everything. One of his most remarkable assists came in the top of the third inning of a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Dodgers on August 27, 1951. produces a result. become a hit. He played parts of three seasons in the majors for the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, recording 10 assists in 70 games. The 29-year-old hit .274/.367/.433 with 30 doubles, seven triples, 16 home runs, 64 RBI and 102 runs scored as the table-setter atop the Mets' lineup, and he once again played a roughly league-average center field. It's possible they leave him in the 2-slot, especially until Bryce Harper returns, in which case he will continue to score runs and increase his RBI total. Non-first base infielders get the average of the top 5% of their throws. Suzuki struggled to adjust to the different levels of pitching, but he is a prime candidate for a bounceback season. How hard, in miles per hour, a fielder throws the ball. The 25-year-old set a new career high in 2022 in games played and still didn't crack 100, finishing at 98 with a variety of ailments and injuries derailing any sort of rhythm he could get. (He has 14 harder throws from the right side, though obviously in far more opportunities. 20. A promising career cut short by injury and addiction, Ellis Valentine possessed one of the great throwing arms in baseball history. How much spin, in revolutions per minute, a pitch was With everyday playing time, 2023 could be a big year of growth for the 24-year-old. 2. level 2. 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. Outs Above Average Leaderboard Current: Outs Above Average Outs Above Average (OAA) is the cumulative effect of all individual plays a fielder has been credited or debited with, making it a range-based metric of fielding skill that accounts for the number of plays made and the difficulty of them. Athletically built at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, the right-handed hitter barreled ball after ball with an average EV of 94.7 and top of 100.6 mph, while hitting the sweet spot at a 71 percent clip. The speedy Reynolds headed full steam towards third as Jackson played the ball on the warning track. A shortstop and pitcher in high school, Sheffield played both positions on the left side of the infield until 1994his seventh in the majorswhen he moved to the outfield. A six-time Gold Glove winner and the 1997 National League MVP, Larry Walker was yet another smooth fielding right fielder with a cannon for an arm who has played the game. The Phillies will score in bunches, and Schwarber may have multi-position eligibility, depending on your league, which is not a bad fantasy asset to have at all as long as you can absorb the batting average.