Just beware you'll probably get closer to 500 plate appearances than the preferred 600 with his injury history. Heres what his 43rd-hardest throw looks like. exit velocity of 95 mph or higher. Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies. 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. His arm strength is middling, but he makes good throws nonetheless. 2021 Fantasy Baseball: Outfielders ADP Analysis It's baffling why baserunners still try and advance on Jeff Francoeur. MLB: The 40 Best Outfield Arms in Baseball History Outfield Arm Strength Rankings : baseball - reddit 2. Jesse Barfield was considered to have the best outfield arm in the '80s and he wasn't shy about reminding his opponents. Since the demands of each position grouping are different, the averages and qualifiers are different as well. Youd think measuring throwing arm strength would be easy. In 2022, the 28-year-old ranked in the 98th percentile in outfielder jump and 97th percentile in arm strength, filling out the mold for a complete defensive outfielder. 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. xERA is a simple 1:1 translation of xwOBA, converted to Daulton Varsho - 4.6 fWAR. The Cardinals seem to regularly find an unheralded rookie who emerges as a key contributor, and in 2022 it was Donovan who started the year as the team's No. thrown with. In early September, he tried to throw out Jose Altuve, who was tagging up on a sacrifice fly. One of the greatest players that the game has ever seen, Ty Cobb needs no introduction. The 30-year-old slashed .267/.316/.491 with 25 HR, 77 RBI, and 71 runs scored. Jesse Barfield could always throw, and anyone who challenged his arm generally found themselves on the losing end of the battle. At the end of his breakout season, Justin Dirden felt fatigued. Those who did generally failed in their attempt to take an extra base, and Puckett finished his career gunning down 142 men on base. Jump is a Statcast metric that shows which players have It was not his best all-around season by any stretch of the imagination, due in large part to the significant time he spent watching from the sidelines, but it was still good enough for a top-five ranking on this list. Schwarber batted leadoff for the vast majority of the season, but the acquisition of Trea Turner will most likely move him down in the order. 3. At. 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. 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. window.". What Gonzalez weirdly does well is make contact, as his K% is 20, and he deploys this skill in the enviable position of batting directly behind Jose Ramirez. Prep Baseball Report > Mississippi > News pitch. He doesn't make a lot of loud contact at the plate . Signed pitcher Zack Greinke to a one-year, $8.5 million contract. 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. A batted ball with the perfect combination of exit There is a lot to love about O'Neill in fantasy formats, but there is a lot to question as well. Pete Rose once attempted to put Valentine's arm in perspective: "They say that I can't throw like Ellis Valentine or run like Tim Raines or hit with power like Mike Schmidt. 1 spot on this list for years to come. 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. 8 prospect in the game. time of a pitcher's first movement or pitch release. thrown with. play. Melendez is not a good defensive catcher, but he should play enough to retain eligibility there. He's also had nearly 2,000 tracked throws since Statcast came online in 2015, and exactly one of them -- one! In fact, if we look at the 16 fielders who had enough throws to qualify at both second base and shortstop this year, plus Story, and look at their comparisons on both sides of the bag every single one had a harder average throw from the left side than the right side, by an average of 5.3 mph. How much time, in seconds, it takes a runner to get from Van Slyke would finish his career with five Gold Gloves and 107 assists. The 25-year-old hit .306/.406/.613 for a gaudy 187 OPS+ that trailed only Aaron Judge among all players, tallying 29 doubles, 37 home runs, 97 RBI and 95 runs scored in 135 games for a 6.8-WAR season. His homers fell from 31 to 27 as a result, but he increased his runs and RBI by 11 each, and he stole 25 bases to boot. Teammate Bob Meusel had a better arm than the Babe, but Ruth wasn't far behind. 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. Not only was it probably the better part of 300 feet, it was dead on line and in the air the whole way.". There is a lot of value to be had here. 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. 1) Oneil Cruz has to be the hardest-throwing shortstop, right? window") of the runner is at least 30 ft/sec. window.". With that, he became just the second player in Astros history with a 30-homer, 25-steal season, joining Hall of Famer first baseman Jeff Bagwell who did it twice. velocity and launch angle. Sure but mostly on relays home from the outfield, or sometimes on double play attempts. Arm Strength. Mike Trout's throwing arm used to be a weakness, but is now a strength It's worth watching in Spring Training, and if he routinely bats behind Jose Ramirez, drop him in your rankings a bit as the counting stats will be affected. That's an average of like 5000 fewer innings than the people ahead of him on the list. Outfielders can get a running start, preparing for a long throw. It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man. A three-time All-Star, Andy Van Slyke was one of the more underrated players in baseball during his career. Rankings Top 15 MLB Corner Outfielders for 2023. It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man.". With the score tied at three and Harold Reynolds on first, Seattle catcher Scott Bradley hit a double to left. Let's dive into the top 25 outfielders of the 2022 season. 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. Right here, at the Baseball Savant leaderboards, as well as on appropriate player pages. When you measure a pitchers average fastball velocity, its simple. Advanced arm strength, over-the-top arm action. His 6.4 WAR marked the sixth time in nine MLB seasons that he's been a 6-WAR player, and he finished fifth in NL MVP voting, one spot behind teammate Freddie Freeman. The 25-year-old hit .298/.373/.400 with more walks (62) than strikeouts (60) while adding 89 runs scored and 19 steals. Mullins didn't quite match the out-of-nowhere 30/30 season he put together in 2021, but he was still one of the game's better everyday center fielders. He should also get to move back to the infield and play 1B now that Jose Abreu is in Houston. Arm Strength (ARM) Definition Arm Strength is defined as the maximum velocity of any throw made by a fielder -- with the max velocity always being at the release point, due to physics. After Ichiro, Francoeur has the best throwing arm in baseball today. 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. xwOBA is formulated using exit velocity, launch angle Top Tools: Arm Strength - Baseball Prospectus Anything below 88mph is considered 0. Arm Strength (ARM) | Glossary | MLB.com M.J. Melendez debuted and appeared in 129 games in 2022, showing off his patience and power to the tune of 18 HR and a 12.4% BB rate. All rights reserved. Varsho split his time between right field (541.2 innings), center field (378.2 innings) and catcher (175.0 innings) as one of the more unique utility players in the sport. Let's meet the 40 players who had the best outfield arms in the history of the game. 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. 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. 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),. A range-based metric of skill that shows how many outs a 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. Throughout the year, we released monthly updates to our position-by-position power rankings, selecting the top 10 players at each spot. The Blue Jays traded Teoscar Hernandez to the Mariners this offseason, which should be a similar situation to the one he just left regarding young talent. a batted-ball event with a launch angle between eight xwOBA is formulated using exit velocity, launch angle If anyone needs a change of scenery in order to maximize his talent, Bryan Reynolds is that guy. player has saved over his peers. His average arm strength on max-effort throws was 97.9 mph, making him the top right fielder -- the position with the strongest arms, with a league average of 90.5 mph. A .230/.305/.388 career hitter in 534 plate appearances entering the 2022 season, Ward was one of the year's biggest surprises. able to make a catch on an individual batted ball. How far, in feet, a fielder or runner has traveled on a An intimidating physical presence standing 6'5" and weighing 235 pounds, Dave Parker only exacerbated things by walking around the field with a shotgun. All rights reserved. The past two seasons, Phillips has amassed 21 outs above average while patrolling center and right field (seventh-most among outfielders last season with 11). The Bulldogs and Sooners are joined by California (which is off to a strong 6-1 start) and Ohio State (a . Prep Baseball Report > Missouri > News become a hit. Solid . "I don't try to do too much. Zerby, a sophomore outfielder, hit .365 with 8 runs batted in and 8 stolen bases. His strikeout rate crept above 30% for the first time since his rookie year. Phelps would only play poorly in parts of two seasons in the Bronx. 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. raw numbers and as a measurement against average. (He has 14 harder throws from the right side, though obviously in far more opportunities. 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. The outfield will be the foundation of many fantasy teams in 2021. The volume just hasn't been there to truly be a fantasy stud. 25. and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed. One of the great centerfielders of all-time, Duke Snider would land higher on this list if not for suffering an injury to his arm that robbed him of much of the power behind his throws. How much spin, in revolutions per minute, a pitch was However, his .336 BABIP is unsustainable and will take a bite out of his batting average when it corrects. From 1956 until he retired in 1964, he only threw out 32, due largely in part to the injury. That doesn't happen without Furillo's play. Dave Winfield's throwing arm was so powerful that simply warming up in the outfield was a dangerous proposition. 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. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. 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. His 10 hardest throws of the season are as an outfielder, and his 20 hardest throws are at positions other than second base. For a pitcher it is the average of his softest 50% of batted balls allowed. How far, in feet, a runner is ranging off the bag at the "feet per second in a player's fastest one-second 13-ranked prospect. 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. Now it's time to finalize those rankings while expanding the list to the 25 best at each position. 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 open event saw prospects from across the state of Mississippi perform in front of several college coaches, and the Prep Baseball Report Mississippi scouting staff. And first basemen, who hardly ever need to throw hard -- only 10 tracked throws all season above 85 mph -- get the average of their top 1%. Remembered more for his involvement in the Black Sox Scandal and alleged throwing of the 1919 World Series, Jackson routinely picked off baserunners from the outfield, racking up 183 career assists, including 90 in a three-year span from 1911 through 1913. 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. 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. 7) Al. He hits in the middle of the order behind Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, and Nathaniel Lowe, all of whom like to get on base. Week 1 - Days 2and 3. Julks was solid in 2021 but had a breakout season in 2022. 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. The movement of a pitch is defined in inches, both in and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed. Players in the National League knew that Clemente could throw anyone out from anywhere in the ballpark, yet 266 of them feebly tried to advance on his powerful right arm, also known as "El Howitzer.". 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. 2 spot in the lineup between NL batting title winner Jeff McNeil and the one-two punch of Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso. The talent is enormous but now, at age 33, the injury concerns continue to grow as well. "He was a leader offensively and defensively for us. and 32 degrees. 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. Not only is his arm incredibly strong, it's also accurate. Upon his arrival in Detroit, Colavito's arm was so good that it pushed another member of this list, Al Kaline, to center field for the 1960 season. Its an important one, too. Defense: Moves through the ball well, gets to the ball quick. Making a case for him to go 1.1 in 2023 drafts isn't difficult. Corey Julks. Were talking raw speed here, not accuracy. 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. How fast, in miles per hour, a ball was hit by a batter. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year heading into the 2022 season, Arozarena enjoyed his second straight 20/20 season, hitting .263/.327/.445 for a 124 OPS+ with 41 doubles, 20 home runs, 89 RBI and 32 steals. xERA is a simple 1:1 translation of xwOBA, converted to Statcast defines a 'hard-hit ball' as one hit with an 2021 MLB Preview: Ranking the top 20 outfielders in the league Tris Speaker, one of Cobb's contemporaries, had this to say about Cobb in 1917: "As an outfielder Ty Cobb is unusually good. Being a former pitcher who routinely hit the upper 90's will certainly leave you with a powerful throwing arm, but some of the throws that Rick Ankiel has made from the outfield have been ridiculous. Anything below 88mph is considered 0. Statcast refers to the spin that contributes to movement 5 Best Outfield Throwing Arms in the Majors - Sportscasting play. 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. Defensively, he is a great player. 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. The biggest plus Andrew Vaughn has going this season is that Tony La Russa won't be there to block his playing time. At the age of 21, he didn't take many walks and struggled with strikeouts, but these numbers should improve based on his profile in the minors. Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA). The Major League average Pop Time on steal attempts of second base is 2.0 seconds . 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). Steamer projections have him at 43/109/104 for the upcoming season, and his ratios should see a small decline as well. 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;. A batted ball with the perfect combination of exit 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. How quickly, in seconds, a catcher can get the ball out Heres what his 43rd-hardest throw looks like its clearly one hes putting effort into. -- came in above 72 mph. In total, he made 10 throws of 95-plus mph last season and had three throws of 300 feet or more. The No. Click a bubble to see all the player's throws. However, the 25-year-old smashed 30 HR with 107 RBI, 71 runs, and 25 stolen bases in 2022 en route to another World Series win for the Astros. 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. He just hasn't thrown enough to qualify yet from those spots, and when he does, he'll look like he has a considerably better arm than Goldschmidt which he does. 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. Let them. outfield. Still, his elite on-base skills continue to increase his value in fantasy leagues, especially considering that he bats leadoff in one of the most explosive lineups in baseball. Laureano is looking to bounce back after a rough 2020 season in which he hit just .213 with a .704 OPS. Its hard to think its entirely about Storys move to the right side. Not any more. -- Sarah Langs Statcast defines a 'hard-hit ball' as one hit with an Frelick also climbed three levels in his first full season, and the 2021 first . MLB Advanced Media, LP. His first two throws fell just short. Daulton Vasho has catcher eligibility, which is one of the primary draws to him being drafted in the 40-50 range. Buhner merely went on to hit more than 300 home runs and become one of the most beloved Mariners of all-time. 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). How fast, in miles per hour, a ball was hit by a batter. In order to account for that, outfielders receive the average of their top 10% hardest throws as a seasonal average. 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.