It will be very important to keep track of where Happ is batting in the revamped Cubs lineup. Here we go. of his glove and to the base on a stolen base or pickoff He struggled with the Padres, slashing .236/.388/.390 with only six homers and 16 RBI in 52 games, but he also took a trip to the NLCS. Meusel threw strikes to any base from the outfield. Mike Trout is finally a 5-tool player. Escape Velocity takes the average of a player's batted ball velocities subtracted from 88. 5) Wait, is Mike Trout actually improving at yet another thing? But in 1957, while playing for the Omaha Redbirds of the American Association, Gorbous made two ridiculous throws. raw numbers and as a measurement against average. His primary downfall when it comes to fantasy value is his 58.6% ground ball rate, which limits his HR and RBI totals. Between natural talent and growing up with his uncleformer New York Mets ace Dwight Goodenteaching him how to pitch, Gary Sheffield was destined to have a cannon for an arm. 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. Catch up on the Top 25 in 2022 series: Catchers, First Basemen, Second Basemen, Shortstops, Third Basemen. Ruth carried his strong pitching arm into the outfield, where he threw out 204 runners over the course of his career. 13-ranked prospect. Not all was lost, though, as the 27-year-old showed off more of his speed, stealing 14 bases, which was only one less than his 2021 total. With runners on the corners and one out, Cardinals shortstop Luis Alicea hit a shot hurtling towards Van Slyke in center fieldone that was certainly deep enough to allow Jose Oquendo to tag up from third base. Hard to believe he was that agile. Corbin Carroll mashed his way through the minor league system and arrived in Arizona for his debut in 2022. Judge has shown off his rocket arm many times in the past. He even threw a ball 100.8 mph on April 21, though it didn't result in an assist. Yes. Three times he registered 20 or more assists in a season. It's baffling why baserunners still try and advance on Jeff Francoeur. Heres what his 43rd-hardest throw looks like. On Sept. 27, 1988, in front of less than 9,000 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, the Pirates had a 3-2 lead over the Cardinals heading into the ninth inning. Statcast refers to the spin that contributes to movement These should correct to be nearer to his baseline, in which case fantasy managers are drafting a 30/20 guy with high on-base skills who bats smack in the middle of what is, essentially, an All-Star team. How far off the mound, in feet, a pitcher releases the A lot of 2023 draft boards will have Aaron Judge at the top of them, and there is no doubt he belongs there after his record-setting 2022. Bob Quinn, former president of the Boston Braves and Boston Red Sox, had this to say when asked about Bob Meusel: "Meusel's arm was the best I ever saw. Van Slyke would finish his career with five Gold Gloves and 107 assists. Each player was only included at the position where he played the most innings. (Previous individual throws are still valid -- Aaron Hicks touching 105.5 mph back in 2016 is still the hardest throw on record -- but season averages are not available for those years just because fewer throws were tracked. 25. -- came in above 72 mph. on March 4, 2023. Based on three separate categories (Release, Strength and Accuracy) here are the owners of the top outfield in 2005 according to the fans: Top-Ranked Outfield Arms, Fans' Scouting Report 1. Its the chicken-and-the-egg question of our times. (He has 14 harder throws from the right side, though obviously in far more opportunities. xBA measures the likelihood that a batted ball will Hard to see a difference with the naked eye, right? He hits the ball with great power, ranking in the 92nd percentile in maxEV. Over a 17-year career that was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and Colorado Rockies, Walker picked up 154 assists, including eight seasons with 10 or more. An All-Star for the second time, he posted a 144 OPS+ and led the Giants with 23 home runs, and that earned him a qualifying offer which he accepted. Some, obviously, but its not everything. The talent is enormous but now, at age 33, the injury concerns continue to grow as well. Just look at the 2022 averages on competitive throws from those positions. 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. With everyday playing time, 2023 could be a big year of growth for the 24-year-old. On Aug. 21, Giants veteran Evan Longoria had to do the exact same thing, to make a throw of 100 feet from third to first. How much spin, in revolutions per minute, a pitch was (Catcher throwing arm data has been available for some time and may be found here.). Week 1- First Day. Outfielders get the average of the top 10% of their throws. xBA measures the likelihood that a batted ball will time of a pitcher's first movement or pitch release. as Active Spin. xwOBA is formulated using exit velocity, launch angle Mlb Outfield Arm Strength Rankings There is no definitive answer when it comes to ranking MLB outfielders by arm strength, but there are a few metrics that can be used to make an educated guess. Statcast defines a 'hard-hit ball' as one hit with an Here are the players who just missed the cut, listed alphabetically: Ronald Acua Jr., ATLMark Canha, NYMDylan Carlson, STLOscar Gonzalez, CLENick Gordon, MINTrent Grisham, SDLourdes Gurriel Jr., TORAustin Hays, BALTeoscar Hernndez, TORJake McCarthy, ARIChas McCormick, HOUChristopher Morel, CHCLars Nootbaar, STLJurickson Profar, SDLuis Robert, CWSAnthony Santander, BALMyles Straw, CLESeiya Suzuki, CHCMichael A. Taylor, KCTyrone Taylor, MILLane Thomas, WASTrayce Thompson, SD/LADAlex Verdugo, BOSMike Yastrzemski, SFChristian Yelich, MIL. Home Run record with 62, scoring 133 runs, driving in 131, and stealing 16 bases to boot. With the addition of Xander Bogaerts, the return of Fernando Tatis, Jr., and the presence of Manny Machado, this is a real-life team you want multiple pieces of in fantasy. How high/low, in degrees, a ball was hit by a batter. player has saved over his peers. player has saved over his peers. 3. MLB Advanced Media, LP. Follow @RickWeinerBR Just Missed the Cut 1 of 42 Barry Bonds Shin-Soo Choo Mike Hershberger Andruw Jones Mark. White Sox first baseman Jos Abreu has about the same number of tracked throws as Rodrguez does. one base to another, like Home To First. Owner of 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards, Griffey made impossible plays not only possible, but look nowhere near as difficult as they actually were. Where do you draft the superstar who will only play half the season at most? 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. His K% (25.9) and BB% (7.1) need improvement, but at age 22, he has plenty of time to work on these numbers. Cobb's 392 outfield assists rank second all-time behind Speaker. You dont want to average all of those together, because so much of it just doesnt matter, and theres not exactly a rulebook definition for was trying. For Rodrguez, for example, he has over 430 tracked throws, but nearly 80% of them are under 80 mph. He is near the bottom of the league in K%, Whiff%, BB%, and chase rate. Showcasing the Arm Younger players rarely have the opportunity to play in stadiums where statcast tracks their every move. 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. In 2020, his average on competitive throws was 86.6 mph, an almost exactly-average number. 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. He should rack up the RBIs batting in the middle of that order, and he may creep back toward the 30-HR mark as well. Kyle Schwarber strikes out at such a large clip (29.9 K%) that it is easy to miss his dominance in other fantasy categories. A below average fielder who threw out 107 runners over the course of his career, Jose Guillen made what some consider to be the best throw in the history of baseball - click here to check it out. He is exactly the type of guy you wait for once you've built up your other categories. 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 ERA scale, A measurement of a player's top running speed, expressed Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA). On the left side, its higher: 81.5 mph on average, maxing out at 84.9 mph. In three seasons, he only has 924 plate appearances, and fantasy managers have been left to wonder what it would look like if he got 600 appearances in one season. 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. He stole six bases in nine attempts, but his numbers declined from his best year in 2021. Statcast refers to the spin that contributes to movement 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. 15. . Outfielders can get a running start, preparing for a long throw. 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. But its also clear that it doesn't work for other positions. In 2019, for example, Austin Meadows was the No. 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. Expect him to be one of the faces of baseball for the next decade-plus and a strong contender for the No. Jake McCarthy is a vessel for stolen bases in the later rounds of drafts. How hard, in miles per hour, a pitch is thrown. 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. Mike Trout missed 30 games at midseason with a back issue and still finished eighth in AL MVP voting while taking home his eighth Silver Slugger Award. It only took two years for the American League to learn that you can't run on Kirby Puckett, a 10-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove award winner. . 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. He played one year of baseball for the school, but it was during a football game that his left arm was injured to the point that doctors gave serious consideration to amputating it. That was by far the best throw I've ever seen in 10 or 11 seasons. What a strong throwing arm does, mostly, is make things happen faster. Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst, who both played and managed against Roberto Clemente, gave Whiten's throwing arm the ultimate compliment: "As far as arm strength goes . 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. He batted leadoff 64 times, indicating the Royals are dedicated to getting him plate appearances in front of Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. His fastball was thrown so hard that he broke a catcher's arm with it, and when nobody else would catch him, they moved him to the outfield. as Active Spin. Hes also No. leaderboard, a player must have more Two-Star opportunities than team 8 prospect in the game. His ratios were down across the board, but he improved his K% and BB% and suffered from some bad luck with BABIP. 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. Traded outfielder Michael A. Taylor to the Twins for pitchers Steven Cruz and Evan Zisk. 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. Youd think measuring throwing arm strength would be easy. He played in 84 games last season, slashing .295/.358/.500 with 16 HR, 54 RBI, and 40 runs. No one, I mean no one, runs on him.". 2022 Stats: 117 G, .261 BA/.374 OBP/.394 SLG, 19 2B, 3 3B, 10 HR, 53 RBI, 8 SB. (For this, well just look at throws on fielded balls, not outfield relays or double play pivots.). 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. Dave Winfield's throwing arm was so powerful that simply warming up in the outfield was a dangerous proposition. [My arm strength] is just something natural.". It's useful for me because it allows me to see who the fans consider to be the best throwing outfielders. Hendersons throw was clocked at 85.2 mph, and took 0.87 of a second to reach first base. His 126 career assists include six consecutive seasons of 10 or more, from 1999 through 2004. 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). Once the No. The stolen bases are most likely gone forever, but he could pair nicely with a speed guy from Round 1. outfield. The outfield will be the foundation of many fantasy teams in 2021. A good example of this is Cubs rookie Christopher Morel, who has a 96.5 mph competitive average as an outfielder -- maxing out at 102.3 mph -- and a 90.4 mph competitive average as a second baseman, maxing out at 90.9 mph. Let's dive into the top 25 outfielders of the 2022 season. velocity and launch angle. How quickly, in seconds, a catcher can get the ball out Furillo picked up the ball and fired a strike to Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges, beating Queen to the bag by two feet. He'll lope after a ball to see if he can get you to run, picks it up . MLB Power Rankings: Vladimir Guerrero and the 12 Deadliest Outfield Arms Josh Benjamin January 30, 2011 If there's one weapon every baseball team has, it's an outfielder with a cannon for. In total, he made 10 throws of 95-plus mph last season and had three throws of 300 feet or more. 12 finisher hit .297. 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.