At the time, I said that this was my toughest comparison yet. Five above average starting right fielders (and Brandon Moss) play in the NL Central. I wanted to compare, contrast and rank them all in order of most to least ballin'.
You can read my all out explanations of how I came to the final ranking, but here is what really matters:
| 1. | Milton Bradley | Chicago Cubs |
| 2. | Hunter Pence | Houston Astros |
| 3. | Jay Bruce | Cincinnati Reds |
| 4. | Corey Hart | Milwaukee Brewers |
| 5. | Ryan Ludwick | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 6. | Brandon Moss | Pittsburgh Pirates |
Did some people take umbrage with the order of that list? Yes. Yes, I did. Mostly for Milton Bradley being ranked number one, and Ryan Ludwick free fallin' to fifth.
Thirty games or so into the 2009 season, how far off was I?
Let's start with what I got right. Brandon Moss stays in sixth. Here's his line:
| AB | AVG | OPS | XBH | |
| Brandon Moss | 86 | .174 | .472 | 4 |
Here is what everyone else has done:
| AB | AVG | OPS | XBH | |
| Milton Bradley | 67 | .179 | .649 | 4 |
| Hunter Pence | 113 | .310 | .876 | 11 |
| Corey Hart | 122 | .262 | .772 | 13 |
| Jay Bruce | 107 | .262 | .912 | 13 |
| Ryan Ludwick | 105 | .267 | .867 | 12 |
Jay Bruce has an extremely respectable wOBA, .391. Pence is right behind him at .383. Ludwick (.376), Hart (.336), and Bradley (.299) round out the list. True, Bradley has been hurt/off his game for much of the season. No excuses though. Besides the aforementioned Moss, I've been wrong so far. In fact, I wouldn't rank any of the players in the slot I assigned to them back in March.
Since I didn't know what I was doing (at least so far), y'all get to show me how it should have been done. Please let me know who is the best NL Central Right Fielder so far in 2009:
0 recs | 6 comments
Uh...who voted for Bradley?
He’s been horrible so far. Gotta hand it to Bruce so far though, he’s really started to get elevation into the balls he’s been hitting. Kid’s a stud, but Pence isn’t far behind him.
jonthefon - May 15, 2009
Jay Bruce
Right now he’s got a rather insane UZR. (37.6 UZR/150) That’s almost certainly going to come down soon, though. Pence is putting up a good number (12.4).
I think, at the end of the season, it might be that Pence’s defensive contributions push him over the edge. Of course, that presumes that he’ll keep up this kind of hitting.
Only_A_Lad - May 15, 2009
yeah, it's hard to determine how much of an abberation Bruce's UZR is right now.
Bruce was -8 in RF last year. When he has only had two years in the majors, we don’t know which season’s defensive work is more representative. In the few games we have seen Bruce against the Astros, I wasn’t particularly impressed with his defense, but that doesn’t mean much.
clack - May 15, 2009
I would note that Bruce and Pence seem to be better defenders..
than the other RFers in the NL Central. Bradley isn’t what he used to be, after his knee surgery. Ludwick and Hart have never been particularly noted for their defense.
clack - May 15, 2009
I think Hart is regarded as pretty good defensively
ol Pete - May 16, 2009
fair enough, you watch him play more than me.
but Hart’s defensive metrics aren’t great. according to UZR, Hart was pretty good in 07, but he was below average in 08 and currently is on a pace to be quite a bit below average.
clack - May 16, 2009
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