Top 10 Right Now – Right Fielders

While third base may be the deepest, right field is nothing to scoff at with tons of power (Stanton), guys coming off injury-hampered seasons (Harper, Martinez) and otherwise productive players who either had down years or entering their decline (Betts, Piscotty, CarGo, Bautista).  Lastly, there are several right fielders who enjoyed breakouts (Schebler, Haniger, Santana, Garcia, Conforto).  There is lots to sort through, so let’s get to it.  Remember, we took a guess that Judge would be moving to left field, so he doesn’t qualify here.

A new list will be published each Monday leading up to pitchers and catchers reporting in February. The lists will highlight the Top 10 players at each position, managers and executives, finishing up with the Ultimate Top 10 list, a ranking of each of the position’s number one player.

Here’s a list of what’s to come and already been published:
Nov. 13 – Executives
Nov. 20 – Managers
Nov. 27 – Second Basemen
Dec. 4 – Relief Pitchers
Dec. 11 – Center Fielders
Dec. 18 – Shortstops
Dec. 25 – Designated Hitters
Jan. 1 – Left Fielders
Jan. 8 – First Basemen
Jan. 15 – Starting Pitchers
Jan. 22 – Catchers
Jan. 29 – Third Basemen
Feb. 5 – Right Fielders
Feb. 12 – Ultimate Top 10

Below are two lists, one (“Statistical”) shows players ranked per a combination of their 2017 stats and where they ranked in those stats per their respective position. Offensive, defensive, baserunning and all-inclusive stats are included in the calculations.  The second (“Adjusted”) list is based on stats but then given adjustments based on track record, injuries and projections and reflects our ranking of the players as they head into 2018.

The list in which the players appear depends mostly on where they played the most games (or innings) in 2017 but also where they project to play this coming year if substantially different than last (i.e. role player getting a more permanent position).

2017 Statistical Top 10
10. Mitch Haniger
9. Avisail Garcia
8. JD Martinez
7. Steven Souza
6. Domingo Santana
5. Josh Reddick
4. Yasiel Puig
3. Bryce Harper
2. Mookie Betts
1. Giancarlo Stanton

Adjusted Top 10
10. Nick Williams
9. Mitch Haniger
8. Andrew McCutchen
7. Domingo Santana
6. Josh Reddick
5. Michael Conforto
4. JD Martinez
3. Mookie Betts
2. Giancarlo Stanton
1. Bryce Harper

In consideration (with their rank from last year’s list): Gregory Polanco (7), Kole Calhoun (8), Carlos Gonzalez (9), Stephen Piscotty (10), Puig, Souza, Garcia, Jay Bruce, Lonnie Chisenhall, David Peralta, Nomar Mazara, Max Kepler

Notes: Harper was off to such a strong start in ’17 that it’s hard to fault him for the freak knee injury that kept him out an extended period of time… will be fun watching Judge and Stanton hitting back to back and Stanton’s transition to the national spotlight… Conforto, like Harper, was having a great season prior to injury… Santana is for real, but could cut down on the punch-outs… Haniger is another of the right fielders who missed time during a solid season because of injury… the last two spots were incredibly difficult to fill and came down solely to projections between Puig, Bruce, Mazara, Peralta, Piscotty, Williams, Calhoun and Polanco.  It’s easy to see any of those guys have a rebound or breakout year… Puig got bumped due to McCutchen’s new status as right fielder and I like Nick Williams for a breakout.