Nasty 9: Top 5 Center Fielders
1. Torii Hunter – Best defensive player period, infield or outfield. Hunter won eight consecutive gold gloves from ’01-‘08. Defense wins championships.
2. Grady Sizemore – Gold glove CF with plenty of pop for a leadoff hitter hitting 22-28-24-33 HRs in his 1st four years in the Majors and counting.
3. Carlos Beltran – Gold glove winner from ’06-’08. Eight seasons of 100+ RBI, seven sesaons of 100+ runs, eight seasons of 20+ HRs.
4. BJ Upton – Hits for power, great defender, great speed, great arm strength and will eventually hit for average. All the tools of a five tool player and he is only 22 years old and hit 7 post season HRs in his 2nd full year.
5. Curtis Granderson – Good leadoff hitter who is a triples machine and has hit 19, 23 and 22 HRs in the last three years respectively. Went 20-20-20-20 in ’07 with doubles, triples, HRs and steals.
Best defensive CF of our generation.
On Deck: Jacoby Ellsbury
In the Hole: Vernon Wells
Off the Bench: Shane Victorino
*Keep in mind if the list included guys who I think are GOING to be GREAT CF I would have included Josh Hamilton, Adam Jones, Jordan Schafer and other youngins but these guys don’t even have a full season under their belts.
Defense wins championships, unless Torii Hunter is actually on the team.
Jacoby Ellsbury stole home on Sunday – he deserves top 5!
Jeff, thanks for the input. I kept him out of the top 5 because he has had one full season in the big leagues. That’s just not enough YET to qualify for my top 5. Next year I am sure he cracks top 5.
Im sorry, if I have my choice of CF, I’m taking Beltran everytime. Hunter may be the best defensive player. And defense may win championships. But Torii Hunter has never won a championship. And I’d put Matt Kemp ahead of Granderson. I know he played mostly left last year but he is a very good fielder and is an outstanding hitter.
Ben I value your opinion and you must be a Mets fan. Granted Hunter hasn’t won a WS that is just a common saying in baseball obviously. Beltran hasn’t won a WS either and their defensive skills are on par and Beltran is a far superior hitter but I’m a defensive minded guy.
Also Matt Kemp has one full season under his belt, you can’t say he is better than any of the 5 guys I have listed. Granted he will probably be better than Granderson but you just can’t compare the two right now. Granderson has a career .841 OPS for a leadoff hitter and Kemp’s OPS was .799 last year.
Peter Gammons just said that Vernon Wells is one of the top 5 centerfielders I’m the majors. What do you have to say about that Jason?
Gotta put Andruw Jones at #1.
Torii Hunter – 8 Gold Gloves
Andruw Jones – 10 Gold Gloves
Defense wins championships. I rest my case.
Also, do you consider Ichiro a CF or RF? Has been playing Right this year, but has played most of the last two years in CF. No question he is better than Toriii Hunter.
I think like the #1 of 6 of the Nasty 9 so far are Twins or former twins.
I hate Torii Hunter.
Andrew Jones was too terrible last year and is now a bench player. There have only between three Twins or former Twins on the list and I think they deserved it.
You can make a case for Mauer being the best catcher and Hunter being the best defender.
ha I was kidding about Andruw Jones completely obviously.
torii hunter is terrible. not only does he not hit but people think hes incredible out in CF. he is solid at going back on the ball, but he has to dive for most balls other players catch standing up.
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