It is always fun to debate which MLB players are best at specific skills. Most of these arguments are impossible to definitively “win”, but that is one way in which sports are great, and Dan Szymborski of ESPN Insider attempted to quantify some of the “tools” of baseball this week.
Szymborski ranked the top and bottom 10 players in baseball in five categories: speed, baserunning, power, plate discipline and (on the pitching side) the ability to induce weak contact. Unsurprisingly, the Atlanta Braves were represented, in some form or fashion, on four of the five lists, even if more than half of the inclusions were of the negative variety.
The full piece is Insider-only, so you’ll have to comb through it in order to gain the full picture, but the positive mentions came for Mallex Smith and Freddie Freeman. Smith garnered a mention for his pure speed (ranking 7th in MLB), while Freeman cracked the list for plate discipline, where he currently sports a 12.3% walk rate over more than 550 plate appearances.
Smith is, by all accounts, blazing fast, though it is worth noting that he did not make the list for baserunning. That comes with the territory for a player with limited experience (at 23 years old), but the ceiling is certainly high for the tools-y outfielder. As for Freeman, he will never be mistaken with a pure power hitter by any stretch, but he is the definition of a “professional hitter” and the power (26 HR, .547 slugging) has come on strong in his age-26 season.
Of course, there is the issue of the negative inclusions, and this particular piece picked on Daniel Castro. The 23-year-old infielder is not on the current 25-man roster for Atlanta, but Castro made the “bottom 10” in both power and plate discipline. Let’s just agree to move on from there, but Castro’s 9 wRC+ in 2016 (not a misprint) tells some of the story.
In addition, Chase d’Arnaud made the undesirable cut for a lack of plate discipline and newly-acquired outfielder Matt Kemp was pegged as one of the worst baserunners in the sport. Braves fans who have watched Kemp since arriving in Atlanta probably won’t be surprised by that mention, but for a player with three separate seasons of 34+ stolen bases on his profile, the drop has been precipitous.
These lists are always fun and, obviously, create some discussion. What say you?