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: