Buster Olney continued his rankings of the top ten players at each position on Friday, naming Andrew McCutchen the second best center fielder in baseball. Not surprisingly, Mike Trout is ranked first overall, followed by McCutchen, A.J. Pollock, Lorenzo Cain and Mookie Betts in the top five spots.
The part of McCutchen’s 2015 season that Olney focused the most on was his hitting with runners in scoring position. He hit .361/.494/.656 in 172 plate appearances with RISP. While he has been good in those situations in the past, this was by far his best season in that department. McCutchen finished fifth in the MVP voting this year, which was actually his lowest finish the last four years. He won his fourth straight Silver Slugger award and made his fifth straight All-Star team.
Yesterday, Olney had Starling Marte as the top left fielder in baseball. Last week, Gerrit Cole was the ninth best starting pitcher and no Pirates were among the top relievers in the game, with Mark Melancon getting the “just missed” category.