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Gregory Polanco Ranks Among the Top Ten Right Fielders

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On Tuesday morning, Buster Olney continued his rankings of the top players at each position. The Pittsburgh Pirates came up empty in the four infield positions, as well as starting pitchers and relievers, but all three outfielders have now placed in the top ten for their position. Starling Marte was rated as the second best left fielder on Sunday, while Andrew McCutchen was named the fifth best center fielder yesterday. Olney went with right fielders today and Gregory Polanco was ranked as the seventh best in the game.

This is a slight jump in the rankings for Polanco, who was rated as the tenth best right fielder by Olney going into the 2016 season. Olney believes Polanco is just starting to tap into his power, pointing to his increased slugging percentage throughout the 2016 season, and fewer ground balls compared to fly balls. Polanco hit .258/.323/.463 over 144 games this season, with 22 homers and 17 stolen bases. He did that despite a .511 OPS over the final month of the season.

Depending on which WAR ranking you use, Polanco either improved or declined in 2016. By Fangraphs, he went from 2.3 in 2015, to 2.5 this past season. Baseball-Reference has him going from 2.6 in 2015, down to 1.6 last year, with his defense accounting for the drop, while his offense was actually slightly better (1.3 in 2015 vs 1.4 last year).

The top six ahead of Polanco for right fielders is as follows:

1. Mookie Betts

2. Bryce Harper

3. George Springer

4. Giancarlo Stanton

5. Carlos Gonzalez

6. J.D. Martinez

Over the next five days, Olney will rank the best catchers, starting rotations, bullpens, lineups and defenses.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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