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.