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Starling Marte Named Third Best Left Fielder by MLB Network

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On Sunday night, MLB Network continued their top ten rankings by position. The first show was starting pitchers and the Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t get any mentions among the hosts and experts. The second show was left fielders and Starling Marte was coming off a second place ranking last year by MLB Network. Marte was also named the second best left fielder by Buster Olney earlier this month.

These rankings are based on what to expect for the upcoming season. Each show has two hosts who submit their own top tens, plus a panel of experts who give their top ten. The main list for the show though, is submitted by “the Shredder”, which is just their name for the list put together by the show’s researchers based on offense and defense, using “analytic methodology”.

The left field show tonight was hosted by Brian Kenny and Eric Byrnes. Bill James, Vince Gennaro, who is the president of SABR, and Mike Petriello, who is a baseball analyst for MLB.com, were the expert panelists. There was also a fan vote for the first time this year.

Marte ranked third by the Shredder, dropping one spot. He trailed Yoenis Cespedes (who ranked first for Buster Olney) and Ryan Braun.

As for the other rankings from the hosts and experts, Marte ranked first for Brian Kenny for the second year in a row. He was second for Mike Petriello, Vince Gennaro and Eric Byrnes. Bill James had Marte third after putting him fourth last year. The fan vote ranked Marte second.

Last week MLB Network covered third basemen and second basemen. Jung Ho Kang finished eighth according to the Shredder and Brian Kenny ranked him ninth. No one else had him on their list. Josh Harrison went from fifth going into 2016, to being left out of the top ten by everyone. Next Sunday will be shortstops and first basemen.

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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