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Gregory Polanco Gets Some Praise at His Old Position

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MLB Network continued their rankings of the best players at each position on Sunday night, looking at right fielders and relief pitchers. Polanco didn’t get ranked by the Shredder (see below for details), but three people on the show gave him a favorable ranking. Earlier in the rankings, Jung Ho Kang got ranked eighth at third base, and Starling Marte was third in left field, with a couple people on the show putting him first overall.

If you saw our previous article today, you know that the Pirates announced that Marte was moving to center field, Polanco was going to left field and Andrew McCutchen will be in right field. This show Sunday night was obviously taped in advance, which is why Polanco was still included. Next Sunday will be the rankings for center fielders and catchers, so unless they taped it already (or they ignore the move), we won’t know where McCutchen would have been ranked by MLB Network in center field. Buster Olney had McCutchen as the fifth best center fielder last 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 right field show tonight was hosted by Brian Kenny and Carlos Pena. 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.

Polanco was rated fifth by Petriello, seventh by Kenny, and tenth by Pena. James, Gennaro and the Shredder left him off their lists.

Here is the top ten from the Shredder:

1. Mookie Betts

2. Bryce Harper

3. Nelson Cruz

4. Giancarlo Stanton

5. JD Martinez

6. Jose Bautista

7. Carlos Gonzalez

8. Hunter Pence

9. Josh Reddick

10. Stephen Piscotty

The reliever show is currently on right now (10 PM EST). Last year the Pirates had both Mark Melancon and Tony Watson on the list. I don’t expect it, but if anyone makes the list this year, I’ll update this article.

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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