Photos: Mark Goldman (left), Frank Jansky (middle), Randy Litzinger (right)/Icon Sportswire

BY MARK SIMON

During one of its MLB Top 10 Right Now shows this week, MLB Network ran a segment on the Top 10 defensive players in baseball right now.

Speaking for myself, I’m not the biggest fan of that type of list. There are a lot of apples-to-oranges comparisons within it. Ideally, players should be compared to each other at their respective positions. It’s tricky to compare a second baseman, right fielder, and catcher within the same statistical plane. We know this from the challenge of voting for the SIS Defensive Player of the Year.

But nonetheless, we indulge such lists because it’s the end of January and there’s not a lot going on right now baseballwise.

Jayson Stark, who was part of the segment along with host Brian Kenny, reached out to me for suggestions for players to select and I gave him a pool of 29 names to consider. I also gave him some questions to think about as he made his picks.

For example:

How much does recent performance matter compared to track record? This is pertinent when considering the merits of Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, and a few others.

What do you do about someone like Fernando Tatis Jr., who was great in right field in 2023 and meh there in 2024?

I thought about those things and took a shot at making my own Top 10 list.

The elite

1. Daulton Varsho

2. Andrés Giménez

3. Ke’Bryan Hayes

This was the easy part. Daulton Varsho leads all center fielders in Defensive Runs Saved over the last three seasons and ranks third among left fielders in that time too. The sum of his efforts is well better than the sum of anyone else’s over the last three seasons. And he was the SIS Defensive Player of the Year in 2024.

Andrés Giménez has put up three straight spectacular seasons. He’s 20 Runs Saved better than any other second baseman in that span. He plays the position with the skills of a shortstop and the movement of a dancer (we talked to him about the latter).

Similarly, there’s a 19-run gap between Ke’Bryan Hayes and any other third baseman over the last three seasons. When he’s healthy, he sets the standard at the position and makes the hard play look routine. He was the SIS Defensive Player of the Year in 2023.

Second tier

4. Brenton Doyle

5. Patrick Bailey

6. Matt Chapman

Fielding Bible Award winner Brenton Doyle is by far the best defensive center fielder in Rockies history. He has the franchise’s top two seasons in Defensive Runs Saved in center field.

In fact, there’s only one other instance of a Rockies player playing at least 700 innings in center field in a season and finishing with a positive Runs Saved total.

Patrick Bailey just missed winning a Fielding Bible Award as a rookie and then won it last year when he led catchers in Defensive Runs Saved. He’s the best strike-getter in the game and also one of the best at limiting stolen bases.

Matt Chapman looked fully healthy last season, and his 2024 season looked like something resembling when he was a young up-and-comer with the Athletics. Chapman led all third basemen in Runs Saved in 2024 and was nearly a unanimous Fielding Bible Award selection.

The section where there are 20 good candidates and we’re gonna get second-guessed

7. Steven Kwan

8. Brice Turang

9. Matt Olson

10. Michael A. Taylor and Miguel Rojas (tie)

Steven Kwan has posted three straight seasons with at least 10 Runs Saved and it might’ve been three straight 15s had he not gotten injured last season. Admittedly there are probably a few center fielders who could do what Kwan does, but we feel he deserves credit for the standard of excellence he’s demonstrated in his first three seasons playing that position.

Brice Turang has posted back-to-back standout seasons at second base and led the majors with 22 Runs Saved at the position in 2024. Turang goes to his right to make plays about as well as anyone in the major leagues and is a fun watch.

I wanted a first baseman to make the list and the best in the game right now is Matt Olson, who won his 4th Fielding Bible Award there in 2024. Olson led all first basemen in Runs Saved last season and excels both at covering ground and handling throws. He’s everything you’d want in a first baseman.

Baseball is a young person’s game and most of the best defensive players are the young stars. But I wanted to include a couple of seasoned veterans, which meant including Michael A. Taylor and Miguel Rojas.

In both cases, I’m favoring their track record over those two being in their mid-30s and perhaps slowing down. Taylor has the most Runs Saved among center fielders over the last four seasons. Rojas has the most among shortstops in that span. They’ve both had excellent defensive careers and are still going.

I could very easily put center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong or shortstops Francisco Lindor, Bobby Witt Jr., Dansby Swanson, or Ezequiel Tovar in those spots, but that’s too easy. They’ll have their turn and be recognized plenty by others. Other honorable mentions not referenced yet include Cal Raleigh, Christian Walker, Marcus Semien, Masyn Winn, Ryan McMahon, Jacob Young, Ian Happ, Sal Frelick, Wilyer Abreu, and Jose Trevino.

I used to vote in a small-school Top 25 college basketball poll, and I liked using the bottom of my ballot to reward those whom others might not recognize, to make sure they got their props. That was the point of the Taylor and Rojas selections. I hope it got you thinking about them in a positive light. Jayson did something similar, honoring a career Defensive Achievement team of Salvador Perez, Arenado, Manny Machado, Betts, and Jason Heyward. 

Here are our selections compared to Jayson’s and Brian’s.