Buster Olney Ranks Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp In Top 10 Outfielders
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After a second straight National League West title, it’s only a given that the Los Angeles Dodgers have some talented players on their roster.
Former and current All-Stars sprinkle the roster and the Dodgers have some of the top players at their respective positions. Following the season, there were plenty of players that took home some hardware for their 2014 campaign. Clayton Kershaw was the biggest winner, taking home his third Cy Young and first MVP award.
ESPN analyst Buster Olney has been busy this offseason ranking the top players at each position, and already placed Adrian Gonzalez in the upper echelon of first baseman. In the past week, he had two more Dodgers in the top-10 at their position. He ranked Yasiel Puig fifth overall among center fielders behind Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gomez and Adam Jones.
Puig ended 2014 hitting .296 with 16 home runs and 69 RBIs, and made the transition to center field from right field. The 23-year-old added eight assists in 53 games in center on defense.
As for Kemp, he made his way around the outfield before settling in right and enjoying a strong second half to the season. Olney ranked him sixth in right field behind Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Bautista, Hunter Pence, Jayson Werth and Jason Heyward.
Kemp finished the year with 25 home runs, 89 RBIs and hit .287 in 150 games. In 59 games in right field, the former All-Star threw out five runners. His inspired play after the move to right field came from a comfortability. This offseason there have been rumors of Kemp being shopped; however, the team did say that it would take a lot for them to move the 30-year-old.
Matt Kemp, for his career, is better than Werth, Pence, and Heyward. Only Werth had a slightly higher BA and a little more OBP, but fails in power when compared to Kemp. Kemp of course is not a superb defense outfielder, but out of all 4, only Heyward has a positive DWAR among them. Buster got this one wrong.