Is Center Field Becoming Baseball’s Ultimate Defensive Fortress?
Just as bad-framing catchers essentially vanished from the majors in the years after receiving skill was quantified, plodding center fielders are being rooted out like trans fats or red dye No. 3. Clubs that were content, just a few years ago, to squeeze a Joc Pederson or Ketel Marte into center field for their bats are instead dishing out at-bats to top-tier defenders like Alek Thomas (career 73 OPS+) or trading for Kevin Kiermaier.
To wit: From 2017-19, 59% of all center fielders who took at least 75 chances were at least plus-1 in Outs Above Average, a Statcast defensive metric. From 2022-24, 70% of center fielders are at least +1.



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