Quick Survey of Outfielders' Fielding Ability

by Sky Kalkman on Aug 17, 2008 2:31 PM EDT Comment 8 comments

Hey Yankee fans, I'm hoping I could get your opinions on the relative talents of Yankee outfielders. New York has a ton of outfield options with various levels of offensive and defensive skill.

If you have time, please rate these players on the following scale, *ignoring throwing arm*. I'd just like to see how Yankee fans view range -- the ability to turn flyballs into outs.

Call Me Ozzie -- Top Five -- Above Average -- Average -- Below Average -- Bottom Five -- Call Me Manny

Center Fielders

Melky:

Damon:

Gardner: (feel free to abstain)

Corner Outfielders

Abreu:

Nady:

Damon:

Matsui:

Thanks!

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Center fielders: Melky is superior to Damon (can’t rate Gardner yet).

Corner outfielders: Damon, Nady, Abreu, Matsui

Personally, I think Abreu is one of the worst defensive right fielders in the game. Matsui isn’t great, but he’s a better fundamental player than Abreu.

Everyone knocks Damon’s arm – but the guy is still a good outfielder.

by anaconda on Aug 17, 2008 2:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ditto

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Aug 17, 2008 7:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Abreu

Bobby is a great hitter but he really can’t field to save his life and he is also afraid to go anywhere near the wall.

"Hey Derek do you actually drive the Edge?","I don't drive that piece of crap!"

by Da Shiz on Aug 17, 2008 9:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

agree

with all the above.

by Travis G on Aug 18, 2008 5:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

how large of a gap (ignoring throwing arm) is there between Melky and Damon?

my blog // calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy // past results do not guarantee future performance

by Sky Kalkman on Aug 18, 2008 6:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ignoring Arm

I actually think it’s pretty close when Damon is healthy. But Damon’s questionable healthy and girlish arm make it hard to count on him in CF.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Aug 18, 2008 8:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defensively speaking, minus the arm

Damon takes better routes to the ball, but Melky has more speed at this point in their careers. Melky goes back on the ball better than Damon, but I think Damon comes in on the ball better. Comparing the two within these narrow perameters is difficult, and unfair—especially considering Damon is far superior in virtually every offensive aspect of the game.

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Aug 19, 2008 9:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

thanks for the details

Certainly nobody should judge Melky and Damon solely on their defensive range. But since everyone agrees Melky has the better arm and everyone agrees that Damon is much better offensively, I wanted to know where people stood on the other part of defense. With that knowledge, you can put together a rating of them as total players.

Thanks, everybody.

my blog // calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy // past results do not guarantee future performance

by Sky Kalkman on Aug 19, 2008 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs