2019 NL East Positional Preview: Center Field
By Clint Manry
Keeping our 2019 NL East position rankings rolling, it’s now time to check out the captains of the outfield grass… center field.
A position that the NL East didn’t fare so well at in 2018, the center field spot going into 2019 features some young players that’ll surely wind up being solid players in future seasons, if not this upcoming year.
In terms of fWAR among all Major League teams, only one team from the NL East division finished in the top-5, and only two in the top-10; as the Mets (second) and the Nationals (ninth) were the only representatives from the five NL East teams.
2018 NL East CF Rankings
- New York Mets — 7.7 fWAR
- Washington Nationals — 4.7 fWAR
- Atlanta Braves — 3.0 fWAR
- Philadelphia Phillies — 1.0 fWAR
- Miami Marlins — -1.2
Sorting through the probable center fielders throughout the NL East, a few teams will likely see some improvements at the position; while some not so much.
The New York Mets, the team that paced all NL East teams in center field fWAR in 2018, look as if they may be better this season; but frankly, their center field ‘by committee’ last season seemed to work really well.
The Washington Nationals ran with mostly Michael A. Taylor and Bryce Harper out in center — with the former getting the majority of the starts — but how will the loss of Harper impact the Nationals depth at the position?
For the past several seasons now, Ender Inciarte has held down the center field position for the Braves; and has done a fine job by the way. However, in 2018 Inciarte’s struggles versus left-handed pitching opened up some opportunities for the NL Rookie of the Year, Ronald Acuna Jr., as Adam Duvall temporarily played as a platoon mate for Inciarte (I don’t think we’ll see that again, at least with Duvall).
The Philadelphia Phillies went with, and will continue to go with, 27-year-old Odubel Herrera; but unfortunately were rather thin after that in terms of quality center field depth last season. Obviously, this is Harper’s new team, but the Phillies can’t get credit for him in these positional rankings; as Bryce will continue his up-and-down defense in right field while in Philadelphia.
The cellar-dweller of the division in 2018, the Miami Marlins, were horrific at center field last season. Surprisingly,it could get worse for Miami in 2019, as they have hardly any depth at the position and haven’t really done anything to improve what little they have there. Both their primary and backup player at the position were worth negative fWAR (as you see by their overall fWAR above) in 2018, and the ‘primary’ is starting again; while the ‘secondary’ was demoted to the Minors a few weeks ago — not looking promising for the Fish.
So we’ve got a nice little variety here, in terms of situations that each of these NL East teams finds themselves in. Really there isn’t much that has changed for each team at center field, but there have been some alterations to the depth that reinforces some of these clubs.
Let’s dive in and see, but first here’s the depth charts for each NL East team at the center field position going forward for the 2019 season:
New York Mets: Juan Lagares / Brandon Nimmo / Keon Broxton
Washington Nationals: Victor Robles / Michael A. Taylor
Atlanta Braves: Ender Inciarte / Ronald Acuna Jr.
Philadelphia Phillies: Odubel Herrera / Aaron Altherr
Miami Mets: Lewis Brinson / Rosell Herrera
Also, if you’d like to look back at the positions we’ve covered so far:
To the rankings…