Red Sox: Top five center fielders in Boston’s franchise history
The BoSox Injection staff ranks the top handful of players in Boston Red Sox history at each position. Up next is center field.
Jackie Bradley, Jr. is the best defensive player that has ever patrolled center field for the Boston Red Sox.
A bold statement, but one Bradley is quickly building a case for early in his career. Scouts have long raved about his skills in the field, praising his instincts and route running that allow him to get to fly balls others could not, as well as his rocket arm that can halt base runners in their tracks.
The metrics back up this statement as well. Bradley has already accumulated 28.2 WAR with his defense alone, per FanGraphs. That’s the sixth highest total among center fielders in franchise history, despite that he’s appeared in far fewer games than those ahead of him on the list.
We’ve been aware of what Bradley is capable of with his glove since his debut in 2013, but last season was the first time he showed more than brief flashes of production at the plate. His career numbers as a hitter remain below average, which combined with his limited experience, excludes him from the conversation of the best center fielders in franchise history.
If JBJ can find more consistency with his bat to improve upon his breakout year, we may one day consider him for this list. He’s not quite at that level yet, but here are five former Red Sox players that proved themselves worthy of being among the best at their position.
Damon came to the Red Sox as a fresh-faced 28-year old in 2002 and left four years later looking like a caveman, but along the way he became one of the most popular players on the team. That’s why the fan base was stung when he bolted to the rival New York Yankees, drawing the scorn of fans that felt betrayed by what they perceived as a greedy decision to accept a lucrative contract from the “Evil Empire.”
Despite the bitter divorce, we can’t forget that Damon had an excellent run in Boston. He made his first of two All-Star teams during his initial season with the Red Sox and performed well enough to receive MVP votes in each of his last two years in Boston.
Damon was considered to be among the elite lead-off hitters in the game, producing a .295/.362/.441 slash line as a member of the Red Sox. He had modest pop in his bat that rarely led to high home run totals, but he still racked up his fair share of extra-base hits. Damon tallied at least 32 doubles in every season he spent in Boston and led the league with 11 triples in 2002.
We will always remember Damon as an invaluable member of the 2004 World Series team. The highlight of his postseason run came in the decisive Game 7 of the ALCS against the Yankees, when Damon smashed a pair of home runs and drove in six RBI to cap off the greatest comeback in playoff history.
If there is one knock against Damon that prevents him from ranking higher on this list, it’s his defense. He had the speed to track down fly balls, but opposing base runners were never shy about taking an extra base against his noodle arm. Damon was among the best at his position at the plate, but his weak throwing arm also made him one of the worst rated defensive players by many of the advanced metrics.
Ellsbury spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Red Sox, debuting at the tail end of the 2007 season. As a 23-year old, Ellsbury hit a blazing .353 with a .902 OPS over 33 games that season, slowly stealing the starting job away from veteran Coco Crisp. He would finish that year making his mark in the World Series, where he went 7-for-16 (.438) to help Boston win their second title in four years.
Known for his speed and instincts on the base paths, Ellsbury led the league in stolen bases three times, including a franchise record 70 steals in 2009. The 241 steals he piled up during his tenure in Boston ranks as the third most by a Red Sox player.
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The 23.4 fWAR that Ellsbury compiled in Boston is fifth among Red Sox center fielders, despite that he ranks outside the top 10 in games played.
Much of that value stems from his outstanding 2011 campaign in which he finished second on the MVP ballot. Ellsbury set career highs with a .321 average, .928 OPS, 46 doubles, 32 home runs and 105 RBI. To this day, he has yet to hit more than half that home run total in a single season and hasn’t topped 70 RBI since. He even won a Gold Glove that year, despite never having a reputation as an elite defender.
2011 stands out as a clear outlier from the rest of his career, but that one season created the perception that Ellsbury was a superstar. The Yankees snagged him away in free agency after the 2013 season with a contract they would soon regret. New York is stuck paying north of $21 million per season over the next four years for a player that has continued to regress since leaving Boston.
The Red Sox can look back fondly at Ellsbury’s time in Boston knowing they had him for his best seasons, while feeling fortunate that they let him go at the right time.
The “Little Professor” may have been overshadowed by his more accomplished brother, but the younger DiMaggio brother put together a spectacular career in his own right.
DiMaggio made seven All-Star appearances over an 11-year career, which would have been longer had he not missed three years of his prime to serve in the military. Despite those lost seasons, no Red Sox center fielder has appeared in more games than the 1399 DiMaggio played in, while his 6478 plate appearances are nearly 2000 more than anyone else to play the position in Boston.
He wasn’t much of a power threat, but DiMaggio did average 36 doubles and 7 triples over the course of his career. He spent most of his time hitting at the top of the lineup where he piled up 110+ runs six times, twice leading the league in the category.
DiMaggio was also an excellent defensive player. In 1948 he recorded 503 outfield putouts, which stood as the American League record until 1977. He also averaged 14.7 outfield assists in his career – for comparison’s sake, Jackie Bradley led all major league center fielders in 2016 with 13 assists.
These days fans can see DiMaggio immortalized as a statue outside Fenway Park alongside former teammates Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr.
Lynn took the league by storm out of the gate, capturing both the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in 1975. He hit .331 and led the league with a .967 OPS, 103 runs scored and 47 doubles, while earning the first of four career Gold Gloves. The Red Sox rode Lynn’s outstanding rookie season all the way to the World Series that year, where they ultimately fell short to the Cincinnati Reds.
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An All-Star in all six full seasons that he spent in Boston, Lynn established himself as one of the top outfielders of his era. His best season came in 1979 when he led the league in each of the slash line categories by hitting .333/.423/.637, while setting career-highs with 39 home runs and 122 RBI. Somehow he only managed to finish fourth in MVP voting that year.
Lynn was a fearless center fielder, but his all-out mentality could also work against him. He played defense with reckless abandon, turning the act of crashing into walls to make a catch an art form. Unfortunately that style of play limited his time on the field, as Lynn managed to appear in 150 games only once in his career.
He left to join the California Angels in 1981, but Lynn finished his career in Boston with a stellar .308/.383/.520 line in a Red Sox uniform. He ranks second in franchise history at the position with a .398 wOBA and 142 wRC+, while his 30.7 fWAR is fourth.
The Red Sox inducted Lynn into their Hall of Fame in 2002, where he’s enshrined alongside former teammates Jim Rice, Dwight Evans and Carl Yastrzemski.
Many fans may not be familiar with Speaker, who last played for this franchise over a century ago, but in his day he was quite a player.
Speaker played in the dead ball era when 10 home runs was enough to lead the league, which he did in 1912 to earn the AL MVP. He also led the league with 53 doubles that season, an accomplishment that would become a recurring theme throughout his career. Speaker hit 792 doubles over 22 seasons, which still stands as the major league record.
Speed was also a significant part of his game. Speaker swiped 267 bags in his career, most among any Red Sox center fielder and second most at any position behind Harry Hooper‘s franchise record 300.
Speaker leads all center fielders in franchise history with a .337 average, .414 OBP, .428 wOBA, 163 wRC+ and 54.4 WAR.
He was also an elite defensive player, praised for his range and arm. He was known for playing a shallow center field, which allowed him to lead the league in outfield assists three times, but he also had the speed to race back for an over the shoulder catch when necessary.
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Speaker was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1937, where his plaque is inscribed with the words “Greatest centerfielder of his day.” He was enshrined as a member of the Cleveland Indians, where he spent 11 seasons after Boston traded him following the 1915 season, in which Speaker led the Red Sox to the second World Series title of his career.