Ranking MLB's Top 10 Best Defensive Players of the 2024 Season

When trying to identify the best defenders in Major League Baseball, there are quite a few (sometimes contradictory) sources to consider.

Statcast's Outs Above Average and Fielding Run Value have become popular in recent years.

But there's also two versions of Defensive Runs Savedone via Fielding Bible and one via Baseball Info Solutions as well as various total/ultimate zone ratings, overall Defense Rating on FanGraphs, dWAR on Baseball Reference and the SABR Defensive Index , which plays a key role in crowning Gold Glove winners.

We'll encounter several cases where a couple of the metrics whole-heartedly disagree on how valuable a player has been on defense in 2024, but our top 10 consists of players who are rated highly by most of those metrics.

(Our top two defenders rate quite well across the board and may well just be battling each other for this year's AL Platinum Glove award.) Honorable Mentions: Ernie Clement, Brenton Doyle, Freddy Fermin, Jackson Merrill, Matt Olson, Marcus Semien, Dansby Swanson, Ezequiel Tovar, Anthony Volpe, Bobby Witt Jr.

Cal "Big Dumper" Raleigh is best known for his slugging prowess.

With 30 home runs in each of the past two seasonsnot to mention 27 in just 415 plate appearances in 2022Raleigh is the first catcher to reach at least 30 home runs in consecutive years since Mike Piazza did it in eight straight seasons from 1995-2002.

But when he's not busy mashing balls over the fence, he's also providing a ton of value as the primary backstop for what has been just about indisputably the best starting rotation in baseball.

Raleigh isn't quite as great at the art of pitch framing as the other catcher who will appear in this top 10, and his job is to some extent made easier by the fact that George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Co.

have a reputation for not issuing walks.

Still, Raleigh is considerably better than average in terms of getting strikes called on pitches on the edges of the zone.

Where he shines brightest, though, is when opponents try to steal bases, leading the majors with 32 runners caught stealing .

He isn't quite No.

1 in caught stealing percentage, but 29 percent is damn impressive in the era of bigger bases and limited disengagements.

And the fact that he's No.

1 in runners caught stealing is a testament to his perpetual availability, also leading all catchers in innings played in the field.

That plays a big part in his overall value added on defense.

It is absolutely wild how two sources can come to such drastically different conclusions on whether a player is providing value on defense.

Per Baseball Info Solutions , Jarren Duran has been worth more runs above average in center field than any other player in 2024, grading him at a +17.

But in that same Baseball Reference link, go from the Rdrs column just a bit to your left to the Rtot and you'll see that BaseballProjection.com puts Duran at a minus-7, in a tie for the seventh-worst center field defense in the majors.

Absolute madness, but the other sources tend to agree with BIS that Duran's outfield defense is well above average, and a big component of his value added as one of the 10 best players in the majors this season.

With 11 outfield assists on the yearseven in center, four in leftDuran is tied with two-time Gold Glover Ian Happ for first place on that leaderboard.

But while Happ has a great arm, Duran's range is laughably superior.

Yes, he has split time between left and center field, but get a load of his box plots of ending positions this season.

He has robbed several home runs in dead center and has made plays in foul territory darn near on the infield dirt.

He used to be a total disaster in the outfield.

Seven runs below average would've been a fair grade two years ago.

But now he has one of the most valuable gloves in the game.

Despite a starting rotation in which the highest-paid pitcher (Wade Miley) made less than $10M and made only two starts due to injury, the Milwaukee Brewers somehow ranked near the top of the majors in run prevention.

That's because of an elite defense that just might propel them to the first World Series ring in franchise history.

Per Baseball Reference , the Brewers lead the majors in "total zone total fielding runs above average" and also rank third in defensive runs saved above average.

And it's not just one or two players.

The combined force of Sal Frelick, Jackson Chourio, Blake Perkins and Garrett Mitchell in the outfield has been stellar, and aside from Matt Chapman, Joey Ortiz has been maybe the best defensive third baseman in the majors this season.

The best of the bunch, though, has been Brice Turang.

For some reason, Statcast's outs above average and fielding run value leaderboards haven't been impressed with Turang, but defensive runs saved (both sources) and Baseball Reference dWAR both rate him as one of the five most valuable defenders in the league today.

Why the divide? That's a fantastic question, above my pay grade.

But my guess is it's because Turang does a lot of his work before the pitch is thrown, repeatedly putting himself in a position to make plays that our eyes know to be nearly impossible, but that look routine to a computer calculating out probability by distance traveled.

Turang has impeccable instincts and speed and absolutely should be the Gold Glove recipient among NL second basemen, if not the NL's Platinum Glove winner.

To some extent, Francisco Lindor's value added on defense has been a bit overstated in recent weeks, with Mets fans (and/or people just looking for something to debate) arguing that Lindor should be NL MVP over Shohei Ohtani because he both plays defense and plays it quite well.

That argument went flying out the window last Thursday when Ohtani had his historic three home runs, 10 RBI and two stolen bases to create the 50/50 club while Lindor missed his fourth consecutive game with a back injury.

Nevertheless, the 2016 Platinum Glove winning Lindor has had quite the impressive season with his glove, ranking fourth in the majors in outs above average .

Well, in one direction he has been outrageously impressive.

On balls in front of him, behind him or to his left, Lindor has been pretty much perfectly league average.

On balls to his right, though, sweet sassy molassy.

In outs above average history which dates back to 2016, Lindor's 17 runs above average on balls to his right is the highest mark by any player in any direction at any position in a single season.

As a result of that ability to consistently range toward third base for outs, Lindor's fielding run value ranks highest among shortstops .

The MVP debate may be over, but there's a reason that both FanGraphs WAR and Baseball Reference WAR say the hitter with 31 home runs, 27 stolen bases and an .836 OPS is nearly as valuable as the one with 51 home runs, 51 stolen bases and a 1.005 OPS.

Jacob Young is Exhibit A in the case to more or less disregard errors when judging a player's value/added subtracted on defense.

Young has committed eight errors this season, seven of them of the fielding variety.

In both categories, it's the most by any outfielder in the 2024 campaign.

But do you know who leads the majors in outs above average? Jacob Young does .

Yeah, he'll botch the occasional routine play, like this grounder in late August, or this Bryce Harper liner that ate him up in mid-August.

His range is unreal, though, allowing him to get to balls that no one else in the league can.

That's thanks to the combination of the speed that has helped him steal more than 30 bases and a reaction time that is basically off the charts .

As a result, Young leads all outfielders in both 5-star outs (plays with a 0-25 percent catch probability) and 4-star outs (plays with a 26-50 percent catch probability).

Time will tell if he has enough offense to stick in the majors, but he just might be a staple in center (and at No.

9 in the batting order) for the next five years between James Wood and Dylan Crews in that Nationals outfield.

Yes, that video was made last offseason, after Patrick Baileyin just 765.2 innings played at catcherranked second in the majors in Fielding Run Value as a rookie.

It has basically been a lather, rinse, repeat season of defensive excellence, though, as Bailey is now running away with the league lead in FRV with about a 15 percent increase in playing time.

Most of Bailey's value added is derived from his pitch framing, which is the ability to get strikes called in the "shadow zone," or the area both one ball width inside and one ball width outside the strike zone.

The whole thing is broken down into eight zones and the called strike rate within each zone is compared to the league average, with both park and pitcher adjustments included in the calculation process.

The long and short of it, though, is that Bailey is on the receiving end of painted/framed called strikes at the highest rate in the majors, as was the case in 2023 , too.

But in addition to an elite glove, Bailey also has one of the best arms in the business.

He has 54 total assists on the season, which includes catching 25 would-be base-stealers.

Only Will Smithwho has logged about 150 more innings behind the platehas more assists (57) than Bailey.

He isn't getting much help from his pitching staff, either, as the Giants have had more stolen bases attempted against them than any other team.

The non-Bailey Giants have thrown out just 10 of 86 attempts, but Bailey is well above the league average CS% at 25-for-95.

If Jacob Young is Exhibit A in the crusade against putting any emphasis on errors, Matt Chapman is Exhibit B.

The Giants' third baseman and two-time Platinum Glove recipient has been a little less sure-handed than usual at the hot corner in 2024, committing 15 errors this season.

That's tied for the most among third basemen.

Yet, he is comfortably top 10 in the majors in defensive runs saved (both sources), as well as comfortably top 10 in defensive WAR on Baseball Reference.

To be clear, we're not talking top 10 among third basemen.

We're talking top 10 regardless of position , and easily No.

1 among third basemen.

Chapman has impeccable reflexes to field the screaming liners and one-hoppers that make you wonder if maybe third basemen should be wearing catcher's gear out there for self-preservation.

He has turned many a "should be a double into the left-field corner" into a hard-hit out over the course of his career.

But it's on those little dribblers that he has always separated himself from the field.

His ability to charge the ball, field itmaybe with a glove, but often bare-handedand fire it on target over to first base all in one fluid motion is second to none, reminiscent of early-career Ryan Zimmerman before the shoulder injuries derailed his fielding career.

His walk-off bare-hander against the Mets in late May was maybe the best defensive play of the year, given the circumstances.

Pete Crow-Armstrong was already making his mark as an elite center fielder prior to two weeks ago.

He and 2019 Gold Glover Cody Bellinger used to more or less share those duties, but it has been almost 100 percent PCA starting in CF since shortly before the All-Star Break.

Despite not getting called up until late April and playing in about 35 fewer games than most regulars, Crow-Armstrong ranks top 20 (among all players, not just center fielders) in dWAR, outs above average, defensive runs saved (both sources) and fielding run value.

But it was in the late innings of that Sept.

10 game on TBS against the Los Angeles Dodgers that the stardom of Crow-Armstrong's glove really began to sweep the nation.

Not only did he end that game with a home run robbery of Max Muncy, but he made an incredible sliding catch to end the 7th inning and made a bit of a circus catch of a ball off the bat of Shohei Ohtani in the 8th inning.

Business as usual, though, for the center fielder who ranges to his left as well as anyone in the game today.

Because he only played about three-quarters of the season, he probably won't win a Gold Glove.

Heck, he might not even be a finalist in a league where Jacob Young, Brenton Doyle and Jackson Merrill all play center.

But it'd be nice to find a place to bet on Crow-Armstrong winning a Gold Glove at some point in his career, because several of them are almost definitely coming his way eventually.

Daulton Varsho has just a .700 OPS for the year, posting a sub-.200 batting average in four of the six months.

Yet, both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs rate him as the second-most valuable Toronto Blue Jay this season, behind only Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Why? Because of his phenomenal value added in the outfield, of course.

It's why Toronto traded Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

and Gabriel Moreno to acquire Varsho two winters ago.

They had arguably the worst outfield defense in all of baseball between 2021-2022, so they brought in both Varsho and now four-time Gold Glover Kevin Kiermaier to make damn sure that wouldn't be the cause of their demise again.

He finished last season with the third-highest dWAR in all of baseball, and despite a shoulder injury that ended his season three weeks prematurely, there's a chance he'll end up at No.

1 in that department this year.

Both versions of Defensive Runs Saved love Varsho, but especially Baseball Info Solutions', which credits him with 27 runs saved, easily best in the majors.

Similar story with Outs Above Average and Fielding Run Value, as virtually every effort to quantify value added on defense has an intense appreciation for his limitless range and his ability to make catches while crashing into walls.

It's kind of hilarious to remember that Varsho used to be primarily a catcher.

Between college and the minors, we're talking 318 games at catcher and only 36 in the outfield.

But thank goodness he made the switch to supply us with countless web gem-worthy moments over the past few years.

Andres Gimenez won a Gold Glove in 2022 and a Platinum Glove in 2023, yet his defense has been just as good, if not better this season.

He ranked second behind only Fernando Tatis Jr.

in defensive runs saved above average ( per Fielding Bible, via FanGraphs ) in 2023, and he is behind only Brice Turang for the MLB lead in that department this year.

(And on behalf of Guardians fans, thank goodness, because his OPS is nearly 200 points below where it was at when he was a fringe MVP candidate two years ago.) Among infielders, Gimenez leads the majors in both outs above average and runs prevented, shining brighter against left-handed batters than any other fielder at any position.

Though he is moving to his left for a slick pick in the video above, it's the range to his right that makes Gimenez so special.

Like this diving grab of a looping liner last Wednesday, or this play from the opposite side of second base from the previous Wednesday, in which he channeled his skills as a former shortstop to help curtail an exceedingly rare offensive explosion by the Chicago White Sox.

Cleveland's pitching staff has one of the lowest BABIP against marks in the majors this season, and that's no accident.

In Gimenez and Brayan Rocchiowho has also struggled at the plate, but is providing a ton of value with his glove at shortstopthe Guardians have the best middle infield defense in baseball..

This article has been shared from the original article on bleacherreport, here is the link to the original article.