Welcome to the National League East version of our best players by position. In this series, we will take it position-by-position and determine who the best player at each position is around the diamond. For the starting pitchers, an ace will be named, followed by the rest of a 5-man rotation. Read the brief descriptions to find out who is the class of the entire division, at any position.
Comments are welcome!
Catcher: Brian McCann – Atlanta Braves – The 4-time Silver Slugger winner, is a rock behind the plate for Atlanta. During the past 5 seasons McCann appeared in 695 games which is the most of any catcher during that span. He has also had 3 consecutive seasons of 20+ homers and is a career .289 hitter.
Ryan Zimmerman
First Base: Ryan Howard – Philadelphia Phillies – Howard is one of the premiere power hitters in baseball. He had a streak of 4 consecutive seasons of 45+ homer snapped when he only swatted 31 long-balls in 2010. He is a career .279 hitter and is working on 5 straight seasons of 100+ RBI.
Second Base: Chase Utley – Philadelphia Phillies – Martin Prado had a tremendous 2010 season, but Utley remains the best second baseman in the division. The 4-time Silver Slugger winner, Utley is career .293 hitter who averages 29 dingers and 105 RBI per season.
Shortstop: Hanley Ramirez – Florida Marlins – HanRam can do it all. He hits for power (averaging 26 homers per season), drives in runs (83 per season), steals bases (42 per year) and is a career .313 hitter. He has also cut his errors down to a combined 26 over the past two seasons.
Third Base: Ryan Zimmerman – Washington Nationals – He gets the nod over David Wright. I’m not sure Zimmerman gets the credit that he deserves for being such a great all-around player. He has already won 2 Silver Sluggers and a Gold Glove. The last two years he has averaged 26 homers, 96 RBI, 98 runs, and a .299 average. At 26 years old he is just entering his prime and his best days are ahead.
Outfield:
Jason Heyward – Atlanta Braves – The phenom lived up to the hype last year when as a rookie he slugged 18 homers, drove in 72 runs, stole 11 bases and posted a .277 batting average. He also drew 91 walks (4th in the NL) and had a .393 OBP (4th in the NL).
Jayson Werth – Washington Nationals – The last 3 seasons Werth averaged 29 homers, 83 RBI and a .279 batting average. He did that playing in Philly and will now be calling Washington DC his home.
Shane Victorino – Philadelphia Phillies – Victorino joins Carl Crawford and Hanley Ramirez as the only three players to have posted at least a .280 batting average, 50 home runs, 125 stolen bases, 225 RBIs and 350 runs scored in the past four seasons combined.
Rotation:
Roy Halladay – Philadelphia Phillies – He completely dominated in his inaugural season as a Phillie. Halladay led the majors in wins (21), innings pitched (250 2/3), complete games (9) and shutouts (4), and threw a no-hitter in the playoffs. He has also topped 200 strikeouts in each of the last 3 seasons and has a career ERA of 3.32.
Cliff Lee – Philadelphia Phillies – It’s kind of strange that a guy this good has bounced around from team-to-team the past 4 years. He has and it hasn’t mattered because Lee has been filthy at all 4 of his stops the last 2 seasons. He has fanned at least 170 batters in each of the last 3 years and has done that with a 2.98 ERA during that span.
Josh Johnson – Florida Marlins – He has the stuff to be one of the best pitchers in the game. The bad news is he has battled injury problems throughout his career. If he can stay healthy and strong for a full season he would post Cy Young numbers. He tallied 183.2 innings pitched last season and struck out 186 batters on his way to an 11-6 record with a 2.30 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.
Johan Santana – New York Mets – He will miss at least half of the 2011 season due to shoulder surgery. He hasn’t had an ERA above 3.33 since 2001 when he appeared in 15 games for the Twins. In fact his career ERA is a sparkling 3.10. He has only suffered double-digit losses once (2007 with 13). His strikeout numbers have tailed off in the past two seasons, but he is still one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball.
Roy Oswalt – Philadelphia Phillies – He edges his out his new teammate, Cole Hamels, for this final spot in the rotation.His career 3.18 ERA and 1.18 WHIP are outstanding. After being traded to the Phillies last year he started 12 games and posted a 7-1 record with a 1.74 ERA.
Closer: Francisco Rodriguez– New York Mets – This division lacks a dominating closer and K-Rod edges out Brad Lidge and Leo Nunez. He isn’t the top-tier closer that he once was, but he is still the best of this bunch.
For more in this series, see below:
