At the young age of 24-years-old, Jackie Bradley Jr. may be the best defensive center-fielder in the entire league. It seems as if every night he makes another impressive diving catch, or a tricky over the shoulder catch in front of the wall. He currently leads the majors in outfield assists with 13, and has yet to record an error. He’s compiled an 18.2 UZR from the center-field spot. He’s simply a show to watch in the field.
However, there is a catch; It’s physically painful to watch him swing a bat. He’s currently hitting at a .212 clip, with a .291 OBP. His wRC+ sits at a low 59, and he has a -15.7 offensive WAR. I could go on with his offensive stats, but it gets pretty depressing after a while.
So what we do know is that he is a Gold Glove caliber player in the field, but a fringe major leaguer at the plate. A combo like that makes for an extremely difficult decision regarding whether it’s still worth it to keep Bradley Jr in the lineup?
From an analytics standpoint, he’s a solid player with a 1.6 WAR, but most of that comes from the defensive end (18.0 on defense, -15.7 on offense). But when you look at a box score, you see a guy who just recently broke out of an 0-35 slump. He brings very little power to the lineup, and isn’t a total burner on the basepaths.
Now that I’ve trashed his offensive game, here’s the verdict; You need to keep this kid in the everyday lineup. It’s hard to find someone in the field that encompasses the ability to get to the balls, make amazing catches on the balls, and then shoot the balls out of an arm-cannon as well as Jackie can. Another thing to consider is that he’s only 24, and while he’ll never be a .300 hitter or smack 30 bombs, he could develop into a decent presence at the plate, and not make people cringe when he steps into the box.
While having an offensive liability like Bradley Jr. in the lineup does hurt, Boston could compensate for that by fortifying the other corner outfield spots. They started to already, by bringing in power-hitting Cuban god Yoenis Cespedes, and 2013 All-Star Allen Craig. While it may still be to early to predict their impact on the offensive end, it’s safe to say that it could potentially mask the ineptitude of Bradley’s hitting.
One can’t put a premium on elite defense in center-field. He’s coveering more ground (as a rule) than anybody else on the field, and doing it better than all of them too. Take a look at a guy like Omar Vizquel. They were never a huge threat with the bat, but they stuck around simply because of their defensive brilliance. As long as Jackie can continue to play the field like he has this season, he shouldn’t have any problem finding his way into the lineup.