2013 in Review: The Outfield

Ugh. Photo by Richard Wilkins Jr.

Before the season, we all knew that the outfield was the big trouble spot. Dom Brown was unproven, as was Ben Revere. Delmon Young was hurt, and was a problem anyway. No one wanted to see John Mayberry Jr. and Laynce Nix get too many at-bats. Well, they did.

The funny thing about the 2013 outfield is that some of the brightest spots- Dom, Ben, Cesar's late season, and Ruf's power- came out of this group. How do they all stack up though?

• Dom Brown- LF- .272/.324/.494/.818, 27 homers, 83 RBI's, 65 R's, 1.6 WAR, 540 PA's- I can't say much bad. Still fairly cheap, his defense improved, his offense improved, he went to an All-Star Game, and he was the brightest spot on a dark finish. Yes, he hit all of his homers seemingly in a month, yes he had durability questions, and yes he's still bad with the glove, but the improvement was there across the board, and he was the best player on this team. I give him an A-. 
• Ben Revere- CF- .305/.338/.352/.691, 22 steals, 37 runs, 0.9 WAR, 336 PA's- Unfortunately, we don't have a full body of work here for a difficult player to judge. Ben's skillset is limited- he has no arm, no power, but tons of speed, and makes contact. He played his game well though, getting on, getting hits, and stealing bases. He drives you nuts with the ground balls, but that's how he has to play the game. At his young age and low price, you can't say worse than a B here.
• Delmon Young- RF- .261/.302/.397/.699, 8 homers, -1.2 WAR, 291 PA's- Unfortunately, his biggest contribution was the hilariously funny "Vote for Delmon" Twitter account. Delmon's defense was so bad that his mediocre offense wasn't even enough to give him value. I give this an F.
• John Mayberry Jr.- OF- .227/.286/.391/.677, 11 homers, -0.4 WAR, 384 PA's- Your homers and average go down for the second straight time from your 2009 heights. Your WAR is sub zero, and you start losing playing time in center to a second baseman converting and a guy below the Mendoza line. I'd like to see Mayberry take a hike after this season. He certainly isn't a 400 PA guy. I give him an F.
• Laynce Nix-OF- .180/.228/.258/.486, 2 homers, -0.7 WAR, 136 PA's- This is our third outfielder with a sub zero WAR. Nix got released months ago, I can say F, right?
• Casper Wells-OF- .042/.115/.083/.199, -0.2 WAR, 26 PA's- This guy's below zero too, and he didn't get 30 PA's. F.
• Roger Bernadina-CF- .187/.256/.347/.603, 1 SB, -0.2 WAR, 83 PA's- This is getting mundane. All of them are the same. F.
• Ezequiel Carrera- OF- .077/.250/.077/.327, -0.4 WAR, 16 PA's- True or false- the Phillies had 8 outfielders who's OPS was lower than Miguel Cabrera's OBP. This guy was a joke. F.
• Ender Inciarte-OF- I'm not giving stats on this guy- He played all year in AA for the D'Backs after making the Phillies for one game as a Rule 5 guy. You have to be joking me. F.
• Darin Ruf- OF-ish- .247/.348/.458/.806, 14 homers, 0.1 WAR, 293 PA's- Wait, wait…. a positive WAR?!? A guy above zero? A non-stiff. Sign him up- or don't. Ruf improved defensively, hit for power, and showed a decent eye. He also really isn't an outfielder and has holes in his swing. He made me believe he can knock 25-30 homers a year out though, and that counts for something, along with his improved fielding. Welcome to the big leagues, in some capacity. B-.
• Cesar Hernandez- CF-ish- .289/.344/.331/.674, -0.4 WAR, 131 PA's- His WAR feels unfair to me. I have no idea why. He seemed to play better than this to me too. He actually slugged lower than Revere. I saw a lot to like in AAA though. I'm going to be really charitable with him, based on the stats. B-.