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As the season begins to approach we look back through the first 18 years of Tampa Bay Rays history and see who brought the most production to this organization.
Top 10 Position Players by fWAR:
Player | fWAR |
Evan Longoria | 42.8 |
Carl Crawford | 36.7 |
Ben Zobrist | 34.7 |
B.J. Upton | 22.3 |
Carlos Pena | 14.1 |
Julio Lugo | 13.9 |
Desmond Jennings | 12.2 |
Matt Joyce | 10.6 |
Aubrey Huff | 9.9 |
Kevin Kiermaier | 9.5 |
The top three have distanced themselves from the pack and are the clear cut top three position players in Rays history to this point. The big surprises come in the middle to the end of the top ten.
Julio Lugo coming in sixth was a big surprise. Over the parts of four seasons he was with the Rays he put up an astounding 3.9 WAR/600 PA thanks to his .287/.350/.421 105 wRC+ line while contributing 6 UZR/150 defense at shortstop.
Desmond Jennings makes an appearance in the number seven slot. He has much to prove on the health side of the ledger this spring; however, when he's been healthy he has been productive during his tenure with the Rays.
The last spot really shocked me when I looked at the top 10.
Kevin Kiermaier in about a season and a half has already put himself into the top 10. Thanks to his highlight reel defensive ability, he has already saved almost 50 runs with his defense all over the outfield.
During the short time the Tampa Bay Rays have been an MLB franchise we have seen many outstanding performances, but at this rate none will compare to Kiermaier.
As more and more players finish their careers in Tampa Bay, some players, maybe even those currently on the team, will have the opportunity to move up and make their claim to be the best players in team history.