A Look Back at the 2019 Right Fielders' Rankings Forecast

On January 13th, the MLB Network asked people on Twitter to vote for the top right fielders in the game for the 2019 MLB season, as that would be the next list on their network.  There was a debate on whether or not if Mookie Betts would supplant Aaron Judge on the Shredder's list, and also if Christian Yelich or Bryce Harper should also be in the consideration for the top spot.  There was a legitimate argument to put Betts at number one, as he led in Fangraphs WAR, his team had won the World Series, and was generally regarded as a better all-around player, but Aaron Judge was the powerful slugger that could really mash, and both players had long careers ahead of them.

Alas, the Shredder decided to put New York Yankees' right fielder Aaron Judge atop their list once again, while all of the other analysts including myself voted for Boston Red Sox's right fielder Mookie Betts to be the number one right fielder for the 2019 season.

Here, we will be looking and assessing eight analysts' top 10 lists: myself (Alan Lu), the Shredder, Mike Petriello, Vince Gennaro, Ben Lindbergh, Brian Kenny, Cliff Floyd, and fans from social media (whom I'm counting as one vote for simplicity purposes).  So, let's assess this, shall we?

So, how did we all do?  Let's see for ourselves.

2019 Right Fielder Rankings:

2019 RF	Alan Lu	Shredder	Petriello	Gennaro	Lindbergh	Kenny	Floyd	Fans	fWAR	Rank
Christian Yelich	2	3	2	2	3	4	2	3	7.8	1
Mookie Betts	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	6.6	2
Aaron Judge	3	1	4	3	2	2	3	2	4.6	3
Bryce Harper	4	5	3	4	4	3	5	4	4.6	3
Brian Anderson	7	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	3.1	5
Nick Castellanos	15	9	15	7	15	15	7	8	2.8	6
Eloy Jimenez	15	15	10	15	9	6	15	15	1.9	7
Andrew McCutchen	8	8	9	5	10	9	9	15	1.5	8
Brandon Nimmo	6	6	6	10	8	7	15	6	1.3	9
Yasiel Puig	9	7	8	9	7	10	10	7	1.2	10
Mitch Haniger	5	4	5	6	5	5	4	5	1.1	11
Stephen Piscotty	10	10	7	15	6	15	6	10	0.6	12
Nick Markakis	15	15	15	8	15	15	8	9	0.4	13
Gregory Polanco	15	15	15	15	15	8	15	15	-0.2	14
Diff. Estimator	37	45	45	41	47	45	49	51
2019 Rank	1	3	3	2	6	3	7	8

.....

The findings:

According to how things played out in terms of the Fangraphs' WAR metric, I had the most accurate list among all of the analysts here.

This list turned out to be a pretty good one for me,
as I was the most accurate analyst in
making the 2019 right fielders' forecast this season.  Hooray!
(Photo courtesy of RealisticDampDeinonychus via gfycat and GIPHY).

I had the good fortune to put Miami Marlins' right fielder, Brian Anderson in my top 10 list, and a good number of the players that were atop my list were well within range.  I did over-rate Mitch Haniger and Stephen Piscotty, but most of my misses were minimal, and weren't significantly impacted as everyone else had seemed to overrate the same players for the 2019 season.

The Shredder also did pretty well.  Like myself, a good portion of the players they had atop their list were within range, and they also had the good fortune to put Chicago Cubs' right fielder Nick Castellanos in their top 10 list.  They also had some misses as they had overrated Brandon Nimmo, Yasiel Puig, and Stephen Piscotty, but that didn't hurt them too much as most people had over-reached on the same players for the 2019 season.

Brief Mix-up before the correction:

Since Brewers' Nation never clarified which Polanco Brian Kenny had put on his list, I assumed that he had Minnesota Twins' Jorge Polanco on his list, who went on to have a 4.0 Fangraphs WAR in 2019, which would have made him have the most accurate forecast of right fielders for the 2019 season.  But on second glance, Jorge Polanco is an infielder, and Pittsburgh Pirates' Gregory Polanco is an outfielder, so since Brian Kenny likely picked Gregory Polanco, whom had a -0.2 Fangraphs WAR in 2019, Brian Kenny slides from first to being tied for third on this list.

Overall, I would say I made a very good list in 2019 here, I will give myself an A-, and the Shredder a B.

In analyzing two years worth of data, your go-to, pinpoint person for your 2020 right fielders' forecast should be....the Shredder.  The Shredder consistently seems to have their right fielders picks well within range, and none of their misses seem to be that far off in this specific category.  Also, Bill James should get your attention if he is brought back in 2020 for the right fielders and third basemen list.

On whether or not if you should care about my 2020 right fielders' rankings, I will say....maybe.  I placed first here in 2019 in accuracy, but I finished last in accuracy in 2018, so the right fielders' list has been hit or miss with me.  But hey, why not, as I'm currently on a roll.

Thank you for reading, and thanks to Brewers Nation for providing the top 10 lists of analysts.  (I'm a St. Louis Cardinals' fan, but in this case, they did a good job of recapping what happened for all of the top 10 lists.)  

Thank you for reading, and be sure to give me a follow on Twitter at @AlanLuSTL.