Spring training camps are underway, which means it is time to look at the state of baseball. As part of our 2025 MLB season preview, ESPN's Buster Olney is bringing back his positional ranking series, in which he surveyed those around the industry to help him rank the top 10 players at every position.
Today, we rank the best of the best center fielders in MLB.
The objective of this exercise is to identify the best players for the 2025 season, not who might be best in five years or over their career. We will roll out a position per day over the next two weeks. Here's the rest of the schedule: catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, corner outfielders, designated hitters (2/26), starting pitchers (2/27) and relievers (2/28).
Three years into Julio Rodriguez's career, there has been a consistent trend to how his seasons have played out: He muddles through the first months and then finishes with a flourish.
His month-to-month OPS in his career:
March/April .642
May .768
June .704
July .907
August .918
September .919
The Mariners have talked about changing Rodriguez's spring training routine to unlock his early-season performance. Dan Wilson, in his first spring training as Seattle's manager, is determined to get more at-bats for his regular big leaguers in exhibition games, hoping they will be more game-ready when the Mariners open their season.
Rodriguez's month-to-month trajectory is similar to another star player who hit 409 homers and made three All-Star teams -- Mark Teixeira, who always seemed to start slowly. His career, by month:
March/April .777
May .870
June .855
July .908
August .887
September .909
"This is going to sound crazy," Teixeira said in a recent phone conversation, "but I had to learn how to hit big league pitching every single year. I'd go to spring training, and it'd be foreign to me."
Some players, Teixeira noted, seemingly could be handed a bat in the dead of winter and immediately swing as if they were in mid-season form. Chipper Jones, Teixeira's former teammate with the Braves, was like that, Teixeira felt. Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros is another player who seems to hit well no matter how long he has been sidelined.
Teixeira was a switch-hitter who relied on timing, and that would complicate his annual search for his swing. Teixeira recalled trying different drills to accelerate the process -- hitting against a breaking ball machine, hitting with the velocity ramped up, standing in the batter's box while pitchers threw bullpen. But early in every season, he'd still feel off, finding that for him there was no way to replicate the challenge of hitting major league pitching before the season started.
"I never liked starting slow, trust me," he said. "When you go to New York and you're getting booed in April, it's no fun. But I knew that eventually, it would click."
The same is likely true for J-Rod, who has already generated 15.9 WAR in his first three seasons.
Top 10 center fielders
1. Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners
A lot of young hitters tend to fare better against right-handed pitchers than lefties, because that's what they've mostly seen in their formative years. But the 24-year-old Rodriguez is already at dead-even splits: Last year, he had a .733 OPS vs. righties, .735 vs. lefties.
2. Jackson Merrill, San Diego Padres
Four years ago, Merrill was playing high school baseball at Severna Park High School in Maryland; a year ago, whether he would make the Padres' Opening Day roster was in question. And now he has vaulted near the top of this list, after demonstrating in his rookie year that he is undaunted no matter what is thrown at him. In late-and-close situations, as defined by Baseball Reference, Merrill had a .982 OPS, slugging seven homers in 89 plate appearances. In 118 plate appearances in high leverage situations, he had a .926 OPS.
Padres Manager Mike Shildt wrote in a text that he was "pretty confident" he would be the center fielder after watching him in his first spring training game in 2024 as Merrill made the transition from shortstop. "He looked like a natural."
"He has a real gift to slow the game down and make adjustments during an at-bat. A rare talent, especially for someone so young to the league. Few figure it out during their careers. Most that learn it don't do it until later in their careers."
3. Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves
A lockdown defender in center field, Harris is still working toward producing a full season of offensive consistency. Last year, his OPS+ dipped to 99, and the key for his growth as a hitter will be how he narrows his own strike zone.
He swung at 42.6% pitches outside of the zone, the eighth-highest rate in the big leagues among hitters with 400 plate appearances in 2024. If he keeps swinging at pitches outside of the zone, pitchers will keep throwing the ball outside of the zone.
4. Brenton Doyle, Colorado Rockies
Like Harris, he's got stuff to figure out with his swing -- he had 156 strikeouts in 153 games -- but he does damage at the plate (23 homers), on the bases and on defense.
Yes, he's got the classic Colorado splits -- a .900 OPS at home and .636 on the road -- but are Dodgers' pitchers depreciated for pitching their home games in a pitcher-friendly environment?
5. Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates
This will be his first full season in the outfield for Pittsburgh, with the hope that he'll adapt to his newish position quickly after moving from shortstop and continue to evolve as a hitter.
He makes hard contact, sometimes visiting the neighborhood of Giancarlo Stanton, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge with his exit velocity. In fact, Cruz had the hardest-hit ball in the majors last season at 121.5 MPH. Last year, he had 58 extra-base hits and 22 stolen bases in 23 attempts -- and he also had 181 punchouts.
6. Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
It really does seem like he should be higher on this list because of what he does when he's on the field (a 137 OPS+ in 388 plate appearances in 2024), but being available matters. His year-to-year games in center field:
2024: 94
2023: 0
2022: 57
2021: 60
7. Cody Bellinger, New York Yankees
Bellinger is still regarded as a very good outfielder, although rival evaluators say his range isn't what it used to be (not a surprise, as he nears his 30th birthday) and the Yankees are settled on playing him in center this year. The great variable is what he does as a hitter: Bellinger had an OPS+ of 136 in 2023, and that dipped to 109 in '24.
8. Luis Robert Jr., Chicago White Sox
Some rival execs believe the first three months of Robert's season will be an audition for a trade. The White Sox were open to offers in the offseason, but given how much time Robert has missed because of injuries -- playing more than 100 games in a season only once -- it's difficult for White Sox general manager Chris Getz to get equal value for a player who, at his best, can be so dynamic. He didn't hit a homer in his final 34 games last season.
9. Jake McCarthy, Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona's center fielder is solid across the board offensively, with a slash line of .285/.349/.400. Defensively, he finished 2024 with -4 defensive runs saved.
10. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
He'll lead major-league outfielders in SportsCenter's Top 10 plays, because he's an outstanding defender, he loves playing defense the way Kevin Kiermaier loved it and he's got a flair. If he gets his OBP up to the .320/.330 range -- it was .286 in 123 games last season -- he's going to be an All-Star.
Honorable mentions
Daulton Varsho, Toronto Blue Jays: He may start this season on the injured list as he completes his rehabilitation from rotator cuff surgery, but Blue Jays pitchers will be thrilled when he returns. Varsho led all center fielders in outs above average last season (16).
Jacob Young, Washington Nationals: His .331 slugging percentage is a sign that more is needed at the plate, but he is in the conversation for best defender. Young led all outfielders in outs above average with 20. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo says Young's speed, base-stealing, angles of pursuit and energy remind him of former Philly outfielder Shane Victorino.
Cedric Mullins, Baltimore Orioles: He'll be eligible for free agency in the fall, so 2025 is a big year for him. He compiled 18 homers and 32 steals with a 107 OPS+ last year.
Jose Siri, New York Mets: At the very least, the Mets landed a high-end defender. Siri was among the center-field leaders in both DRS (12) and outs above average (16) with the Rays a season ago, but he had only a .620 OPS at the plate.
Tommy Edman, Los Angeles Dodgers: It's hard to know where to place Edman in these positional rankings, because he plays all over the place. But he needs to be mentioned somewhere, and it seems a lot of his starts for the Dodgers will be in center.
JJ Bleday, Athletics: Maybe a shift to a new home park will stabilize some of his defensive metrics, which were ugly last season. At the plate, he clubbed 20 homers and posted a 120 OPS+ last year.