Buster OlneyFeb 25, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
Spring training camps are underway, which means it is time to look at the state of baseball. As part of our 2026 MLB season preview, ESPN’s Buster Olney surveyed those around the industry to help him rank the top 10 players at every position as part of his annual positional ranking series.
The objective of this exercise is to identify the best players for the 2026 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: starting pitchers (Feb. 16), relief pitchers (Feb. 17), catchers (Feb. 18), first basemen (Feb. 19), second basemen (Feb. 20), third basemen (Monday), shortstops (Tuesday), center fielders (Thursday), designated hitters (Friday).
“Not gonna lie… I like him,” wrote Jones, a master of understatement. “Just watched 20 minutes of video. Bat stays in the strike zone a long time… Looked at stats first, and 84 strikeouts in 257 at-bats is alarming, but that could be a product of learning the league. Would like to see him get into his legs a bit more, because when he does, he hits for power.
Anthony is 21 years old and has just 303 plate appearances in the big leagues, but Jones’s enthusiasm for him is echoed around baseball. Evaluators love Anthony — and already consider him the anchor of Boston’s offense.
“If he stays healthy,” former MLB general manager J.P. Ricciardi said, “he’s going to go down as one of the greatest Red Sox ever.”
Said an American League evaluator: “He’s just over 20 years old and takes at-bats with the strike zone knowledge and confidence of a 10-year veteran.”
“He’s got such a slow heartbeat at the plate — an advanced feel for the strike zone, and a willingness to let the ball travel and use all fields,” a National League evaluator added. “Just a tremendous understanding of what to do in the box, considering how young he is. The raw power, which is real, certainly helps, too.”
A quandary in this top-10 exercise, then, is to figure out where to place Anthony among a powerful group of corner outfielders.
And now it seems very possible, given his history as a hitter who has constantly lost more at-bats because of mistaken calls than any of his peers, that he’ll benefit in key spots from the new ABS challenge system this season.
He could be hampered by hamate surgery in his right hand, particularly early in the year as he regains the strength in his swing. But Carroll has already demonstrated his ability to dig himself out of an early-season hole with the way he bounced back from a slow start in 2024. He is an offensive machine:
Boston manager Alex Cora has already announced that he intends to keep Anthony in the leadoff spot, a nod to his ability to get on base — he had a .396 OBP in his rookie season — and to give him as many plate appearances as possible. Some evaluators believe that the Red Sox would be best served to keep Anthony in center field, but Cora is blessed with an abundance of outfield riches, with Ceddanne Rafaela patrolling center field, Gold Glover Wilyer Abreu in right and Jarren Duran in left.
Anthony started 32 games in right field last year, 17 in left and another 17 games at DH. But his best position, some evaluators say, is in center. “He really does have incredible instincts out there,” said one, before mentioning that Anthony would benefit from playing as much as possible and collecting experience in Fenway’s quirky center field.
James Wood, Washington Nationals: His average exit velocity was 94.3 mph, which is like a pitcher throwing 101 mph. Let’s put that into perspective by comparing him to other great hitters:
Wyatt Langford, Texas Rangers: He might get some run in center field this year, but we’ll rank him in the place where he appeared the most last season. Langford appears on the verge of a breakout entering his age-24 season, as he learns to command the strike zone.
Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs: He’ll be eligible for free agency next fall, having demonstrated remarkable consistency — his adjusted OPS over the past four seasons has been, in order, 117, 118, 120 and 120. Plus, don’t forget the great defense.
Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics: He shifted to the outfield with the ascension of Nick Kurtz, but Soderstrom’s high-end production continued — 60 extra-base hits and an OPS+ of 126.
Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians: Kwan is taking reps in center field this spring in preparation for what will be a big year for him. He excels defensively, but his numbers fell last year — he had an OPS+ of 96.
Kyle Stowers, Miami Marlins: It hurts to leave Stowers out of the top 10 after his breakthrough 2025 in which he posted a 149 OPS+ — but sadly, because we’re combining left and right fielders, we must. Miami’s head of baseball operations Peter Bendix has demonstrated an ability to deal at peak value, and Stowers will be an interesting test of that. He’s 28 years old, not 22 or 23, and he’s also a really popular player who will be eligible for arbitration for the first time next winter. Will the Marlins capitalize on his place in the trade market, or will they sign him to a long-term deal?
Buster OlneyFeb 25, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on X
Today, we rank the best of the best corner outfielders in MLB.
Aaron Judge: 95.4 mph Shohei Ohtani: 94.9 mph Wood: 94.3 mph Juan Soto: 93.3 mph Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 92.0 mph
Wilyer Abreu, Boston Red Sox: Winner of back-to-back Gold Gloves.