Franklin Gutierrez is Incredible

I sincerely hope that all Mariners fans know just how lucky we are to have Franklin Gutierrez. Not only has he been the best defensive center fielder in baseball this season, with a 15.1 UZR (BJ Upton is 2nd with a 7.7), but he has also been one of the most valuable in general, for virtually no money.

I want to make some comparisons here to a few other notable center fielders. Keep in mind, the WAR values are a day old.

For those of you who aren't familiar with UZR or WAR—UZR stands for Ultimate Zone Rating, and is the most advanced method of defense evaluation. WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement, and uses sabermetrics to calculate how many wins a player has been worth.

Franklin Gutierrez—26 years old, .300 BA, .816 OPS, 14 HR, 4.0 WAR, 15.1 UZR

Salary: $455,000

Torii Hunter—34 years old, .305 BA, .938 OPS, 17 HR, 2.9 WAR, -2.5 UZR

Salary: $18,000,000

Curtis Granderson—28 years old, .261 BA, .816 OPS, 22 HR, 2.7 WAR, -2.8 UZR

Salary: $3,500,000

B.J. Upton—24 years old, .240 BA, .678 OPS, 7 HR, 1.9 WAR, 7.7 UZR

Salary: $435,000

Adam Jones—24 years old, .298 BA, .845 OPS, 19 HR, 2.1 WAR, -8.4 UZR

Salary: $435,000

Grady Sizemore—27 years old, .232 BA, .754 OPS, 15 HR, 1.0 WAR, -2.6 UZR

Salary: $4,766,666

Vernon Wells—30 years old, .259 BA, .719 OPS, 12 HR, -0.8 WAR, -19.5 UZR

Salary: $4,687,500

And that’s just a few of the notable center fielders in the game that Franklin Gutierrez has been more valuable than. The only center fielders in baseball that have been better than him are Matt Kemp, who is also incredible, and Nyjer Morgan, who is just an unbelievable defensive outfielder.

What this confirms, is that Franklin Gutierrez is an all-star caliber player, and if he continues to play like one he will most certainly be recognized as such in the near future. We are truly privileged in the fact that we’ll get to watch him play in a Mariner uniform for at least the next three years.

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