Ranking Home Run Thief Denzel Clarke and MLB's Best Defenders of 2025
Good news, everyone! Balls in play are up so far in the 2025 MLB season, and you know what that means: More chances to watch the best defenders in the business do their thing.
What we aim to do here is rank the eight best of the best for the early portion of the season, which is partly a half-hearted scientific affair but more so a gut-feeling thing.
If a player's Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average add up to over 15, he instantly qualifies for consideration. But we're also going for maximum fun here and therefore had a natural bias toward highlight-reel types.
Call this a spoiler if you want, but this list is heavy on center fielders. We'll get to them eventually, but not until we first acknowledge some honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions
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SS Nick Allen, Atlanta Braves
Allen can't hit a lick, but he's way above water for DRS (7) and OAA (11) with his work at shortstop. He lost out to a more highlight-friendly shortstop in this context, but Braves fans need not worry. Their dude has a real shot at a Gold Glove.
1B Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves
Olson is second out of all defenders with 13 Defensive Runs Saved already, putting him on a strong track to win his third Gold Glove. He was a victim of our "highlight-reel types" policy, as even the best first base defense doesn't make for eye-popping visuals.
C Alejandro Kirk, Toronto Blue Jays
There are no catchers on this list, either, mostly owing to how there's a lot of nuance that goes into quality defense behind the plate. For what it's worth, though, only one guy has Kirk beat in Fielding Run Value.
CF Daulton Varsho, Toronto Blue Jays
Injuries have limited Varsho to only 24 games this season, but he deserves a mention just for this grab from April:
SS Taylor Walls, Tampa Bay Rays
Even with only 425.1 innings at short, Walls leads all defenders with 14 Defensive Runs Saved. He therefore deserves better than an honorable mention on paper, with our only defense (pun kinda-sorta intended) being there is a weird shortage of highlights of his glove work.
8. 2B Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs
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Innings at 2B: 562.2
Defensive Metrics: 9 DRS, 7 OAA
It's amazing to think it was as recently as 2022 that defensive skills were akin to a bonus at the keystone. That was in the dark times before MLB came to its senses and banned the shift.
Since the shift went away in 2023, Nico Hoerner is up there with the most prolific second baseman in terms of DRS and OAA. It's basically been a "pick your poison" thing between him, Andrés Giménez, Marcus Semien and Brice Turang.
The 28-year-old Oakland native is on a tier unto himself in 2025, though. He notably leads the National League with 165 assists, and he has been known to make some groovy catches like this one:
Per the specific inputs of Outs Above Average, we know Hoerner is especially good at making plays to his right. And he suddenly needs to be, as fellow defensive wiz Dansby Swanson hasn't been up to his usual standards on the left side of the Cubs' infield.
7. 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes, Pittsburgh Pirates
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Innings at 3B: 561.0
Defensive Metrics: 6 DRS, 10 OAA
Ke'Bryan Hayes is another "can't hit a lick" guy, but he has a strong claim to the title of Best Defender in MLB.
The 28-year-old has been a full-time player in Pittsburgh since 2021, and he leads everyone in both DRS and OAA between then and now. He is basically the Andrelton Simmons of the hot corner, so it's a bit weird that he only has one Gold Glove.
In any case, there isn't anything Hayes doesn't do well. But what he does better than anyone at third is stuff like this:
That is Hayes making a play to his right, which he's the best at among his fellow third basemen. And what makes this that much more remarkable is that he doesn't even have a strong arm, which just goes to show what a quick release, accurate targeting and a finely tuned internal clock can do for a defender.
6. RF Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
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Innings in RF: 536.0
Defensive Metrics: 8 DRS, 7 OAA
Remember when Fernando Tatis Jr. playing right field for the Padres was merely an experiment?
It's now beyond fair to say it has yielded results. He was a Gold and Platinum Glove winner in 2023, and he's never really let up with his magician act in right field. Over the last three years, his 37 Defensive Runs Saved as a right fielder are the best of any outfield position.
To this end, Tatis' cannon-like arm is part of what makes him so dangerous. It seems like runners have gotten the gist, as he only has two assists so far in 2025.
On the plus side, the 26-year-old leads the National League with 147 putouts. Consider this a reminder that he's also a very good fly ball catcher, mostly owing to how well he covers ground once he gets going.
5. SS Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
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Innings at SS: 584.2
Defensive Metrics: 4 DRS, 13 OAA
Bobby Witt Jr. hasn't quite risen to the same offensive level he occupied in 2024. But that's OK for two reasons, starting with how it's hard to go back-to-back as a 30-30 guy and batting champion.
There's also the fact that the 24-year-old is still the best defensive shortstop in the business, if not the best defender of any kind. He leads all defenders in Outs Above Average in 2025, and he's second overall dating back to 2023.
Witt especially excels at making plays to his right, but you probably already knew that based on ridiculous displays of athleticism like this one:
His other claim to defensive fame in 2025 is that he leads all defenders with 171 assists. That's where it helps to have arm strength, and saying Witt has arm strength is a bit like saying "Aaron Judge is a large human."
4. CF Julio Rodríguez, Seattle Mariners
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Innings in CF: 584.0
Defensive Metrics: 11 DRS, 8 OAA
There's an ongoing debate in Mariners fandom about whether Julio Rodríguez is as good as he's supposed to be. One supposes that's what he gets for not hitting a home run every time he comes to bat.
Whether or not he's overrated in general, the stance here is that the 24-year-old is frankly underrated as a defender. It's a weird thing to say about a guy who has a literal "No Fly Zone" at his home park, but it's true.
He's up among the leaders in Outs Above Average since his rookie year in 2022, and he's already set a new high for Defensive Runs Saved in 2025. He's robbed two home runs, including this one against Trent Grisham.
J-Rod's fly ball catching ability is the complete package, as his jumps, routes and closing speed all rate better than average. As such, really the only thing to ding him on is that he does have a bit of a home-field advantage of T-Mobile Park because of how many fly balls the marine layer knocks down.
3. CF Ceddanne Rafaela, Boston Red Sox
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Innings in CF: 553.1
Defensive Metrics: 10 DRS, 9 OAA
Ceddanne Rafaela was not a full-time center fielder in 2024. The Red Sox simply didn't have the depth to use him in that capacity, and thus had to resort to wasting him on the infield.
Why bring it up? Well, because it makes it that much more remarkable that Rafaela leads all center fielders in Defensive Runs Saved since the start of last season.
The 24-year-old is fearless out there, seemingly running full-speed even when a wall is rapidly approaching. And walls approach him more rapidly than most, as he covers ground even better than the next guy on this list.
It's also worth recalling Rafaela robbed a home run that he wasn't even the first to touch in May, if for no other reason than that tandem play with Wilyer Abreu was tons of fun.
2. CF Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
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Innings in CF: 599.2
Defensive Metrics: 10 DRS, 11 OAA
It was foretold that Pete Crow-Armstrong would be a game-changer in center, with MLB Pipeline lauding him for being able to "make plays most defenders can only dream of."
That scans. Just 204 games into his major league career, the 23-year-old already owns 22 Defensive Runs Saved and has otherwise become a "that guy" on the highlight-reel circuit. You know, one of those guys who's always there.
There actually are outfielders who are quicker to react off the bat, among them Rafaela. As such, there's still room for Crow-Armstrong to cut down on precious microseconds in his pursuit of fly balls.
If he does, nary a ball in the air will stand a chance. Nobody has closing speed like PCA, and he even rates as a slightly more efficient route-runner than Rafaela.
1. CF Denzel Clarke, Athletics
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Innings in CF: 136.2
Defensive Metrics: 7 DRS, 8 OAA
It is, of course, a little soon to be anointing Denzel Clarke as the best defender in MLB. He's only played 18 games for the Athletics, and he'd better get his OPS above .501 if he wants to stick.
But, well, what can we say? Recency bias is a hard habit to kick.
Besides, to have that many Defensive Runs Saved and that many Outs Above Average in not even 140 innings of work is patently absurd. And even more than the numbers, the best testament to his fielding is that he already has one of those "increasingly more epic" highlight reels.
The actual components of Clarke's fly ball catching abilities don't actually rate as well as those of Rafaela and Crow-Armstrong. Yet there is something to be said about his environmental awareness, specifically in how the 25-year-old sees walls coming as if he has eyes in the back of his head.
A final fun fact about Clarke is that he's only rated as a 50 defender by MLB Pipeline. A sincere rating, perhaps, but it's aging very poorly, very quickly.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
