5 Slow Center Fielders We (Wrongly) Thought Were Good at Defense

Center fielders are a funny thing.

While they are captains of the outfield, they do routinely need some assistance by their flanking players.

Center fielders usually get praise for their range and speed, but many of them take advantage of their fellow outfielders and their stadiums to up their reputations.

Here are a few center fielders who wrongly gained reputations as dynamite fielders.

Coco Crisp

Coco Crisp is a very fast player on the base paths, but in general isn't that speedy in the outfield.

Throughout his career, he's been helped by small stadiums and solid supporting outfielders. He can't throw at all, and if he fails to get a good jump on the ball, he's usually going to watch it sail over his head for extra bases.

Bernie Williams

Williams was a very good player, but not in the outfield.

Using advanced fielding stats, Williams had a UZR of -90.8 over his final five seasons in center field. Even assuming his fielding and speed declined later in his career, it is still obvious that he was overrated due to the small size of Yankee Stadium and teammates that hid Bernie's fielding issues.

Melky Cabrera

Maybe it's playing in Yankee Stadium that hides poor centerfielders.

Melky Cabrera has been in the bottom five of fielding centerfielders over the past few seasons. This year he has an UZR of -8.5 and his range is limited.

Alex Rios

Alex Rios is a large liability both in the batters box and the outfield.

While he has a decent amount of speed on the base baths, his fielding range is poor and he is really playing out of position with Juan Pierre not in center.

Rios has an UZR of -6.8 fifth worst of all centerfielders this year.

Johnny Damon

Really glad Damon no longer plays center, as he is statically one of the worst of the past few decades. The Rays were smart to avoid Damon in center.

His last full year in center field was in 2005 in Boston, where center fielders only need to shade towards right due to the Green Monster.

His UZR that year was -16.8, one of the worst single seasons for any fielder at that position.

He's isn't all that fast, he can't throw at all, but at least he's not in center any more.