Center field is typically the domain of the most athletic, defensively gifted players in baseball. That is perhaps more true today than it's been in years. As the sport has trended younger and more athletic, it's rare to see a player with a below-average glove and above-average bat persist in center field past his prime.
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The list of the best center fielders in Major League Baseball today is, not surprisingly, dominated by young, athletic players. It's a list that figures to be dynamic. Two of the 10 players ranked below were not center fielders when last season began, but their athleticism left their teams little choice but to try them at a new position.
The list also features a couple stalwarts who, health permitting, are still among the best players on the field when their bodies allow them to play.
Here is Newsweek Sports' compilation of the Top 10 center fielders in MLB:
10. Jung Hoo Lee
Call this an educated bet that no team would invest $113 million over six years — like the San Francisco Giants did a year ago — in Lee unless he were worthy of this list. His 37-game cameo in 2024 (.262, two home runs, two stolen bases) was cut short by season-ending shoulder surgery. In Korea, Lee hit .349 with 23 home runs and 113 RBIs in 142 games in 2022, his last full season. Now healthy, he's expected to help the Giants improve their fourth-place standing in the National League West.
9. Luis Robert Jr.
A consensus top-10 prospect prior to the 2020 season, Robert has only intermittently put it all together at the major league level for the White Sox. He made his first All-Star team and won a Silver Slugger Award in 2023 by hitting .264 with 38 home runs and stealing 20 bases. He stole 23 bases in 2024 despite missing two months with a hip injury and compiling a measly .278 on-base percentage. Expect Robert to rebound — especially if he gets a change of scenery amid Chicago's long rebuild.
8. Brenton Doyle
This might have been the best defensive play of 2024.
Brenton Doyle, coming in and going across his body for a diving catch THEN getting a 95th-percentile runner at third base.
Might even say this Gold Glove Award winner is worthy of Platinum. pic.twitter.com/jliXi5MmR7
A Gold Glove Award winner in each of his first two seasons, Doyle hit 22 home runs and stole 30 bases for the Colorado Rockies in 2024. That added up to a 4-WAR season for the 26-year-old, who could become a fixture at the position for the next decade — and might be the best player you've never heard of.
7. Cedric Mullins
Mullins is in danger of being overlooked on an Orioles team that has gotten younger and more talented as it ascends the American League East. An All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner in 2021, the 30-year-old has been a .258/.325/.440 hitter over the last four seasons while providing highlight-reel defensive plays in Baltimore.
6. Oneil Cruz
The Pirates moved the 6-foot-7 Cruz off shortstop midway through last season, giving him a chance to unleash his speed and range in center field. Although Cruz's age-25 season was superb (21 home runs, 22 stolen bases, 113 OPS+), there's a sense the best is yet to come as he grows into a new position.
5. Michael Harris II
The 2022 National League Rookie of the Year might be higher on this list were it not for a down year at the plate (.264/.304/.418) in an injury plagued 2024 season. From 2022-23, he slashed .295/.334/.494 while providing stellar defense in center field in Atlanta. He and the Braves will look to rebound in 2025.
4. Byron Buxton
Buxton has played only 736 of a possible 1,356 games since 2017 because of a smorgasboard of injuries. Remarkably, the Twins' center fielder has maintained his status as an elite talent when healthy throughout his career. In 2024, he slashed .279/.335/.524 (137 OPS+), while hitting 18 home runs in 102 games. Buxton's sprint speed remains elite, which helps explain why the Twins haven't moved him off center field when healthy. A move to one of the corners might allow Buxton to play more than 100 games for only the third time in his career; in the meantime, he's impossible to take off this list.
3. Mike Trout
Many of the same "when healthy" caveats apply to Trout, whose run of poor injury luck began in 2021 and has yet to peter out. Although limited to 266 games across the last four seasons, Trout has slashed .276/.376/.575 during that span. His 160 OPS+ is the worst of any four-year stretch of his career, but easily makes him the centerpiece of the Angels' lineup when healthy. Now 33, Trout is looking to rebound from a pair of meniscus injuries that limited his 2024 season to 29 games.
2. Jackson Merrill
Merrill wasn't even eligible for this list this time a year ago. The 21-year-old was a rising shortstop prospect who was blocked on the San Diego Padres' infield, then moved to center field in spring training. What happened next? A 24-homer, 90-RBI season, a .292/.326/.500 slash line, and a runner-up finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Merrill fulfilled his promise as a consensus Top-20 prospect by collecting downballot MVP votes for the Padres, who won 93 games and came within one game of upsetting the eventual champion Dodgers in the NL Division Series. Advanced defensive metrics ranked Merrill among the 10 best fielders at his new position.
1. Julio Rodriguez
Still only 24, Rodriguez's skillset appears immune to the power-suppressing effects of Seattle's T-Mobile Park. In his first three major league seasons, Rodriguez has won a Rookie of the Year Award, two Silver Sluggers, and made two All-Star teams. Even in his "down season" of 2024, Rodriguez hit 20 home runs, stole 24 bases, and compiled a 116 OPS+ while maintaining his status as one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball. It's no wonder the Mariners signed him to a contract guaranteed through 2029, with options that could keep him in Seattle through 2024.
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