I know the feeling. I used to hate watching Jud make all those great first steps on the ball flight and made each catch that much easier. It almost seemed unfair to the other team. Shame for such an average outfielder wouldn't you say.
Jud has a great first step but let’s not get carried away with his arm. He only had 6 outfield assist his whole career. It is not like he was throwing kids out every other inning. Langford had six as well and he played a lot less games.
Agreed, the most impressive thing to me about Jud was when he got to UF he already knew how to play the ball at the fence. He could make that look routine and it’s not.
If 5 is Clemente then every other human is 3 or lower. He was my favorite player that wasn't a pitcher.
Jud has a decent arm. It isn't a pop gun. I think that Langford has a better arm and he was playing left field most of last season and that is where you usually put your weakest outfield arm. I am sure that Sully had his reasons. Jud's greatest defensive skill is getting a good jump on the ball and the speed to make the play. As for batting he needs to be more selective and he needs to learn that he won't be making big money by hitting homers even though he probably thinks that he got drafted because of hitting homers. Doubles in the gap and doubles down the lines are very good at bats and what he should be looking for. And with his speed triples (@WESGATORS) are on the menu. Of course the occasion for an occasional dinger will be there.
Good question and know I'm no baseball expert at all but I do like to watch them at practice. So I have more to "judge" from than just game experience and yes those are two separate things. To me Jud's arm on power was a 3 out of 5 but his accuracy was a 4 and his instinct where the ball should go was a 5. I grade all that to say Jud's arm was not the strongest but he knew where to throw it and the ball usually got there on a controllable one hop. That made him so much better on his throws than any other outfielder we had while Jud played here. So yes his arm was beatable by I guy with speed but he kept plenty of base runners from testing him because they knew it was sure to be a close play at best. JMHO.
Agree on Clemente but not your rating of all others. There are plenty of guys with cannons. I watched and paid much more attention to MLB from the 60’s to the 90’s. Al Kaline, Ken Griffey Jr, Vlad Guerrero, Willie Mayes, Mickey Mantle and Jesse Barfield threw out a ton of guys. Does anybody run on Ichiro Suzuki?
Tris Speaker, who played from 1907-1928, holds the record for OF assists with 449. Ty Cobb (1905-1928) is second with 392. Of the guys who played since 1950, Roberto Clemente (1955-1972) has the most OF assists, ranked 17th all time, with 266. Hank Aaron is next, 51st all time, with 201. Willie Mays had 196, Carl Yastrzemski had 195, Richie Ashburn had 178, Barry Bonds 173, Vada Pinson 172, Al Kaline 170, Dave Winfield 166, Rusty Staub 165, Jesse Barfield 162, Tony Gwynn 160, Andre Dawson & Dwight Evans 157, Ken Griffey, Jr. & Larry Walker 154, Joe DiMaggio 153. Mickey Mantle had 104 OF assists.
I saw those numbers previously and wondered were they that much more aggressive running the bases in the early 1900’s?
I stopped after seeing Bo at only 24th.. pure sillyness.. Was Jim Edmonds on there? Should be if not.
Was he the Reds outfielder that in pregame would stand at home plate and throw the ball over the fence in dead center at Riverfront?
Since I don't know exactly the game situation I don't know if overthrowing the cutoff man was a good decision or not. Tie score bottom of the ninth make that throw 100% of the time. Early in the game with nobody out and a close score hit the cutoff man and keep the hitter to a single and not in scoring position. And truly elite arms make that throw through the cuttoff man. Clemente threw ropes and not lollipops. Still a great risky play that worked but maybe not the smart play depending on the game situation. Somebody once said that catching a fly ball was a pleasure. Knowing what to do with it after you catch it is a business. Same thing after fielding an outfield hit.
