national league right fielders (under-24 edition)

whoops on heyward's name spelling

also it took all my will to not troll & put lucas duda in this list

it's really just heyward vs. upton. leaning towards upton

this is really tough... i probably shouldn't have included harper since we have no idea how good he is, but alas

1. upton
2. harper
3. stanton
4. heyward
5. bruce

harper might end up being the best, but since he's a bit unknown i have upton first. he might be the NL mvp right now. and he's under 23. i'll insert harper over stanton because he'll probably get on base more, tho his raw power is probably less. put stanton over heyward after this season, but that one is pretty neck and neck atm. bruce is 5th for already being outperformed by upton & stanton and for not having heyward's & harper's upside

Heyward has sucked this year so I'll go with Bruce at #2.

harper has the power of hype behind him, but he's not even in the same universe as upton. everything i've read from scouts and such indicates that upton was a much better prospect coming out. i think heyward's the second most gifted guy on the list and his level of polish as a rookie was unreal, but injuries have been a question with him since High school. i think it's gonna continue to be a major issue for him.

if I were the Nats I'd trade Harper straight for Upton in a heartbeat, so yeah I'll pick him

im probably underrating stanton. 21 with a 142 ops+ is nothin to sniff at. i guess i'd say upton > stanton > heyward/harper > bruce, heyward would be in second place if i could say definitely that he wont keep getting dinged up

went Stanton (also a primo defender)

i'm voting Stanton, tho i probably think Upton is better. Hayward is having a horrible year, so he is probably second to last as of now.

i like all these guys but upton definitely the best

"everything i've read from scouts and such indicates that upton was a much better prospect coming out."

Really? I haven't read anything that's indicated that. Harper was pretty much by consensus the best positional prospect since A-Rod. And Harper destroyed Single-A whereas Upton looked pretty bored and mediocre there at the same age (of course he went on to destroy A+ and AA at 19).

My only issue with Upton is that he's had a fair amount of nagging injuries already. Anyway I'm going to bet upside and order accordingly:

Harper (highest power ceiling--along with Stanton, monster arm, good patience)
Upton
Stanton
Heyward (if this is just any injury blip he'd move ahead of Stanton)
Bruce

Not to nag, but youre picking Harper because of his 'power potential' over a guy who has hit 50 major league home runs at the age of 21?

I think I have been seduced by the long ball. Im also a Stan-ton because hes a LA dude..

Check out this table of dudes who accomplished the same feat. Good company:

1 Mel Ott 86
2 Tony Conigliaro 84
3 Eddie Mathews 72
4 Frank Robinson 67
5 Alex Rodriguez 64
6 Ken Griffey 60
7 Al Kaline 59
8 Mickey Mantle 57
9 Bob Horner 56
10 Andruw Jones 54
11 Ted Williams 54
12 Orlando Cepeda 52
13 Mike Stanton 50

"Not to nag, but youre picking Harper because of his 'power potential' over a guy who has hit 50 major league home runs at the age of 21?"

In part. I also just think that Harper sounds like a once in a generation talent. It could just be hype, sure, but sometimes hype is justified.

I think he's Ryan Leaf Jr.

it will be interesting to see how harper's defense in RF plays out

if he puts up consistent, demonstratively better seasons than upton at the plate than he might be the best player in baseball outright -- it's definitely possible, upton's already had two already great seasons so i think he's the safer pick while still retaining almost the same upside as harper, assuming the guy isn't barry bonds or something

stanton is interesting... he's dropped his k rate 4% and upped his bb rate 3%, and if he can stay at those levels & continue to up his power a bit then he'd be a pretty insane player. his OBP has really spiked recently but i'm not convinced that it's bcuz he's playing on a glorified triple A team so no one is gonna pitch to him when greg dobbs is batting behind him

not convinced that it's NOT bcuz he's playing etc

gotta say Uptons one of the most underrated, least discussed players in the game. My team plays in the goddamn NL West and I barely notice he exists.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Jay Bruce isn't getting much love by comparison (understandible), but he is close to breaking out. Thing is that he is either way hot or way cold at the plate. He puts up a whole season like he has done in streaks, the guy has an MVP coming. He's pretty good with the glove.

Reds got him locked up for a good long time.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

surprised bryce harper got no votes at all. don't believe the hype I guess

very interesting

well tbf he is not actually a national league right fielder

and he may ultimately prove to be the best of them -- if someone doesn't dickie thon him first -- but he should probably prove he can hit double-a pitching first

I don't know if it surprising in that you got three of those guys that have a few seasons MLB experience and data to know what you got and the fact they probably haven't peaked. Hayward slipped back pretty bad this year, but he has already put up one solid year in the bigs.

Bryce Harper might be the second coming, but he is still at AA. Harper still could hit the bigs and have some kind of huge hole in his swing or approach that pitchers just exploit him bad upon that you are not going to see at AA but until he hits the show.

although anecdotally, everyone that has seen him hit, from scouts to fellow players, is like holy shit

i remember buck o'neil saying in the ken burns thing about how when babe ruth and josh gibson hit the ball it just *sounded* different, and that he hadn't heard it again until bo jackson. ppl are acting like harper is next, but who knows

how'd this shake out now? harper and stanton are the clear top two, tho you could make a good argument for either. upton & heyward would be a really interesting debate... heyward's gotten overshadowed now but he's been amazing this season, tho he still may not put up a year as good as upton's 2011. bruce prob a clear fifth, but still fantastic in his own right.

'mike'

tough for bruce with votto on his own team

This is even tougher now than it was a year ago. Bruce is a clear fifth. It's way too early to write off Upton.