Ranking the 15 projected starting American League left fielders

Turning 33 on May 15, Brantley has been an All-Star each of the last three seasons. He hit .311 last year, and has hit at least .299 in each of his last full five seasons (played just 11 games in 2016). He’s one of the hardest hitters to strike out, and he hit a career-high 22 homers in 2019.

Meadows finished 14th in AL MVP voting in 2019, his first full season in the majors. His excellent year consisted of a .291 batting average, .922 OPS, 33 homers, and 89 RBIs. He slightly is below Michael Brantley due to Brantley proving to be better in the outfield.

It was a breakout 2019 season for Canha, who turns 31 on February 15. He walked on 13.5 percent of his plate appearances, connected on 26 homers, and had a stellar .913 OPS. According to CBS Sports, a lot of his improvement was due to hitting much better against right-handed pitching (.966 OPS in 2019 compared to just .665 in 2018).

The 28-year-old Rosario finished 18th in AL MVP voting in 2019. He hit a career-best 32 homers (has 83 over the last three years) and also finished with career-highs in RBIs (109) and runs (91). While he is a great player, he does have his warts such as drawing just 22 walks last year and taking a big step backwards according to defensive metrics in the field.

Last season was a bit of a disappointment for Benintendi. A year after hitting .290 with an .830 OPS, he saw those numbers fall to .266 and .774 respectively in 2019. Major League Baseball’s first-ranked prospect entering 2017 is still just 25 years old, so the hope for Boston is he begins reaching his full potential in 2020.

The 23-year-old Jimenez had a stellar rookie season in which he finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. While the walk-to-strikeout ratio can stand to improve (30-to-134), he crushed 31 home runs and finished with an .828 OPS. The third-ranked prospect according to Major League Baseball entering 2019 also needs to show improvement on defense after a subpar year in left field.

Left field will likely be shared by Tauchman and Giancarlo Stanton (when he is not DHing). Tauchman will need to prove 2019 was not a fluke as he came out of nowhere to hit .277 with an .865 OPS over 296 plate appearances. He also performed admirably at all three outfield positions.

The 32-year-old Upton didn’t make his season debut until June 17 last year, and he looked lost at the plate in the 63 games he played. Both his batting average (.215) and OPS (.724) were easily career-lows. He hit 65 homers, drove in 194 runs, and posted an .855 OPS in the two years prior, so the Angels hope a healthy Upton can revert to that level.

In about half a season of action (84 games), Gurriel Jr. had a productive year at the plate. He hit 20 homers for Toronto and had an excellent .869 OPS. He performed well manning left field as well after being a middle infielder during his rookie year of 2018.

In 339 at bats last year, the 25-year-old Calhoun slugged 21 home runs which helped him finish with an impressive .848 OPS. The left-handed hitter hopes to be more effective against southpaw pitching though as he hit just .225 against them (compared to .290 against righties).

The 11th overall pick in the 2016 draft, Lewis had an 18-game stint in his first call up to the big leagues last year. In just 71 at bats, he hit six home runs and five doubles. He does strike out frequently though with 29 in his short MLB time last year and an additional 152 in AA.

With just one career homer and a .565 OPS in 139 plate appearances (2017-18) entering 2019, Santander had a power surge (as did seemingly half the league) hitting 20 home runs with a .773 OPS in 405 plate appearances last year. The 25-year-old provided strong defense at all three outfield positions.

Entering his 14th season (all with the Royals), Gordon has been a historic player in Kansas City lore. He won his seventh Gold Glove last year, although it may have been based more off reputation as he has lost some range. He improved offensively from the previous two years (.741 OPS in 2019, .665 from 2016-18), but saw his numbers plummet after the All-Star break.

A career .266 hitter at AAA, Bauers hasn’t come close to approaching that as a big leaguer. He hit .226 last year after barely hitting over the Mendoza line (.201) as a rookie with the Rays in 2018. He does draw walks at an above-average rate which at least makes his on-base percentage close to respectable.

The 26-year-old Stewart has shown pop in his bat in the minors, but he hasn’t proven to be valuable offensively with Detroit. Last year, he hit .233 with a .693 OPS over 416 plate appearances. Defensive metrics have soured on him during both his years in the major leagues.