Numbers don't show how good Jackie Bradley Jr. is in center

BOSTON — Sabermetric research doesn’t rank Jackie Bradley Jr. anywhere near the top of the list of center fielders in the majors, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora doesn’t care.

"I do feel he’s the best center fielder in the big leagues," Cora said on Tuesday before the Sox hosted the Indians at Fenway Park.

According to Fangraphs.com, Bradley ranks only 10th among center fielders in defensive runs saved with two. [...]

BOSTON — Sabermetric research doesn’t rank Jackie Bradley Jr. anywhere near the top of the list of center fielders in the majors, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora doesn’t care.

“I do feel he’s the best center fielder in the big leagues,” Cora said on Tuesday before the Sox hosted the Indians at Fenway Park.

According to Fangraphs.com, Bradley ranks only 10th among center fielders in defensive runs saved with two. Among all outfielders, he ranks 26th in DRS with four, including the time he’s played in right field this season. Milwaukee’s Lorenzo Cain ranks first among center fielders with 17 and Detroit’s JaCoby Jones, who plays left and center, tops all outfielders with 19.

But as Cora pointed out, some outfielders rank high in DRS because they’ve leaped up against outfield walls to rob home runs and Bradley can’t do that in most of Fenway Park because the walls are too high. Only on the right side of the triangle in center can Bradley reach over the wall, but he has to get back there first and that’s not easy.

“It sounds biased,” Cora said. “Obviously I’m the manager of the Red Sox, but you see that kid on a daily basis. Sometimes, I’m like, ‘Wow.’ My reactions are genuine.”

When Tampa Bay cleanup hitter Tommy Pham crushed a pitch to center last weekend, Cora said his initial reaction was “oof,” because the ball was hit so hard, but Bradley ran it down and caught it to change his reaction to “wow.”

Some outfielders can track down fly balls, but lack Bradley’s strong arm and he’s worked hard on his accuracy this season.

“It improves from year to year,” he said. “Obviously, sometimes you’re not going to make a perfect throw, but just make sure my footwork is there and continue to repeat it.”

When he was Houston’s bench coach last season, Cora noticed that Bradley overthrew the cutoff man too often. This year, he’s hitting the cutoff man.

“People don’t challenge him either,” Cora said, “so he doesn’t get too many assists. So I think he’s paying the price because he’s that good.”

Bradley had a career-high 13 assists in 2014 and again in 2016, but had only six last season and has just six so far this season. Entering Tuesday, he had made only four errors this season, three in 104 games in center and one in 11 games in right.

So what does Bradley take more pride in, making a diving catch or throwing out a runner at home?

“Both of them give me equal satisfaction,” he said.

When he’s chasing flies, Bradley doesn’t prefer running to right or left. It’s all the same to him.

“I’ve always been pretty gifted,” he said. “I work at it, practice on it and continue to try to learn. You never get done learning.”

Second baseman Ian Kinsler ranks Bradley as the best defensive center fielder he’s played with in his 13 years in the majors with the Rangers, Tigers, Angels and Red Sox.

“Josh Hamilton was really good out there,” Kinsler said of his former teammate in Texas, “but he was so big. Jackie is so agile and he moves so well. He’s a lot of fun to watch out there.”

Kinsler said now that he’s playing for the Sox, he’s glad that he no longer has to worry about Bradley robbing him of a hit.

“You don’t want to hit it to center field when you’re playing against the Red Sox,” he said. “If you do, you’re out.”

Mookie Betts is one of the top defensive right fielders and left fielder Andrew Benintendi isn’t bad either, as he reminded fans on Monday night when he made a diving catch of a ball hit by Cleveland’s Greg Allen.

“The communication that they have, it helps them a lot,” Cora said. “It helps them that they’re very talented and I think positioning has been a lot better the last month and a half, two months.”

First-base coach Tom Goodwin and third-base coach Carlos Febles give each player a positioning card they’ve compiled, indicating where opponents usually hit the ball. In Minnesota in June, Betts was positioned perfectly in right-center to catch a ball hit by Joe Mauer. After his catch, he waved his card in appreciation. A couple of weeks later, Cora noticed that Mauer hit another ball in the same area against a different team and the center fielder had to dive for it.

“It makes you feel,” Cora said, “like, ‘OK, we’re doing our homework because we knew that he was going to hit the ball there.’ It’s a combination of everything, but at the end they’re talented, they’re very good and they communicate, which is great.”