Center field
Again, the constant churn of turnover in center field made the competition sparse. Only five center fielders reached the 500 plate appearance standard both seasons to be considered.
Fortunately for the quality of the position, one of the five was Aaron Judge, the record-setting American League home run champion. His four competitors were Trent Grisham of the Padres, Cedric Mullins of the Orioles, Brian Reynolds of the Pirates and Myles Straw of the Astros and Indians.
Obviously Judge emerged as the overall winner, and with good statistical reason. With a total of 16.6 cumulative WAR, he was nearly twice as valuable by that standard as Mullins, the category runner-up at 9.5. Reynolds, at 8.9 WAR, was third, followed by Grisham and Straw, both at 5.9
Judge’s 2021 OPS+ of 148 and his 2022 score of 211 created a 180.0 average, again comfortably ahead of the field. Reynolds, at 135.5, was second, with Mullins, Grisham and Straw trailing in that order.
But unlike Arozarena in left field, Judge did not complete the category sweep. His total of 1,329 plate appearances, 91.8 percent of the theoretical max, only ranked second. Mullins was the category leader at 1,347. Reynolds, Straw and Grisham trailed.
That still left Judge with a solid overall advantage amounting to 1.33 ordinal average. With category finishes of second, third and first, Mullins was second at 2.00. Reynolds, at 2.67, was third.