MLB Network revealed their list of the top 10 center fielders in baseball last night. After going through the various positions, only Matt McLain (ranked #5 among second basemen) had made it into the top 10. However, the Cincinnati Reds added another player to their list when TJ Friedl, ranked #9 among center fielders, entered the list.

There are players who make sense ahead of him. Julio Rodriguez was ranked second and Aaron Judge first. Mike Trout finished fourth and Luis Robert third. The players who are ranked ahead of TJ Friedl all make sense. But then you have Cedric Mullins, Byron Buxton, James Outman, and Michael Harris II.

Regardless of the version you are using, I will debate with anyone about how accurate WAR is, but according to Fangraphs, all of those individuals supported Friedl in 2023. The Reds outfielder was ahead of those players, albeit it was close between them. Looking at the Baseball Reference version of WAR and using the same list of ten players, Friedl was also higher than all of the other players on the list except for Aaron Judge, Julio Rodriguez, and Luis Robert. By averaging the two WAR versions, Friedl comes in fourth.

The data they utilized, even in the brief synopsis of Friedl’s appearance on the show, indicate that he ought to have received a higher rating than they ultimately did.

Friedl hasn’t exactly had a lot of experience. In 2022, August, he was in Triple-A. I’m not sure if the same could be said about any other person on the list. However, since August 14, 2022, the day he was called back up, Friedl is ranked fifth in Fangraphs’ WAR rankings with a 5.4 average.

Is the fact that he had a full-season breakout this past year and that his 2022 season went poorly making him underappreciated? Most likely. If he can replicate his 2023 campaign, he won’t be underestimated or overlooked for very long.