Ranking the 5 AL West center fielders entering the 2023 season

The Los Angeles Angels have been fortunate to have Mike Trout roaming around in center field for the last 12 seasons and he'll continue to be there for a while.

We all know how great Trout is but is he still the best center fielder in the division? There is one rising star everyone's very excited about. Let's rank the five center fielders in the AL West.

5) Esteury Ruiz - Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics made maybe the most confusing trade of the offseason when they sent Sean Murphy to the Braves in a three-team deal involving the Brewers. It's confusing because the Braves got the best player in Murphy, but the Brewers got the second-best player in William Contreras! Oakland gave up the best player in the deal and couldn't even get the second-best player back. The headliner in the deal was Esteury Ruiz who we can all wonder why Oakland was so fixated on him.

Ruiz appeared in 14 games this past season for the Padres and was a part of the Josh Hader trade that sent Hader to San Diego. He then played in three games for Milwaukee at the end of the season and went hitless in nine plate appearances. He has six hits in 35 at-bats overall.

Ruiz is a versatile player who provides great speed and solid defense but the bat isn't anything special. Oakland acquired a different speedster who could play a good center field but couldn't hit in Christian Pache in the Matt Olson trade and that didn't work out at all. Maybe Ruiz can hit but I'm going to have to see it to believe it.

2) Julio Rodriguez - Seattle Mariners

The top-two center fielders in this division are clear and they might even be the top two in all of baseball. MLB Network had Mike Trout at one, Byron Buxton at two, and Julio Rodriguez at three in their top-ten list. An argument could be made that J-Rod should be at two and Buxton at three despite Rodriguez only playing in one season. He was that good.

Julio Rodriguez has the potential to become the best player in the game one day. He's a five-tool player who's so fun to watch. It's a shame he has to be this good for the Mariners of all teams.

Rodriguez slashed .284/.345/.509 with 28 home runs and 75 RBI. He also stole 25 bases in 32 tries. He likely would've entered the 30/30 club as a rookie with 30+ home runs and stolen bases had he not missed time due to injury. He played in just 132 games.

Rodriguez was the best player on a Mariners team that made the postseason. It'll be interesting to see what he does for an encore.

1) Mike Trout - Los Angeles Angels

Mike Trout is still undeniably the best center fielder in baseball and one of the best players in baseball. Injuries have crushed him in recent years, but there is nobody better when he's on the field.

Trout stayed semi-healthy for the first time in a full season since 2019 as he played in 119 games and in those games he was still spectacular. Trout hit 40 home runs despite not even having enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. He had a 178 OPS+, won a Silver Slugger, and finished eighth in the MVP balloting despite the missed time.

Trout can still run and defend albeit not at the level he used to. He's still arguably the best hitter in the game and is without a doubt the best center fielder in the AL West.