Best arm in baseball

[Donuthole]

I loved me some Mondesi. I remember him throwing out Larry C. Jones at second base with his back practically pinned up against the right field stands. Jones was halfway to second when Mondesi let the bullet fly.

EDIT: Found a Link

[Clark Addison]

The one that really sticks out for me was in a World Series game against Oakland when he caught a fly ball and threw out Sal Bando at the plate after Bando had tagged up at third.

Yes, that's the one. I remembered him cutting in front of the centerfielder. Found a video of it:

[Surfah]

I can't believe there are this many highlights. You'd think people wouldn't run on Ichiro.

[MarkGrace]

I can't believe there are this many highlights. You'd think people wouldn't run on Ichiro.

That was awesome. How ridiculously on point are all throws throws? Amazing. And one of the crazy thing's about him is how slight he is compared to some of the other guys being discussed. I just looked up his listing and they have him at 170, but I swear even that seems generous. I also loved the Japanese footage. Hitting a game in Japan had always been on my baseball bucket list, and we went to a Yomiuri Giants game at the Tokyo Dome while we were there. So cool and so much fun. My wife and sister wore Ichiro jerseys and people were loving it.

[Vic Vega]

I remember Andre Dawson throwing some bullets to home plate when he got to charge the ball. I went to YouTube to see if they were as good as I remembered them.

I found some of my favorite Dawson throws in this video, but I would love to see some of his throws to the plate as well.

http://youtu.be/oAKkHxkkCyA?t=46s

[Jarid in Cedar]

I can't believe I didn't include Bo.

I can't believe there isn't a better video of this throw, but this is the best throw that I can recall.

[Surfah]

That was awesome. How ridiculously on point are all throws throws? Amazing. And one of the crazy thing's about him is how slight he is compared to some of the other guys being discussed. I just looked up his listing and they have him at 170, but I swear even that seems generous. I also loved the Japanese footage. Hitting a game in Japan had always been on my baseball bucket list, and we went to a Yomiuri Giants game at the Tokyo Dome while we were there. So cool and so much fun. My wife and sister wore Ichiro jerseys and people were loving it.

Another thing about Ichiro is that his throws are lasers. I swear I don't think they get higher than 10' off the ground. Compare that with Hicks' throw that people have been creaming themselves over and I think it is clear who has the stronger arm.

[RC Vikings]

I was at Three Rivers one evening where a ball was hit to Andy Van Slyke in center and he threw it back to home on a rope. I would put him in the mix when talking about best arms.

[cougjunkie]

I thought about this thread during church on Sunday. A few that came to mind:

Barry Bonds- lead the league in OF assists on several occassions, also won 8 gold gloves.

Larry Walker
Bobby Abreu
Jesse Barfield

I also googled the MLB record for most outfield assists, Tris Speaker had 449 in his career which is insane. Did guys just keep running back in those days until they scored or were tagged out?

[MarkGrace]

I thought about this thread during church on Sunday. A few that came to mind:

Barry Bonds- lead the league in OF assists on several occassions, also won 8 gold gloves.

Larry Walker
Bobby Abreu
Jesse Barfield

I also googled the MLB record for most outfield assists, Tris Speaker had 449 in his career which is insane. Did guys just keep running back in those days until they scored or were tagged out?

:yikes:

[cougjunkie]

:yikes:

Late in his career he struggled but when he was with the Pirates he had a great arm. Go look at his years in Pittsburgh and the OF assists he had 15 one year and 14, four years in a row. Even the advanced metrics say he was solid in Pitt. He had an Rtot of 37,28 and 24 during his tenure (late in his career is was -2). His range factor was higher than the league average his entire time spent in Pitt.

In SF he was bad defensively, but not in Pitt.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I thought about this thread during church on Sunday. A few that came to mind:

Barry Bonds- lead the league in OF assists on several occassions, also won 8 gold gloves.

Larry Walker
Bobby Abreu
Jesse Barfield

I also googled the MLB record for most outfield assists, Tris Speaker had 449 in his career which is insane. Did guys just keep running back in those days until they scored or were tagged out?

I'm always absolutely amazed when someone uses a player's Gold Gloves in an argument.

[cougjunkie]

I'm always absolutely amazed when someone uses a player's Gold Gloves in an argument.

Read the follow up post.

We are also talking about having a good arm not being a good defensive player. Jeff Francouer was not great defensively but has a cannon. Outfield assists is really the only true measurement.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Late in his career he struggled but when he was with the Pirates he had a great arm. Go look at his years in Pittsburgh and the OF assists he had 15 one year and 14, four years in a row. Even the advanced metrics say he was solid in Pitt. He had an Rtot of 37,28 and 24 during his tenure (late in his career is was -2). His range factor was higher than the league average his entire time spent in Pitt.

In SF he was bad defensively, but not in Pitt.

If was good that you started using other stats, because outfield assists by itself is incredibly flawed.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Read the follow up post.

We are also talking about having a good arm not being a good defensive player. Jeff Francouer was not great defensively but has a cannon. Outfield assists is really the only true measurement.

Except for the fact that a player with a cannon for an arm may not have people test his arm and as a result not have many outfield assists.