Brantley Ranked 1st in MLB Network's Top 10 Left Fielders Right Now

hello again, Brantley fans! for the past 2 Thursdays, MLB Network has been airing their annual Top 10 lists, and tonight, on January 28 at 10 pm EST, it was time for their "Top 10 Right Now: Left Fielders" show.

photo courtesy of @MLBNetwork on twitter

with hosts Brian Kenny and Cliff Floyd, the Top 10 left field players currently in baseball going into the 2016 season were ranked by MLB Network's Shredder. an analytic methodology going by the name of The Shredder, who operates unbiased and without emotion, compiles rankings based on a player's recent performance and projections for the player's upcoming season. keep in mind that baseball analysts and fans disagree with The Shredder quite often, so this isn't a list to get too worked up about if you dislike the rankings. but it's fun to debate why The Shredder is right or wrong anyway.

before this particular Top 10 even aired, i had concerns about where Michael would place. i felt like

Brantley Ranked 43rd in Baseball Tonight's Top 100 Players

as promised, ESPN's Baseball Tonight unveiled their Top 100 Players going into 2015 on March 30 and 31. the players ranked 100-51 were revealed on the afternoon of March 30 online, while the players ranked 50-26 were revealed online in the afternoon today on March 31. and later tonight, an ESPN2 special, airing at 8 pm EST, will be announcing the Top 25 players.

unfortunately, in what came as a complete shock to me, i did not have to wait for the 8 o'clock show to find out where Michael placed on the list because

Brantley Ranked 1st in Baseball Tonight's Top 10 Left Fielders

today, on March 23, ESPN's Baseball Tonight revealed their Top 10 left fielders going into 2015. not normally one to care much about ESPN rankings, i figured i would post this on my blog anyways because it's great for Michael.

a panel of MLB writers, analysts, and contributors were put together by ESPN to rank the Top 100 MLB players heading into 2015. a list of more than 300 players was provided to over 60 ESPN experts, who were polled in February and March. that list was narrowed down to the Top 100 based on how well the experts felt the players would perform, on a scale of 0 to 10, in 2015. those results will be announced on March 30 and 31 on a special edition of Baseball Tonight at 8 pm EST on ESPN2. i am very interested in seeing where Michael ranks on that list.

until then however, Baseball Tonight is revealing their Top 10 lists of each position around the diamond. today they kicked it off with the Top 10 left, center, and right fielders, but i am only going to cover the Top 10 left fielders here.

Brantley Ranked 21st in MLB Network's Top 100 Players Right Now

with spring training games right around the corner, MLB Network aired the 4th installment of their 5-part series entitled "Top 100 Right Now" tonight on February 27 at 9 pm EST. the show ranked the Top 100 major league players currently in baseball going into 2015. Greg Amsinger, Ron Darling, and Bill Ripken counted down players from 100-81, 80-61, 60-41, 40-21, and 20-1 in 5 one-hour specials over 3 days from February 25-27.

this annual list is based on the players' performances over the past three seasons, with a particular emphasis on the most recent (2014). other criteria taken into consideration for these rankings includes projected performance for the upcoming season, defensive position, individual accolades, and the intangibles they bring to game (ex. team leadership).

photo courtesy of @MLBNetwork twitter

a little more than one month ago, Michael had been ranked as the 3rd best left fielder in the game by MLB Network's The Shredder. because of that and the fact that Michael won the 2014 AL OF Silver Slugger Award PLUS finished 3rd in the 2014 American League MVP voting, i had high expectations. i wanted

Brantley Ranked 3rd in MLB Network's Top 10 Left Fielders Right Now

tonight, on January 22 at 10 pm EST, MLB Network aired a show entitled "Top 10 Right Now: Left Fielders." it ranked the top 10 left field players currently in baseball going into 2015 according to MLB Network's Shredder. The Shredder takes many statistical factors into consideration and operates without bias when compiling these rankings, much to the dismay of a lot of fans. needless to say, this isn't a list worth taking too seriously one way or the other.

photo courtesy of @MLBNetwork twitter

even though Michael spent time in both left and center field last year, i knew he would be in this Top 10 list, and because of his stats from 2014, i assumed that he would probably place near the top. however,

Brantley Finishes 3rd in MLB Network's 2014 Top Breakout Performers Countdown

tonight, on January 18 at 10 pm, MLB Network aired a show entitled "Top Breakout Performers Of 2014."

screenshot cropped off m.mlb.com/network

knowing how close Michael Brantley was to winning the Breakout Player of the Year GIBBY Award, i figured he would be pretty high on this Top 40 countdown.