McNeil and Lugo Ranked on MLB Network's "Top 10 Right Now!"

JEFF MCNEIL RANKED 5^TH ON MLB NETWORK’S COUNTDOWN

TOP 10 THIRD BASEMEN RIGHT NOW!

Seth Lugo Ranked 7^th on Top 10 Relief Pitchers Right Now!

Tug McGraw Featured on Top 10 Relief Pitchers of the Live Ball Era

MLB Network’s Top 100 Players Right Now! Countdown Series Begins Tuesday Night

February 8, 2020 – New York Mets third baseman Jeff McNeil was ranked fifth on MLB Network’s annual Top 10 Third Basemen Right Now! program earlier tonight, while teammate Seth Lugo was ranked seventh on the Top 10 Relief Pitchers Right Now!. McNeil, who makes his debut on the countdown, finished one spot ahead of the Minnesota Twins’ Josh Donaldson and one spot behind the Oakland Athletics’ Matt Chapman. Lugo, who also makes his debut on the countdown, finished one spot ahead of the New York Yankees’ Adam Ottavino and one spot behind the Boston Red Sox’s Brandon Workman.

In addition to McNeil and Lugo, the Mets’ Jacob deGrom ranked first on Top 10 Starting Pitchers Right Now! last week while Wilson Ramos ranked sixth on Top 10 Catchers Right Now! on January 25, Pete Alonso ranked third on Top 10 First Basemen Right Now! and Michael Conforto ranked ninth on Top 10 Right Fielders Right Now! on January 18, and Brandon Nimmo ranked ninth on Top 10 Center Fielders Right Now! on January 11.

Hosted by MLB Network’s Brian Kenny alongside MLB Network analysts, each Top 10 Right Now! ranking considers player performance over the last two seasons, with an emphasis on 2019. Offensive, defensive and Statcast metrics, plus expert analysis by the MLB Network research team, are also taken into account when determining each ranking.

On tonight’s countdown, MLB Network analyst and Gold Glove Award-winning third baseman Mike Lowell said of McNeil, “I know it’s just been a year and a half, but he has done nothing but impress the doubters, the naysayers. He doesn’t have that prototype, 6-foot-4, 225 build, but he’s a baseball player. He slugs, he gets on-base, he hits lefties, he hits righties. I’m actually pretty excited to see what type of year he’s going to put together entrenched at third base, logging in those 150-plus games.”

On Lugo, analyst and 18-year MLB pitcher Dan Plesac said, “His spin rate on the curveball is the best in baseball of guys coming out of the bullpen. Good fastball that he uses up in the zone, he’s a strike thrower and what makes him more valuable to the Mets? He’s an innings eater out of the bullpen. He’s not strictly a three batter guy, a one inning guy, he can go multiple innings. Just like starting pitchers save the bullpen, this guy in the bullpen saves the rest of the bullpen guys because he can throw multiple innings.”

The complete rankings for MLB Network’s top-10 third basemen and relief pitchers are listed below and available at mlb.com/top10rightnow. Embeddable recaps on McNeil and Lugo can be seen here and here:

Top 10 Third Basemen Right Now!

1.            Alex Bregman, Houston Astros

2.            Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Angels

3.            Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies

4.            Matt Chapman, Oakland Athletics

5.            Jeff McNeil, New York Mets

6.            Josh Donaldson, Minnesota Twins

7.            Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers

8.            Eugenio Suárez, Cincinnati Reds

9.            José Ramírez, Cleveland Indians

10.          Manny Machado, San Diego Padres

Top 10 Relief Pitchers Right Now!

1.            Kirby Yates, San Diego Padres

2.            Aroldis Chapman, New York Yankees

3.            Josh Hader, Milwaukee Brewers

4.            Liam Hendriks, Oakland Athletics

5.            Ryan Pressly, Houston Astros

6.            Brandon Workman, Boston Red Sox

7.            Seth Lugo, New York Mets

8.            Adam Ottavino, New York Yankees

9.            Taylor Rogers, Minnesota Twins

10.          Will Smith, Atlanta Braves

Finishing it’s tenth season, MLB Network’s Top 10 Right Now! series featured analysis from MLB Network on-air personalities and roundtable discussions with The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh, and MLB.com writers Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs. As 2020 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Live Ball Era, each episode included a new segment called “Top 10 of the Live Ball Era,” featuring Brian Kenny and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo discussing and debating the best players at each position over the last 100 years. Tug McGraw ranked fifth on Kenny’s “Top 10 Relief Pitchers of the Live Ball Era” ranking, finishing one spot ahead of Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter and one spot behind Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers. McGraw ranked ninth on Russo’s relief pitchers list, finishing one spot ahead of Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman and one spot behind Rich Gossage.

MLB Network’s offseason rankings will continue this Tuesday as MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger, Sean Casey and Ron Darling count down the Top 100 Players Right Now! across six episodes on three consecutive nights. The series will culminate this coming Thursday when Amsinger, Casey and Darling unveil the top-10 players on this year’s countdown live at 10:00 p.m. ET. The complete schedule for the Top 100 Players Right Now! series is listed below:

Date	Time	Show
Tuesday, February 11	9:00 p.m. ET	Top 100 Players Right Now!: 100-81
	10:00 p.m. ET	Top 100 Players Right Now!: 80-61
Wednesday, February 12	9:00 p.m. ET	Top 100 Players Right Now!: 60-41
	10:00 p.m. ET	Top 100 Players Right Now!: 40-21
Thursday, February 13	9:00 p.m. ET	Top 100 Players Right Now!: 20-11
	10:00 p.m. ET – LIVE	Top 100 Players Right Now!: 10-1