Last week, I ranked the top 10 defensive infielders in baseball. This week it's time to hit the outfield. Interestingly, the outfield has generated more disagreements between the Gold Glove voters and modern defensive statistics such as Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) than the infield has. Only four of my top 10 ranked outfielders has a Gold Glove award to his name.

This is my attempt to rank the best defensive outfielders based on my synthesis of various defensive metrics, my observations and the research we have done into the relative value of the three outfield positions. And for that last reason, no full-time left fielders made the list. In previous seasons, left fielders such as Alex Gordon and Starling Marte would have had a chance, but by and large teams still try to hide hitters in left field, and even the best defensive left fielders rarely excel when they try to play the more difficult outfield positions.

10. Lorenzo Cain, CF, Kansas City Royals: The Royals' outfield isn't what it was at its peak in 2013-15 when it saved more than 40 runs per year and helped propel a defense- and bullpen-skewed team to consecutive World Series appearances, but at least Cain still serves as its anchor. Cain's success in center field is all about range. He makes his fair share of misplays and actually has a worse arm than an average center fielder, but he continues to save 10 or more runs per season by getting to balls that other center fielders can't reach.

It will be interesting to see what the Royals decide to do when Cain becomes a free agent this offseason, assuming they don't trade him beforehand. On one hand, defensive production has typically been underpaid in free agency relative to offensive production, so Cain might be more affordable for a team that has traditionally been conservative with its free-agent dollars. But on the other hand, the Royals might be reluctant to hand out a long-term deal to a 31-year-old player whose skill set relies heavily on speed.