Photo: Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire

Admittedly, it’s extremely rare to sign a free agent specifically because of that player’s defensive skills.

Also admittedly, the 2025-26 free agent market isn’t all that strong as far as good defensive players are concerned.

Nonetheless, by my measure, there are some players, including some good ones, whose defense is worth noting as a positive as they hit the market this winter.

Here’s a list of some in alphabetical order by last name.

Harrison Bader

Harrison Bader had the most Runs Saved of any free agent this offseason (13), so we’re glad to be leading this list with him. He split time between left field (7 Runs Saved) and center field (6) and has had seasons of 18 and 15 Runs Saved at the latter spot. His specialty is chasing down fly balls. The one downside is that he’ll be 32 in June. No 32-year-old even played 60 games there in 2025, so a split between a corner outfield spot and center field seems inevitable.

 Cody Bellinger

Cody Bellinger split time between all three outfield spots and had better results within a small sample in both corners (7 Runs Saved in left field, 8 in right field) than he had in center field (-3 Runs Saved) last season.

Of note, Bellinger had 6 Outfield Arm Runs Saved in 2025. Only Steven Kwan had more among outfielders. Bellinger still has 83rd percentile arm strength per Baseball Savant’s numbers.

Alex Bregman

Alex Bregman won a Gold Glove at third base in 2024 and he’s had other seasons of being a finalist there, so his reputation is solid. He’s never put up Ke’Bryan Hayes or Matt Chapman-like numbers at third base but he’s tied for 7th among third basemen in Runs Saved over the last three seasons. Bregman’s floor has usually been that of an average third baseman, so you know he’s someone you generally don’t have to worry about.

Danny Jansen

Danny Jansen, a part-time catcher for the Rays and Brewers, had the best defensive WAR (as calculated by Baseball-Reference) of any free agent.

Jansen had 6 Runs Saved, and that and his dWAR stemmed from his good pitch blocking and stolen base defense. Fair warning, Jansen hasn’t rated well as a pitch framer in each of the last two seasons (pitch framing isn’t factored into dWAR). Though he’s had as many as 12 Runs Saved in a season (2019), he also had -11 in 2024. His pitch blocking numbers have been reliably consistent. The rest of his catching game hasn’t been.

Ha-Seong Kim

Ha-Seong Kim passed up a $16 million option to test free agency coming off a season in which he played only 48 games.

When healthy, Kim has proven to be a very good defensive player. From 2021 to 2023, he saved 46 runs, fourth-most by any player in that time. He’s had as many as 10 Runs Saved at second base and 11 at shortstop. His throws at shortstop are down about 3 MPH from where they were in 2022, likely the result of his Tommy John surgery. His optimal spot may be second base.

Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana’s going to have a hard time finding any takers after posting a .633 OPS last season. But if anyone does pick him up, they’ll nab a player who reinvented himself defensively. His 32 Runs Saved over the last three seasons ranks second at first base to Matt Olson.

Ranger Suárez

I’m throwing everyone a curveball here and putting a pitcher in here (one with a very good curveball, by the way) because I think that highly of his defensive work.

Ranger Suárez ranks first among pitchers with 25 Runs Saved over the last 5 seasons. He led pitchers with 9 Runs Saved in 2022. The 2025 season was actually a substandard year for him, as he had only 3 Runs Saved.

What I like most about Suárez is that he’s always in a good position to field balls. If anything is hit back up the middle, it’s his. He’s also generally good at limiting stolen bases.

And by the way, don’t just take our word for it. Listen to the Marlins play-by-play broadcaster, Kyle Sielaff.

Kyle Tucker

I debated whether Kyle Tucker merited mention here and I’ll err on the side of inclusion even though he totaled -1 Runs Saved in right field in an injury-hampered year in 2025.

Tucker’s had as many as 15 Runs Saved in a season, though his totals were spiked by an MLB-best 6 home run robberies in 2022 and 2023, 4 of which came on short right field walls in his home park, Houston, and Boston. Home run robbery totals are tough to predict year-to-year. Though Tucker has a history of getting to balls well, his arm strength is 4 to 5 MPH below that of an average right fielder. There are certain places where that won’t play well.

In sum, he’s a decent defensive player if healthy, though not necessarily up with the best-skilled right fielders in the game.

Mike Yastrzemski

Mike Yastrzemski will be 35 this season and yet you wouldn’t know it from his defense. He’s totaled 37 Runs Saved in seven MLB seasons and has never finished a season with a negative total. He may not be great but he’s consistently been good.

This season was little different for Yaz in that it was his best one in terms of his Outfield Arm Runs Saved numbers. He had 8 assists from right field without the help of a cutoff man, matching his total from 2022 to 2024 combined. By the way, an odd fact on Yaz: In each of his seven seasons, he’s always been worth at least 2 bWAR but never as much as 3 bWAR.