Top 100 Right Now: Nos. 60-21 revealed

By Chad Thornburg | February 17, 2017

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This week, MLB Network has been counting down the best players in the Major Leagues.
In episodes of "Top 100 Right Now," which began Wednesday with Nos. 100-61, Greg Amsinger, Ron Darling and Bill Ripken have counted down the top players based on performance over the past several seasons with an emphasis on 2016 and projected '17 performance.
Network analysts pulled the curtain on another portion of the rankings Thursday night, unveiling Nos. 60-21, beginning with Carlos González and ending with Yoenis Céspedes.
The reigning-champion Chicago Cubs contributed three more players to the list, as pitchers Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks clocked in at Nos. 28, 29 and 59, respectively. They joined teammates Addison Russell (87), Wade Davis (85), Kyle Schwarber (72) and Ben Zobrist (69), and it's likely Chicago has a few more on the way with Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant still unaccounted for.

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Of note were a number of considerable risers from last year's rankings, including the Nationals' Daniel Murphy, who followed up his stellar '15 postseason with a run at the National League MVP Award in '16. Andrew Miller (97 to 38), Kyle Seager (99 to 37) and Ryan Braun (86 to 32) also enjoyed similar climbs.
After going unranked in '16, Justin Verlander (43) returns to the Top 100. He finished as last season's runner-up in the American League Cy Young Award voting after his successful comeback campaign. Others who resurfaced after a year's absence were Lester and Christian Yelich (40).
Among those making their first appearance in the top 100 were Noah Syndergaard (24), Trea Turner (45), Hendricks, Zach Britton (39), Charlie Blackmon (36) and Brian Dozier (35).

The countdown concludes Friday evening when the final 20 are revealed on MLB Network from 9-10 p.m. ET.
Below is the complete list revealed on Thursday's show:

  1. Carlos Gonzalez
  2. Kyle Hendricks
  3. Matt Carpenter
  4. Evan Longoria
  5. Justin Turner
  6. Dustin Pedroia
  7. Andrew McCutchen

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  1. Jonathan Lucroy
  2. Aroldis Chapman
  3. J.D. Martinez
  4. David Price
  5. Ian Kinsler
  6. Jacob deGrom
  7. Johnny Cueto
  8. A.J. Pollock
  9. Trea Turner
  10. Xander Bogaerts
  11. Justin Verlander
  12. Brandon Crawford
  13. George Springer
  14. Christian Yelich
  15. Zach Britton
  16. Andrew Miller

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  1. Kyle Seager
  2. Charlie Blackmon
  3. Brian Dozier
  4. Nelson Cruz
  5. Starling Marte
  6. Ryan Braun
  7. Daniel Murphy
  8. Chris Sale
  9. Jon Lester
  10. Jake Arrieta
  11. Adrián Beltré
  12. Edwin Encarnación
  13. Corey Kluber
  14. Noah Syndergaard

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  1. Madison Bumgarner
  2. Giancarlo Stanton
  3. Yoenis Cespedes