Originally Posted by
smootness
First, you claimed he wouldn't stick in the majors. Now you're shifting it to, 'well, but he isn't that good'?
Second, he is not a good defensive OF, according to all the data we have. He has an extremely good arm, arguably the best in baseball, yes. That helps. But he does not have good range and does not get to as many balls as good OF do. So his lack of good defense is mitigated some by his arm but not enough to make him good overall.
He's on pace to hit 30+ HR. What is the difference between saying, 'He leads baseball in OF assists but the rest of his defense makes him below-average' and 'he hits a lot of HR but the rest of his offense makes him below-average for a RF'? They are the same thing. Defense is not assists alone, just like offense is not HR alone. In fact, assists have less impact on an OF's overall defense than HR do on a hitter's overall offense.