Denzel Clarke's Defense is Reminiscent of Peak Boston Red Sox Star

During the A's last homestand, Athletics on SI asked Clarke who he used to watch in center, and the guy he named was also pretty special when it came to flashing the leather--Boston Red Sox star Jackie Bradley Jr. JBJ had three incredible seasons of defense, posting Defensive Runs Saved tallies of +16 in 2014, and +14 in both 2016 and 2017.

Just 145 2/3 innings into his big-league career, Clarke has already tallied +6 DRS. If he were to play the same number of innings as Bradley and keep up the same pace he's on, he'd finish with +39. Only Kevin Kiermaier in 2015 (+38) and Andrelton Simmons in 2017 (+41) have come close to that number, and they each tallied at least 1,174 innings in the field.

Even if Clarke played in every inning the rest of the season, and each game went nine innings, he'd finish at 955, so it doesn't look as though he'll be challenging any all-time records this season--unless he somehow has another gear.

So that's the kind of pace that Clarke is on, and how special his defense is for the Athletics. But what makes him so special, potentially even more than JBJ was for the Red Sox those seasons in Boston, is that Clarke's bat can kind of hover where it is, and he'd still be a top-30 player in Major League Baseball according to fWAR.

Right now, Clarke has racked up 0.5 wins above replacement, and that's while he's hitting .206 with a .231 OBP and striking out in 50.7% of his plate appearances. That line has earned him a 38 wRC+, which is 62 points below league average. And yet, over the course of a full 162-game season, Clarke would be in line to earn right around 4.26 WAR.

Last season, the No. 30 ranked player in fWAR was Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians, who earned 4.1. The 4.2-win players were Kyle Tucker, Marcus Semien, and Alex Bregman. That's some pretty solid company.

Of course, this is all about extrapolating a small sample size to make a larger point, and his defense could dip from its current historic level, but his bat could also pick things up a bit too. When Bradley put both his hitting and defense together in 2016, holding a 118 wRC+ over a full season, he was worth 5.5 fWAR.

The bat of Clarke is certainly a work in progress, but he undoubtedly shines on defense. If he was able to become a five-win player, he'd hold as much value as 2024 Brent Rooker, who finished with 5.1 wins above replacement going the opposite direction of Clarke, doing all of his damage with his bat as the A's DH. He also ranked No. 18 overall in fWAR across the entire league.

That's the kind of player the A's have on their hands right now, and watching him grow at the Major League level, and potentially turn into a superstar, is must-see tv.