Before last season, sabermetrics guru Bill James predicted on Twitter that Nomar Mazara, who was coming off a 100-RBI season, would finish in the top five of MVP voting.

In his tweet, James asked whether his readers agreed with that prediction.  Thirty percent agreed. Seventy percent disagreed.

After a number of strong disagreements questioning his judgement, James caveated his comments with it all depends on “whether he takes a step forward.”

Nomar Mazara didn’t take a step forward. He didn’t finish in the top five of MVP voting. He isn’t in the top ten right fielders in baseball going into this season. But he is only 23. He might be squarely in the middle of this list next year.

It all depends on whether he takes a step forward.

Here are my top ten right fielders. Your mileage may vary.