How would you Rank the Five Tools?

[Trov]

For those who do not know, the 5 tools are Hit, Power, Run, Arm, Field.  They are the areas that scouts will give players grades to determine how well they expect a player to eventually become.  However, not all 5 tools are, or really should, be weighted equally in my opinion. I would rank Arm the lowest.  If a guy is great at many other things but has a poor arm you can put him in areas to do well, like LF, 2nd, or 1st.  

4th I would go Run, it can be helpful on both sides and for many positions, but just because you are fast will not mean you can get on base or actually field a ball.  There is a reason track stars do not convert to baseball. 

3rd I would put Power, I know some may disagree, but when I am thinking of important tools I do not care if you have light tower power if you ability to make contact is almost 0 and you cannot play a position well on defense.  

The 1 and 2 I would say may depend more on which position you are grading, but for overall I put Field in 2nd.  Having good defense is important, as if you cannot get off the field to hit you will never win. Of course there are more important fielding positions but having good defenders all around is a good thing.

Hit to me is the number 1 tool.  It is said hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in sports, even the best only get hits 3 out 10 times generally.  This means if you can find guys that can do it well that is very important.  Hits can be strung together, it may not be the preferred method of scoring, and I am not saying throwing a team of no HR high single hitting players is the correct way to form a team, but power can be learned much more than making solid contact can. 

I am not saying that any of the tools should be ignored, and if the hit tool cannot overcome low other tools that is an issue as well.  

[The Great Hambino]

Interesting question

If I don't know the position, I'm going hit>power>field>run>arm.  It gets fuzzy at the bottom since run and arm are pretty interconnected to your field tool.  There's just a low ceiling on how valuable you can be if you can't hit.  On the other hand, you can be Luis Arraez if your only tool is hit.