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The defensive prowess of Keith Hernandez and Rey Ordonez was remarkable.For the next few weeks, we’re going to pay tribute to Mets history on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s in this space. Our plan is to rank the Mets best when it comes to specific areas at bat, on the mound and in the field.

Since the Gold Glove Awards were announced last night, we’ll start by looking at the top 10 defensive players in Mets history. We ranked the top 6-10 Tuesday. Now comes the top five.

5- John Olerud

From 1997 to 1999, the Mets had a Keith Hernandez clone at first base in John Olerud. Olerud was clutch both with the glove and the bat. Bobby Valentine would regularly have Olerud dance back and forth between the first base bag and his normal spot to mess with runners on first base. It never was an impediment to Olerud’s success. That he didn’t win a Gold Glove was stunning.

Sean Smith did devise a metric to evaluate fielders from the 1950s through the 1990s, comparing their totals in putouts, assists and errors to their positional peers. Olerud had the highest Total Zone Runs rating of any first baseman during those three seasons.

"Of the teams I played on, I had the most fun playing defense with the Mets," Olerud said.

4- Edgardo Alfonzo

Alfonzo was the best Mets defender when it came to versatility. He could play both second and third base and play them both equally well. He was both smooth and consistent.

"[Edgardo] Alfonzo was fantastic,” Olerud said. “You have someone with such good range like that at second base, it totally takes the pressure off you. I just had to catch the ball."

3- Rey Ordonez

Ordonez’s value wasn’t just in that he rated well as a defender, it was in the wow factor, like when he welcomed himself to the Mets lineup by throwing out a runner at the plate with a relay from his knees.

Ordonez has a 12-minute video on Youtube devoted to his defensive exploits as a Met. It’s worth watching, as was he when he was at his best.

"Rey [Ordonez] was unbelievable, one of the best shortstops I played with,” Olerud said. “There would be times when I'd say, don't waste a throw on that, and he'd pop-up slide and get the guy by two steps. I was always so focused on getting to first base when the ball was hit, that I wouldn't see the play, but I'd hear the crowd yell 'Ohhhhh!' so I'd ask guys in the dugout afterwards about it.”

2- Juan Lagares

It’s hard to put someone with only two years of major-league experience this high, but Lagares should soon have the Gold Glove hardware to make him worthy of this spot.

“If you took all the defensive players in baseball [in 2014], he would be in the top five,” Mets broadcaster Ron Darling said towards the end of the season. “I think his defense is so exceptional that at least it wakes you up to how important defense is [to overall value]. The best defensive center fielder I’ve ever seen as a player or as a broadcaster is Juan Lagares.”

1- Keith Hernandez

There were a lot of reasons to like Keith Hernandez during his time with the Mets. Hernandez’s defense was high on the list.

Hernandez was acrobatic, athletic and aggressive. He was known for diving stops, handling any ball thrown his way, and for charging bunts. It was not at all unusual to see Hernandez sprint to the plate pre-pitch and pounce on a bunt so that he could get a force play at second or third base.

Advanced defensive metrics didn’t exist when Hernandez played, but had they, he would have certainly been atop the leaderboard every season. With regards to the defensive stat we cited for Olerud, it’s not surprising that for that metric, Hernandez rates at the top for first base.

Coming next week: The Top 10 Mets home runs