2013 Second Base Rankings
Today marks another installment of Bullpen Banter’s 2013 fantasy rankings. You can catch up on the third base rankings and the first base rankings as well. Continuing around the infield, we have second base under examination today.
While looking at the over second base position for the coming season, one couldn’t help but notice how shallow it seemed at first. The decline of Chase Utley, the disaster of Rickie Weeks’ first half of the 2012 season, and former prospects — Dustin Ackley, Jemile Weeks, and Gordon Beckham to name a few — has left the keystone position surprisingly thin when it comes to superstars. That being said, there is good quantity, just not the top shelf quality. Solid players like Neil Walker and Dan Uggla can come surprisingly cheap after the top shelf talent gets moved. Through various mock drafts I’ve come to realize that I had been reaching for second basemen far too early. For example, I took Jose Altuve in the sixth round. In a mixed league draft! I saw the top tier second basemen flying off of the shelf and hit the panic button on a complete over-reaction. While I do love what Altuve brings to the table, he probably could have been there three rounds later. As it stands, I like the second base position for solid middle to late round picks, if you can stand to to wait on sleeper picks. These rankings assume the minimum of five starts or 10 games played, re-draft leagues, and for standard 5×5 roto leagues.
|
Ranking |
Player |
Team |
|
1 |
Robinson Cano |
New York Yankees |
|
2 |
Ian Kinsler |
Texas Rangers |
|
3 |
Dustin Pedroia |
Boston Red Sox |
|
4 |
Brandon Phillips |
Cincinnati Reds |
|
5 |
Ben Zobrist |
Tampa Bay Rays |
|
6 |
Rickie Weeks |
Milwaukee Brewers |
|
7 |
Aaron Hill |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
|
8 |
Jason Kipnis |
Cleveland Indians |
|
9 |
Jose Altuve |
Houston Astros |
|
10 |
Marco Scutaro |
San Francisco Giants |
|
11 |
Chase Utley |
Philadelphia Phillies |
|
12 |
Neil Walker |
Pittsburgh Pirates |
|
13 |
Danny Espinosa |
Washington Nationals |
|
14 |
Dan Uggla |
Atlanta Braves |
|
15 |
Howie Kendrick |
Los Angeles Angels |
|
16 |
Kyle Seager |
Seattle Mariners |
|
17 |
Daniel Murphy |
New York Mets |
|
18 |
Trevor Plouffe |
Minnesota Twins |
|
19 |
Emilio Bonifacio |
Toronto Blue Jays |
|
20 |
Omar Infante |
Detroit Tigers |
|
21 |
Dustin Ackley |
Seattle Mariners |
|
22 |
Gordon Beckham |
Chicago White Sox |
|
23 |
Kelly Johnson |
Toronto Blue Jays |
|
24 |
Jurickson Profar |
Texas Rangers |
|
25 |
Steve Lombardozzi |
Washington Nationals |
|
26 |
Cliff Pennington |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
|
27 |
Jeff Keppinger |
Chicago White Sox |
|
28 |
Skip Schumaker |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
|
29 |
Logan Forsythe |
San Diego Padres |
|
30 |
Scott Sizemore |
Oakland Athletics |
A Player to Grab: Rickie Weeks
After posting the worst wOBA since his rookie season, many are down on Weeks to ever be the player he once was. An ugly seasonal line of .230/.328/.400 is all that needs to be said. Full season numbers don’t tell the entire picture, as counter-intuitive as that may sound. Pre-All Star break Weeks hit a mere .199/.314/.343 compared to the post-All Star triple slash of .261/.343/.457. His second half numbers compare very favorably to his career numbers of .251/.350/.429. We must remember that even though a full season is 162 games, that is still a relatively short time frame. Even advanced statistics fluctuated violently — even over an entire season, let alone just half of a season — and as fantasy owners, we must see past the superficial statistics. For myself, I’ll drafting Weeks if the opportunity presents itself and I won’t look back for a second.
A Player to Pass: Ian Kinsler
To be fair, I shouldn’t single out Kinsler. I mean I’ll be passing on the top six or so second basemen as I just don’t feel the need to spend big/draft early on players who are second base eligible. As of January 9, Mock Draft Central has Kinsler’s average draft position is 45th. There isn’t anything wrong with spot on its own, but the question is do you really want to spend a fourth round pick on a middle infielder? Second base isn’t a haven for offensive superstars, but you can easily draft a team to offset any potential weakness at the keystone spot. For example, I would much rather have Jay Bruce (51 ADP) in the fourth round and Neil Walker (158 ADP) than spend big on Kinsler, or anything other big name player. As usual, a draft comes down to preparation and execution. If you go in with a plan of waiting on second basemen and drafting other positions early, you can come out way ahead in the long run.
Where is Josh Rutledge on this list (or where would he rank)? He could be hitting #2 at Colorado and has the potential in my opinion to be a 15/15 player with a decent average.
If he starts, and if he isn’t rushed horrible (which I think he is), and if he ever learns how to take a walk to get on base, then he’d rank in early 20′s.
Clearly, I’m awfully skeptical of him as of right now.