February Rankings – Second Basemen
We’re going position by position this week and next with our initial roll out of rankings. We will update these in March based on Spring Training activity and injuries.
We’re using Yahoo! eligibility requirements which is 5 starts or 10 appearances. These rankings assume the standard 5×5 categories and a re-draft league. If we forgot someone, please let us know in the comments and we’ll make sure he’s added for the updates. If you have questions for a specific ranker on something he did, let us know in the comments. We can also be reached via Twitter:
There will be differences, sharp differences, within the rankings. The rankers have different philosophies when it comes to ranking, some of which you’re no doubt familiar with through previous iterations. Of course the idea that we’d all think the same would be silly because then what would be the point of including multiple rankers?! Think someone should be higher or lower? Make a case. Let us know why you think that. The chart is sortable. If a ranker didn’t rank someone that the others did, he was given that ranker’s last rank +1.
Key:
- AVG– just the average of the seven ranking sets
- AVG– the average minus the high and low rankings
- SPLIT– the difference between the high and low rankings
Previous Editions:
| RK | NAME | Paul S | Brad | Mike | Jeff | Al | Justin | AVG | Adj. AVG | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Altuve | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Trea Turner | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Jonathan Villar | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3 |
| 4 | Robinson Cano | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4 |
| 5 | Daniel Murphy | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 2 |
| 6 | Brian Dozier | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 3 |
| 7 | Rougned Odor | 12 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 8.7 | 9.3 | 9 |
| 8 | Jean Segura | 8 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 9.2 | 9.0 | 11 |
| 9 | Matt Carpenter | 7 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 9.7 | 9.0 | 10 |
| 10 | Dee Gordon | 9 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 7 | 10.2 | 10.0 | 7 |
| 11 | Ian Kinsler | 10 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 7 |
| 12 | DJ LeMahieu | 11 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11.2 | 11.5 | 3 |
| 13 | Jason Kipnis | 14 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 12.0 | 12.5 | 6 |
| 14 | Jose Ramirez | 13 | 19 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 13.8 | 13.8 | 10 |
| 15 | Dustin Pedroia | 15 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 18 | 15.8 | 15.8 | 4 |
| 16 | Jose Peraza | 22 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 22 | 19 | 16.8 | 17.0 | 11 |
| 17 | Ben Zobrist | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 15 | 16 | 17.7 | 17.8 | 5 |
| 18 | Logan Forsythe | 17 | 17 | 17 | 21 | 18 | 17 | 17.8 | 17.3 | 4 |
| 19 | Eduardo Nunez | 16 | 22 | 18 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 18.0 | 17.8 | 7 |
| 20 | Jonathan Schoop | 24 | 21 | 22 | 18 | 19 | 14 | 19.7 | 20.0 | 10 |
| 21 | Neil Walker | 20 | 16 | 25 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 20.7 | 20.8 | 9 |
| 22 | Devon Travis | 19 | 24 | 20 | 28 | 20 | 26 | 22.8 | 22.5 | 9 |
| 24 | Starlin Castro | 31 | 29 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 26.7 | 26.3 | 7 |
| 23 | Ryan Schimpf | 30 | 23 | 26 | 22 | 28 | 31 | 26.7 | 26.8 | 9 |
| 25 | Javier Baez | 21 | 20 | 32 | 31 | 35 | 24 | 27.2 | 27.0 | 15 |
| 26 | Joe Panik | 25 | 31 | 27 | 29 | 24 | 33 | 28.2 | 28.0 | 9 |
| 28 | Yangervis Solarte | 29 | 25 | 23 | 36 | 29 | 28 | 28.3 | 27.8 | 13 |
| 27 | Josh Harrison | 28 | 27 | 28 | 24 | 31 | 32 | 28.3 | 28.5 | 8 |
| 29 | Jedd Gyorko | 26 | 33 | 38 | 27 | 30 | 22 | 29.3 | 29.0 | 16 |
| 30 | Hernan Perez | 35 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 23 | 21 | 29.7 | 30.5 | 14 |
| 31 | Cesar Hernandez | 33 | 28 | 29 | 33 | 27 | 34 | 30.7 | 30.8 | 7 |
| 32 | Brandon Phillips | 34 | 36 | 30 | 30 | 33 | 27 | 31.7 | 31.8 | 9 |
| 33 | Howie Kendrick | 36 | 30 | 21 | 26 | 38 | 39 | 31.7 | 32.5 | 18 |
| 34 | Kolten Wong | 32 | 26 | 35 | 37 | 32 | 35 | 32.8 | 33.5 | 11 |
| 35 | Steve Pearce | 27 | 34 | 39 | 35 | 36 | 30 | 33.5 | 33.8 | 12 |
| 36 | Brandon Drury | 23 | 48 | 36 | 41 | 25 | 29 | 33.7 | 32.8 | 25 |
| 37 | Jorge Polanco | 40 | 42 | 31 | 23 | 34 | 38 | 34.7 | 35.8 | 19 |
| 38 | Brett Lawrie | 43 | 41 | 34 | 41 | 37 | 40 | 39.3 | 39.8 | 9 |
| 39 | Derek Dietrich | 38 | 35 | 41 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 39.5 | 40.0 | 7 |
| 40 | Jurickson Profar | 37 | 48 | 42 | 41 | 41 | 37 | 41.0 | 40.3 | 11 |
Would you feel comfortable rolling out LeMahieu as your every day 2B in a 12 team H2H points league? Just traded for him in my dynasty league.
DJ is a monster in points leagues.
Definitely.
Thanks for the list! (Jose Ramirez is a touch short on yahoo 2b eligibility btw)
Give me Devon Travis at 22 all day
Ya if he stays healthy, he should have a helluva season. 2B is hella deep.
In an 11 team 5×5 league, is he worth a starting 2B spot? I want to build a solid deep lineup and feel like I can wait on a starting 2B of Travis, Schoop or Walker.
I wouldn’t be looking to start him, especially if you don’t use an MI slot. Getting two of those to platoon at 2B is a solid option if you miss on the big names.
Man, no love for Odor. I guess he’s an Avg risk with some regression due for this season. But still, 30//15 potential doesn’t grow on trees.
Ignoring mine and Brad ranking him 12th for a second and focusing on the consensus, I just can’t see who he belongs ahead of there. He has only done the 30/15 once and it was with mediocre skill support. Even Segura has two seasons with 50+ HR+SB. Plus I’m very suspect on the SB portion of Odor w/his horrific 53% success rate.
agreed about the steals. I think the power might be real, but I don’t want to pay to find out. There’s a much greater than zero chance he’s a complete black hole for large swathes of time.
I can see where you guys are coming from, there is definitely some unknown to Odor due to age and experience. But I’m with Jeff on this one, I think your overestimating his risk vs cost factor a bit too much. Just about every guy the two of you rank ahead of him has serious risk associated with them. Sure they might not cost quite as much but Odor has more “boom” potential. Give me Odor over anyone not named Altuve, Turner or Villar, and maybe Dozier. But it’s close. Anyways, thanks for the insight on your ranking. I’ll keep it in mind!
You’re taking Odor over Murphy and Cano? That’s a tough sell. I also don’t see how Dozier isn’t clearly ahead of him. Basically Dozier is Odor’s roadmap.
I am. For me Odor, Dozier, Murphy and Cano are all relatively close. Odor is slightly ahead of Dozier, due to the AVG probabilities. Odor and Dozier are then slightly ahead of Murphy and Cano. All of them are pretty close though, and I’d be happy with any of them, I just like Odor more. I really like Jeffs ranking of the top 7. I agree with everything except the Villar ranking, I put him just behind Turner, but in front of Odor/Dozier. And I disagree about Dozier being Odors road map due to the AVG difference. But like I said. I see what you two are saying. I just happen to agree with Jeff is all.
30/15 kinda does grow on trees for 2B right now. Dozier, Kinsler, Odor, Altuve, Kipnis and Segura were all around 30/15 last season.
Solarte was my secret stretch run MVP last season but sadly he’s 3B only in my league. Whomp whomp whomp. Still, love his skillset for the price. Always undervalued.
An example of the rare times when role trumps talent.
Jeff’s rankings sort of seem like they are different for the sake of being different. Lets take the Turner over Altuve. If Turner does not regress at all, and the league does not figure him out at all, then he is more valuable than Altuve. But to draft him over Altuve you have to truly expect him to maintain a .388 babip and a 16.7% HR/FB. Personally I would expect Altuve to continue to make adjustments to improve before I would expect Trea Turner to not take any steps back.
Also while I think his 3 on Odor seems a bit (a lot) high, the two people who have him 12th feels very low. I am a big LaMahieu fan due to his home ballpark and his frame potentially leading to a power breakout, but I would not draft him over Odor who could be the next 2nd baseman to hit 40 hrs.
No love for Neil Walker? I been platooning the crap out of him for four years now.
Who does he belong ahead of? 2B is very deep. He’s a solid power/AVG guy, but he rarely makes it through a whole season and power isn’t exactly rare these days. It’s not a lack of love so much as it is better players ahead of him.
I really like Neil Walker as a $1 bargain. There’s a good chance he delivers $10 of production. Also a good chance he’s constantly banged up or old.
Not allocating more than $10 to 2b/MI
The helium on Trea Turner is just insane. There’s no way he lives up to his draft day cost with the over-expectations being placed on him by the fatnasty community.
The speed opens up the avenue for a lot of different outcomes for Turner. He could put up Segura 2013, Marte 2013, or Reyes 2014 and be a $30 guy. The power could fall apart and he could put Andrus 2013 or even Revere 2014 and still be a $30 player.
Unless he just gets hurt, I think batting atop a strong lineup with that speed is going to return solid value with the upside to be transcendent – Altuve 2015, Villar 2016, Rios 2013, Blackmon 2015, Segura 2016.
Seeing this list and how deep it is makes me question what I thought was an easy decision to keep Odor at 11th round cost (10 teams). Good value by ADP, but there’s a lot other value to be found here, too.
Assuming he does take over the everyday 2B role for the Rays, where would Brad Miller be on this list?
Damn, much lower on Kipnis and Carpenter than I had expected.
Cool article. The Peraza rankings are all over the map. Paul, why are you so low on him compared to how others ranked him? I know his BABIP was inflated, but at his age, there seems to be plenty of room for growth.