February Rankings – Third 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:
| # | NAME | Paul S | Brad | Mike | Jeff | Al | Justin | AVG | Adj. AVG | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nolan Arenado | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1 |
| 2 | Kris Bryant | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2 |
| 3 | Manny Machado | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Josh Donaldson | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3.8 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Jonathan Villar | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5.2 | 5 | 1 |
| 6 | Adrian Beltre | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 3 |
| 7 | Kyle Seager | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7.5 | 7.8 | 2 |
| 8 | Matt Carpenter | 6 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 9.5 | 8.3 | 12 |
| 9 | Todd Frazier | 15 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 9.7 | 9.5 | 10 |
| 10 | Evan Longoria | 10 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 10.7 | 10.5 | 4 |
| 11 | Anthony Rendon | 8 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 12.3 | 7 |
| 12 | Jose Ramirez | 12 | 16 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 13 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 7 |
| 13 | Alex Bregman | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 12.7 | 12.8 | 3 |
| 14 | Miguel Sano | 17 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 13.3 | 13.3 | 7 |
| 15 | Justin Turner | 16 | 10 | 10 | 19 | 11 | 23 | 14.8 | 14 | 13 |
| 16 | Jake Lamb | 13 | 14 | 14 | 20 | 17 | 16 | 15.7 | 15.3 | 7 |
| 17 | Maikel Franco | 14 | 21 | 18 | 9 | 19 | 15 | 16 | 16.5 | 12 |
| 18 | Mike Moustakas | 18 | 24 | 17 | 15 | 20 | 17 | 18.5 | 18 | 9 |
| 19 | Eduardo Nunez | 20 | 23 | 21 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 18.8 | 7 |
| 20 | Ryon Healy | 19 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 26 | 21 | 21.2 | 20.5 | 7 |
| 21 | Nick Castellanos | 21 | 26 | 19 | 28 | 23 | 20 | 22.8 | 22.5 | 9 |
| 22 | Jung Ho Kang | 24 | 17 | 26 | 17 | 18 | 38 | 23.3 | 21.3 | 21 |
| 23 | Eugenio Suarez | 23 | 19 | 23 | 22 | 29 | 27 | 23.8 | 23.8 | 10 |
| 24 | Ryan Schimpf | 28 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 32 | 26.5 | 25.8 | 8 |
| 25 | Yangervis Solarte | 25 | 28 | 24 | 41 | 25 | 25 | 28 | 25.8 | 17 |
| 26 | Javier Baez | 22 | 22 | 36 | 33 | 32 | 24 | 28.2 | 27.8 | 14 |
| 27 | Matt Duffy | 30 | 30 | 27 | 38 | 27 | 28 | 30 | 28.8 | 11 |
| 28 | Hernan Perez | 37 | 32 | 37 | 39 | 21 | 19 | 30.8 | 31.8 | 20 |
| 29 | Jedd Gyorko | 29 | 33 | 43 | 30 | 28 | 22 | 30.8 | 30 | 21 |
| 30 | Pablo Sandoval | 26 | 29 | 39 | 41 | 36 | 26 | 32.8 | 32.5 | 15 |
| 31 | Yulieski Gurriel | 32 | 39 | 29 | 24 | 38 | 35 | 32.8 | 33.5 | 15 |
| 32 | Jose Reyes | 27 | 18 | 40 | 40 | 41 | 31 | 32.8 | 34.5 | 23 |
| 33 | Martin Prado | 35 | 35 | 28 | 36 | 30 | 34 | 33 | 33.5 | 8 |
| 34 | Travis Shaw | 33 | 42 | 30 | 31 | 34 | 29 | 33.2 | 32 | 13 |
| 35 | Brandon Drury | 31 | 38 | 41 | 41 | 22 | 32 | 34.2 | 35.5 | 19 |
| 36 | Jhonny Peralta | 34 | 27 | 33 | 41 | 41 | 30 | 34.3 | 34.5 | 14 |
| 37 | Howie Kendrick | 42 | 31 | 22 | 29 | 41 | 50 | 35.8 | 35.8 | 28 |
| 38 | Adonis Garcia | 40 | 50 | 32 | 27 | 40 | 37 | 37.7 | 37.3 | 23 |
| 39 | Jorge Polanco | 45 | 45 | 34 | 26 | 31 | 49 | 38.3 | 38.8 | 23 |
| 40 | Yunel Escobar | 41 | 36 | 38 | 41 | 41 | 36 | 38.8 | 39 | 5 |
I agree with the very top of the chart, but the biggest surprise to me is how low Lamb is. Looking at the numbers, why is he expected to take a dip across the board?
I don’t think his ranking assumes a dip across the board. Obviously I’m in on him, but looking at the other rankings, I don’t think any of them are projecting some fall off. He was 15th on ESPN Player Rater last year at 3B so even Jeff as the low man isn’t that far off.
Even as a fan of his, I’d say we certainly can’t *expect* improvement from him this year, but I’d gladly take a repeat. I’m not sure he’s below anyone he is automatically better than, to be honest.
The counting stats projections have him taking a dip. A young player in a lineup getting one of its best hitters back I would think should take a step forward.
Never showed this kind of power in the minors, 2nd half .663 OPS and scuffled badly against lefties, to the point of being basically platooned. I’m a DBacks fan and was all over Lamb last year (I might be one of the few people who actually drafted Lamb) so I’m really hoping the 2nd half swoon was tied to the plunking he took on his hand in July and that he improves against lefties. But there is no question that there are some question marks there.
I’d say the plunking definitely took it’s toll (especially from a power standpoint) and played a big part in his dramatic dip in performance: from 4/4 – 7/17 (342 PA) he slashed .302/.380/.635 with a .419 wOBA for a 158wRC+. From 7/19 – 10/2 (252 PA) that line plummeted to .176/.266/.338 with a .263 wOBA for a 54wRC+. His ISO went from .332 to .162 after the hand injury. BABIP from .350 to .215. Hard% went from 42.5% to 34.9%.