March Composite Rankings – Second Base
Our staff composite rankings are back! We’re onto the middle infield with the keystone, a position I find to be remarkably deep. I will still be doing my commentary by position rankings to give a quick little thought, but those will be separate posts.
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.
You can also check out my 2B rankings with commentary here and a closer look at the position here.
Key:
- AVG– just the average of the seven ranking sets
- Adj. AVG– the average minus the high and low rankings
- SPLIT– the difference between the high and low rankings
—
| NAME | Paul S | Mike | Jeff | Justin | AVG | Adj. AVG | Split | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Altuve | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0 |
| 2 | Jose Ramirez | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1 |
| 3 | Anthony Rizzo | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2 |
| 4 | Dee Gordon | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2 |
| 5 | Brian Dozier | 4 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 3 |
| 6 | Daniel Murphy | 6 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 3 |
| 7 | Jonathan Schoop | 7 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7.8 | 7.0 | 3 |
| 8 | Robinson Cano | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2 |
| 9 | Whit Merrifield | 12 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 9.8 | 10.0 | 7 |
| 10 | Rougned Odor | 9 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 10.8 | 10.5 | 6 |
| 11 | DJ LeMahieu | 15 | 11 | 6 | 12 | 11.0 | 11.5 | 9 |
| 12 | Ozzie Albies | 10 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 11.3 | 11.0 | 3 |
| 13 | Ian Kinsler | 14 | 9 | 16 | 18 | 14.3 | 15.0 | 9 |
| 14 | Matt Carpenter | 22 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 16.3 | 15.5 | 10 |
| 15 | Chris Taylor | 11 | 15 | 23 | 17 | 16.5 | 16.0 | 12 |
| 16 | Javier Baez | 18 | 27 | 17 | 10 | 18.0 | 17.5 | 17 |
| 17 | Eduardo Nunez | 13 | 31 | 13 | 19 | 19.0 | 16.0 | 18 |
| 18 | Ian Happ | 17 | 23 | 26 | 14 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 12 |
| 19 | Yoan Moncada | 19 | 17 | 25 | 21 | 20.5 | 20.0 | 8 |
| 20 | Cesar Hernandez | 21 | 16 | 14 | 31 | 20.5 | 18.5 | 17 |
| 21 | Marwin Gonzalez | 16 | 33 | 24 | 15 | 22.0 | 20.0 | 18 |
| 22 | Paul DeJong | 25 | 20 | 21 | 25 | 22.8 | 23.0 | 5 |
| 23 | Jose Peraza | 27 | 22 | 18 | 24 | 22.8 | 23.0 | 9 |
| 24 | Jonathan Villar | 20 | 21 | 34 | 20 | 23.8 | 20.5 | 14 |
| 25 | Josh Harrison | 23 | 28 | 19 | 26 | 24.0 | 24.5 | 9 |
| 26 | Tim Beckham | 28 | 19 | 31 | 22 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 12 |
| 27 | Scooter Gennett | 24 | 26 | 22 | 29 | 25.3 | 25.0 | 7 |
| 28 | Jason Kipnis | 26 | 18 | 29 | 32 | 26.3 | 27.5 | 14 |
| 29 | Joe Panik | 30 | 24 | 20 | 35 | 27.3 | 27.0 | 15 |
| 30 | Starlin Castro | 31 | 30 | 33 | 23 | 29.3 | 30.5 | 10 |
| 31 | Asdrubal Cabrera | 29 | 25 | 30 | 41 | 31.3 | 29.5 | 16 |
| 32 | Kolten Wong | 32 | 39 | 28 | 34 | 33.3 | 33.0 | 11 |
| 33 | Neil Walker | 33 | 37 | 27 | 44 | 35.3 | 35.0 | 17 |
| 34 | Devon Travis | 38 | 29 | 35 | 45 | 36.8 | 36.5 | 16 |
| 35 | Brad Miller | 34 | 44 | 43 | 27 | 37.0 | 38.5 | 17 |
| 36 | Brandon Drury | 36 | 36 | 39 | 40 | 37.8 | 37.5 | 4 |
| 37 | Yangervis Solarte | 35 | 43 | 41 | 33 | 38.0 | 38.0 | 10 |
| 38 | Jed Lowrie | 43 | 32 | 38 | 39 | 38.0 | 38.5 | 11 |
| 39 | Chris Owings | 40 | 41 | 36 | 43 | 40.0 | 40.5 | 7 |
| 40 | Ben Zobrist | 49 | 38 | 37 | 37 | 40.3 | 37.5 | 12 |
| 41 | Dustin Pedroia | 39 | 46 | 32 | 47 | 41.0 | 42.5 | 15 |
| 42 | Logan Forsythe | 45 | 48 | 47 | 30 | 42.5 | 46.0 | 18 |
| 43 | Scott Kingery | 37 | 63 | 51 | 28 | 44.8 | 44.0 | 35 |
| 44 | Hernan Perez | 42 | 34 | 51 | 54 | 45.3 | 46.5 | 20 |
| 45 | Adam Frazier | 46 | 50 | 44 | 42 | 45.5 | 45.0 | 8 |
After the off-season love fest for Albies, I’m a little surprised to see him behind Schoop, Odor, Merrifield and LaMahieu. In order, that’s a couple one dimensional sluggers who could fall off a cliff quickly (Odor is already dangling there by a hair), a guy whose best case looks a lot like Albies, and the king of empty batting averages.
Absolutely agree, OddBall. Also, why the love for Murphy considering he seems like he’s going to miss a bunch of the season?
Second this. After hearing Paul and Justin (let’s face it mostly Paul, Justin pulling up the rear) gush over Albies, I would have expected a 7-ish rank from Sporer.
Actually writing a bit about this re: the rankings being a guess at EOS finish or my draft list. There’s no chance I’m taking Murphy, Schoop, Cano at their ADPs with the Albies available behind them and if I miss out on Altuve, Ramirez, and Dozier, he’s my fourth target at 2B, but I don’t know if it’s worth ranking him like that when my compatriots are doing an EOS guess.
Yeah, EOS is way more useful for the reader on a composite list especially, since the logic is never transparent on those draft lists. Lots of mixed-motivation voting.
That makes sense. So while you’re ranking those guys ahead for EOS, there’s no way you’d end up with them on your teams. Similar to what you were saying on S&TB. Great podcast by the way. Big snowstorm here in the Boston area today, I’ll be snowblowing my driveway and listening to a couple episodes.
LeMahieu is not an empty average. He is a plus in runs, and is a positive contributor to SB. Any look at an auction calculator that quantifies his contributions shows he is right where he belongs.
You can make a case for Albies top 5 (I’m not counting Rizzo) but he deserves to be 8 or 9. Behind Odor and DJLM will look silly really soon.
You can be bored to tears with DJLM, but his AVG is bankable at .300+ unless he’s moved out of Coors. He’s a top 15 2B.
I agree with top 15. Might even agree with his current rank of 11, I’d just rather have Albies.
Albies had as many HR+SB in 2 months (as a 20 year old) as DJLM had in nearly 700 PA’s, half of them at Coors. I can’t see the BA gap being big enough to offset the counting stats.
Does Neil walker signing with the yanks push him up this list, or is playing time still a big enough concern going forward to rank him below the likes of Castro, Wong, Panik, Peraza… He’s still projected for a 113 wRC+ now playing in a great hitting park in baseball’s best lineup, seems ludicrously low unless expecting him to be relegated to the bench.
Does Torres’ demotion have an impact?
Also, this is a classic example of a broader observation. Fangraphs does an extraordinary job quantifying, questioning, and improving baseball analysis. But so much of it is about rates, directly (e.g. OBP) or indirectly (e.g. HR/FB, as in Alex Chamberlain’s excellent post today). For those in leagues with weekly roster changes, or points leagues, much of their value is driven by plate appearances and innings pitched. To a lesser but tangible extent, PA and IP are important in almost all leagues. I get that tracking and deciphering information from managers and front offices is mundane. Perhaps there’s a way the readers could have a repository to gather and sort playing time information?
The daily Roto Riteup in-season (and starting soon, in fact) definitely covers that sort of stuff.
Surprised Nunez is so low. #9 last year on the player rater in just over 100 games. Given 600 PA, top 5 is well within reach.
I think landing in Boston was not a good destination for him. Betts and Benintendi are going to be the #1 and 2 hitters. Nunuez will likely hit 9th which limits his PAs.
That’s not what happened when he was with Boston last year and Betts and Beinintendi were around
Any chance you can finish all the positions by Sunday?
I 2nd this love the SP ranks. Thanks for your time best rankings out there!
Thank you all for taking the time to do these rankings. I know some roto professionals get frustrated having to do this year after year but they really are helpful and start good conversations.
Why is Pod so down on Marwin?
I don’t believe he’s going to remain a full-timer all year. The Astros have too many good players itching to steal playing time and Marwin’s 2017 was a fluke-fest. I’m essentially projecting Steamer’s numbers if you’re curious about the projection driving the ranking.
I can totally understand this. I have Marwin near the top of what is a pretty big tier because of his positional flexibility and I’m trying NOT to overrate that, but it’s helpful to move him everywhere and I’m a more confident on his PT than Mike (135+ games).
I can see it, but his utility means that he can provide a bunch of players a day off whenever they need it and still get into 5 games a week. The skills look like they’ve built up to last year, but I think his Steamer/ZiPS projections are entirely plausible and that he should get the 135+ games that Paul and ZiPS are calling for.
A little surprised to not see Derek Dietrich on the list somewhere. He had 10 G and 6 GS at 2B last year so he qualifies in Yahoo. The Fish will be terrible but he’s virtually assured to start every day and will probably leadoff. He’s one of those “better than you think he is” kind of hitters. Won’t steal any bases but ZiPS has him with the 15th best wOBA projection next year among 2B. Also comes with 1B and 3B eligibility as well.
I’m in 3 leagues and all 3 are not allowing Rizzo to qualify at 2B. Myself, I think he shouldn’t be allowed to either
I understand your thoughts, but it’s cut-and-dried: 5 starts or 10 appearances at Yahoo! and he had 10 apps there. We’re more inclusive than not with rankings so they apply to a wider base and then folks can cut who doesn’t fit in their league.
Rougned Odor 10th? WTH? After his 2017 .202/.254/.397 season?
“There have been 258 player-seasons where the player was in the lineup for all 162 national anthems. Odor’s [2017 season] was the eighth-worst as measured by bWAR.” – https://www.fangraphs.com/community/a-whiff-of-failure-the-texas-rangers-and-rougned-odor/
You conveniently left out the 30HR and 15 SB. Also, I don’t play in any leagues with WAR as a category. He’s not my cup of tea, but if you account for the BA drag in draft, he is def in the top 10 conversation
I think everyone knows the risk and saw the bad 2017, but do we draft JUST off 2017? Is that not a clear outlier v. the rest of his work? I was way off Odor last yr fearing something like this season, but the price has dropped and he still went 30 HR/15 SB in a nightmare season. At this point, I’m probably passing him for my boys Albies and Chris Taylor, but I see the reason for hype on Odor at pick-100 or later.
There always seems to be two tiers of second basemen in fantasy: the top tier and the rest!
What’s up with everyone, especially Jeff, dogging Chris Taylor? Is this a “good at everything, not great at anything” issue? Why is Albies’ “potential” more valuable than Taylor’s 2017?
Where would Gyorko rank here?