March Composite Rankings – Third Base
Our staff composite rankings are back! Today we double up with third base earlier and later on, the outfield.
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
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| NAME | Paul S | Mike | Jeff | Justin | AVG | Adj. AVG | Split | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nolan Arenado | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0 |
| 2 | Freddie Freeman | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 1 |
| 3 | Kris Bryant | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 4 |
| 4 | Jose Ramirez | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3 |
| 5 | Manny Machado | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 2 |
| 6 | Josh Donaldson | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 2 |
| 7 | Alex Bregman | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6.8 | 7.0 | 1 |
| 8 | Anthony Rendon | 8 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8.8 | 8.5 | 2 |
| 9 | Justin Turner | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2 |
| 10 | Travis Shaw | 10 | 14 | 19 | 9 | 13.0 | 12.0 | 10 |
| 11 | Mike Moustakas | 14 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 13.0 | 13.5 | 3 |
| 12 | Nicholas Castellanos | 12 | 11 | 10 | 19 | 13.0 | 11.5 | 9 |
| 13 | Adrian Beltre | 11 | 18 | 11 | 14 | 13.5 | 12.5 | 7 |
| 14 | Rafael Devers | 15 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 14.0 | 13.5 | 5 |
| 15 | Joey Gallo | 16 | 8 | 22 | 17 | 15.8 | 16.5 | 14 |
| 16 | Kyle Seager | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16.3 | 16.0 | 1 |
| 17 | Matt Carpenter | 20 | 15 | 18 | 13 | 16.5 | 16.5 | 7 |
| 18 | Miguel Sano | 21 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 17.0 | 17.5 | 9 |
| 19 | Jake Lamb | 19 | 21 | 25 | 15 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 10 |
| 20 | Eduardo Nunez | 13 | 29 | 17 | 22 | 20.3 | 19.5 | 16 |
| 21 | Eugenio Suarez | 18 | 20 | 20 | 23 | 20.3 | 20.0 | 5 |
| 22 | Evan Longoria | 22 | 22 | 21 | 24 | 22.3 | 22.0 | 3 |
| 23 | Yulieski Gurriel | 28 | 26 | 13 | 30 | 24.3 | 27.0 | 17 |
| 24 | Marwin Gonzalez | 23 | 31 | 26 | 18 | 24.5 | 24.5 | 13 |
| 25 | Todd Frazier | 25 | 19 | 31 | 25 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 12 |
| 26 | Scooter Gennett | 24 | 25 | 24 | 29 | 25.5 | 24.5 | 5 |
| 27 | Josh Harrison | 26 | 27 | 23 | 27 | 25.8 | 26.5 | 4 |
| 28 | Maikel Franco | 29 | 23 | 27 | 31 | 27.5 | 28.0 | 8 |
| 29 | Matt Chapman | 30 | 28 | 32 | 21 | 27.8 | 29.0 | 11 |
| 30 | Ryon Healy | 33 | 34 | 30 | 33 | 32.5 | 33.0 | 4 |
| 31 | Jedd Gyorko | 32 | 32 | 29 | 38 | 32.8 | 32.0 | 9 |
| 32 | Asdrubal Cabrera | 31 | 24 | 28 | 49 | 33.0 | 29.5 | 25 |
| 33 | Hernan Perez | 37 | 33 | 34 | 34 | 34.5 | 34.0 | 4 |
| 34 | Yangervis Solarte | 34 | 41 | 36 | 28 | 34.8 | 35.0 | 13 |
| 35 | Jeimer Candelario | 35 | 38 | 33 | 36 | 35.5 | 35.5 | 5 |
| 36 | Chase Headley | 40 | 40 | 37 | 37 | 38.5 | 38.5 | 3 |
| 37 | Logan Forsythe | 41 | 46 | 44 | 26 | 39.3 | 42.5 | 20 |
| 38 | Wilmer Flores | 36 | 48 | 35 | 39 | 39.5 | 37.5 | 13 |
| 39 | J.P. Crawford | 44 | 45 | 41 | 35 | 41.3 | 42.5 | 10 |
| 40 | Cory Spangenberg | 45 | 52 | 38 | 32 | 41.8 | 41.5 | 20 |
| 41 | Matt Davidson | 43 | 30 | 46 | 48 | 41.8 | 44.5 | 18 |
| 42 | Jose Reyes | 27 | 55 | 43 | 44 | 42.3 | 43.5 | 28 |
| 43 | Derek Dietrich | 42 | 35 | 46 | 46 | 42.3 | 44.0 | 11 |
| 44 | Martin Prado | 38 | 36 | 46 | 49 | 42.3 | 42.0 | 13 |
| 45 | Luis Valbuena | 39 | 37 | 46 | 49 | 42.8 | 42.5 | 12 |
Talent really seems to flatten out once you get past J. Turner. To have ten players between Shaw and Lamb (seem very similar) makes this one of the deepest positions this year. The veterans (Beltre, Seager) looks like bargains. Also really like Suarez this year based on this ranking.
Well a lot of guys in top 25 have multi positions and are better used at shallower positions
and freeman isnt a 3b in ESPN
Agreed about flat rankings from 10 to almost 20. I would even put Sano and Seager ahead of Shaw, personally. Speaking of Seager, truly Mr Consistent with a split of 1 between high and low man in rankings.
Seems all infielders (not C) are deep positions this year. This might be influenced by multi-position elig as OTMHeartBBC said, but maybe even more so is a reflection of the offensive boom we saw in the game last year.
My three 3B are Beltre, Seager, and Suarez.
Freddie Freeman, the third baseman. That is fantastic.
Haha, he qualifies at Yahoo!
Yahoo is the worst
I know. As a Braves Fan, worried about the long-term implications of the move during a season where we weren’t competing anyway, I wasn’t a huge fan of the move. As a fantasy owner of Freeman, I was through the moon at the extra flexibility.
Doesn’t qualify there in my fantrax keeper and it makes me sad 🙁
I can’t figure out how Javy Baez is a top 20 3B while Eugenio Suarez is not
I’m not a Baez fan in general so there’s that
Really appreciate these composite rankings, however, would it possible in future versions to include a row for ADP just as a quick reference?
Boy. Mikey loves him some Gallo!
I’m the high man on batting average, so that’s driving the better ranking (xBABIP). Also prob a bit higher on his homers as xHR/FB rate and minor league history validate gargantuan power.
Mike touched on it, but he’s got 10-15 pts of room on his xStats spread (20pts at the SLG line!) and in OBP leagues he’s likely just outside of the Top 5.
In an OPS league I’ve got him 7th among 3B
Is Sano rated at 20 because of the possible suspension, or does that rank assume a full season of play?
It’s gotta be the possible suspension and being out of shape after rehabbing his shin this offseason. There’s no way that I’d take Gallo over him in an AVG league.
Brian Anderson will likely finish with better numbers than almost half of these guys. Marlins are starting the season with Anderson at 3B, and no reason not to keep him there even when Prado is healthy. He strikes me as a decent fielder (can’t back that with anything but my unreliable eye test), and he seems competent as a hitter. Draws walks, has some power, makes decent contact. If nothing else, he has a shot at more playing time than many of these players, and he could be a solid option at 3B.
Thanks Paul these are awesome!
OF tomorrow, SP on Saturday? 🙂
OF today, son!
Just posted!
Baez is not 3b-eligible in Yahoo. Instead of trying to determine eligibility for these rankings using a list of players who appeared in 5 games, I humbly suggest that instead you set up a dummy Yahoo team and just go to their sort-able player lists.
We’re good. Easy to remove Baez.
ok…Baez is gone
now if I can just convince you to acknowledge Eduardo Nunez’ sixteen point split as evidence that Eduardo should be out of the top 20, Eugenio Suarez would be happy to move up where he belongs
lol, you can rank guys how you want and we’ll do ours as we wish!
Where would you slide Tim Beckham into this list? Or is the implication that he isn’t in the top-40?
Ah, right, Yahoo eligibility.
He will gain eligibility in other formats in April because he is Baltimore’s starting 3B this year
After the Todd Frazier trade last year, Yolmer Sanchez played most of the second half of the season at third base. I believe he is the starting third baseman this year with Davidson at DH and back up third and first base.
Yes sir, do not sleep on Yolmer!
Awesome, love these, thanks! Where would Colin Moran rank here?
Chris Taylor doesn’t have 3b eligibility.
Where would Zack Cozart (who will presumably earn 3B eligibility early in April) rank on this list?
I still don’t know what you guys have against Gyorko. After his breakout last year, he’s now likely to give you a decent average and pretty good number of runs scored in addition to 25+ HR and a lot of RBIs.
I love Gyorko this year. You can get him at the very end of the draft. Carpenter isnt playing 3rd base with a bad shoulder and back, he cant get the ball to 1st. That gives Gyorko regular playing time and he has averaged 32 HRs per 600 PA over the last two seasons. He is going to bat 4th or 5th most nights and the guys in front of him (Fowler, Pham and Carpenter) are all OBP machines so I see big RBI potential for both Gyorko and Ozuna.
Actually, Gyorko will be batting 5th or 6th (behind Fowler, Pham, Carpenter, Ozuna, and maybe DeJong), but that’s still a prime RBI spot, and yes he is in line for full time PA this season barring injury. His defense (and Carpenter’s lack thereof) makes him an almost everyday player despite the platoon splits. He only failed to play more than 125 games last season due to an injury.
Also, how is a .272 average only barely acceptable?
DeJong is going to be a huge bust. His entire profile screams fluke. He strikes out 28% of the time and pops up 13.5%. That’s 41.5% of the time he is an automatic out. He only walked 4.7% of the time so those strikeouts look even worse especially with a 13.3% Swinging Strike%.
He’s straight trash and no way he is batting ahead of Gyorko. Gyorko will bat cleanup vs LHP and 5th vs RHP
He has nearly identical batted profile over the past 2 years, but magically went from being a perennial BABIP underperformer to above average, moving his BA into only barely acceptable territory. He also has never played more than 128 games and that trend seems likely to continue, given his bad platoon splits and right-handedness. He’s still a fun player, cuz he’s always on the waiver wire…but the upside is pretty seriously capped.
Bregman has been sliding in my drafts, I got him at 49 last night, and I couldnt be happier. I guess the people who gave up on him after his early season struggles last year are reluctant to take the leap again. Here let me get you back on board.
Bregman doesn’t give away outs. He only had a 6.4% Swinging Strike Rate. He only struck out 15.5% of the time and lowered that to 13.8% during the second half. He only swung at 25.8% pitches outside of the strike zone so you cant get him to chase either. I can see his OBP getting close to .400 this year with his approach and he looks like a good bet to hit for big average (.315 in the 2nd half) especially if he can cut down on the IFFBs.
He is one of the rare 3B who can run. Only J Ramirez can give you a 20/20 season at 3B outside of Bregman. He cut his body fat % from 14% to 8% this offseason which gives me hope he could approach 25 SBs.
He hits in the heart of one of the best lineups in baseball. The Runs and RBIs will be plentiful.
The only negative I can think about Bregman at 3B is that you probably wont play him at 3B considering he qualifies at SS unless you have Turner, Correa or Machado.
Bregman is priced to buy this year. I am all in. He will be a top 20 player.
i was in because yahoo had him ranked ~50 for a while, now he’s in the 30s. that’s probably where he’ll end up this year, so not much if any profit.
im liking beltre late in drafts. he still raked last year after coming back from an injury
I have him in the 30-34 range around where Abreu and Dozier are going. I disagree that he isnt going to return a profit there.
.290ish Avg with potential for .300 with BABIP luck
mid 80’s in both RBI and Rs
24-26 HRs
16-22 SBs
I like that well rounded production.
An athlete at 8%? That’s really really low
I know. You can see that he put in a ton of work this offseason. I know we see a lot of “best shape of his life” puff pieces this time of the year but you can see he put in a ton of work. Both Bregman and Schwarber look like totally different people.
I would bet the farm on Bregman stealing fewer than 25 bases in 2018
I’m kind of surprised by the low ranking of Chapman, he seems like he could turn into a Miguel Sano at the plate while being an Adrian Beltre in the field. Of course, I suppose that it’s worth noting that Chapman is 11 days older than Sano and without a full season in the majors under his belt yet.
More to the point … Healy is ranked higher than Chapman by Zimmerman.
Healy is NOT good at 3B. He’s okay at 1B. Chapman (and Olson at 1B) is why we surplused Healy to the Mariners.
Gurriel doesn’t have 3B eligiblity in Yahoo – 7 games and 4 starts at 3B last year.
Also, I am loathe to quibble over guys ranked in the 30’s since, well, who cares, but isn’t Ryon Healy the weak side of a 1B platoon in Seattle with no room for any run at 3B (barring injury of course) and unlikely to ever bat higher than 7th? I’m not seeing how that plays better than most of the 15 guys behind him.
And he’s already injured, with an injury that could easily affect his hitting (surgery to remove a bone spur from his hand)
No Brandon Drury/Miguel Andujar? With one of them emerging as the frontrunner for everyday PA’s or even with a split playing time scenario one would have to assume one of these 2 ends up in the top 45 by end of year…