Paul Sporer’s Top 50 Third Basemen by Paul Sporer February 12, 2021 I like the hot corner this year. There is a superstar top tier, some up-and-comers, some quality depth, and plenty of deeper league options. Justin’s list I’ll have an update in early March to account for any moves, news, and/or injuries. Let me know what you think in the comments: how are you building your 3B plan? do you want an extra 3B for CI or do you prefer 1B? who is your sleeper at the position? Here’s my list. Other positions: 1B 2B SS 2021 3B Rankings RK PLAYER TM ELIG. COMMENT ADP 1 Jose Ramirez CLE 3B Even w/out Lindor, there’s enough lineup strength to fuel 85+ R/RBI 11 2 Anthony Rendon LAA 3B Since ’17: t7th-highest wRC+ (146) & 1 of 15 players w/300+ R/RBI 42 3 Nolan Arenado STL 3B Price only down 6 spots since trade to StL; he’ll still be great 33 4 Manny Machado SD 3B Had his best non-Camden Yards run and it’s hard not be excited by what’s next 22 5 Alex Bregman HOU 3B Struggles were overstated & plate skills remain elite 42 6 Rafael Devers BOS 3B Rough 16 G start (.564 OPS) sank season, but last 41 were good Devers (.874) 42 7 DJ LeMahieu NYY 1B, 2B, 3B Skills are rock solid, though perhaps the dejuiced ball will eat some HRs 28 8 Eugenio Suarez CIN 3B Another slow start who was completely himself by season’s end by time ran out 78 9 Max Muncy LAD 1B, 2B, 3B His 37 HR per 600 PA since ’18 are 2nd to only Suarez (39) at the position 94 10 Tommy Edman STL 2B, 3B, SS, OF Had 27 SBs per 600 PA in 1597 MiLB PA; will deliver strong SB/R/AVG 128 11 Yoan Moncada CWS 3B COVID hit him hard so I’m not sure we’ve seen the follow up to his breakout ’19 85 12 Cavan Biggio TOR 2B, 3B, OF Even if AVG lags, there’s 20 HR/20 SB w/100 R + the triple elig. 61 13 Jeff McNeil NYM 2B, 3B, OF Pwr dipped from ’19 heights, though he did post a .211 ISO in Sept. 87 14 Matt Chapman OAK 3B Sold out for pwr in 37 gm sample as FB% & LA soared, but so did K% (36%) 114 15 Kris Bryant CHC 3B Had a near-identical run in ’19 (.663 OPS, 29% K in 34 gms) & ended w/a 135 wRC+ 131 16 Gio Urshela NYY 3B Another strong 43 gms tacked onto his ’19 breakout just add some legitimacy 161 17 Alec Bohm PHI 1B, 3B Is the power ready to put him among the top 3B? 106 18 Ke’Bryan Hayes PIT 3B I’m kinda surprised the ADP isn’t sky-high after the 195 wRC+ in his debut 143 19 Josh Donaldson MIN 3B It’s all about health and the lower price accounts for that risk 195 20 Justin Turner FA 3B Aging gracefully w/a fantastic skillset… just needs a team now! 220 21 Brian Anderson MIA 3B Personal fave who’s best is yet to come incl. 90+ R/RBI if MIA lineup improves 227 22 Eduardo Escobar ARZ 3B Not buying ’20 as a legit decline, avg’d .266/25 HR/90 RBI/75 R from 2017-19 305 23 J.D. Davis NYM 3B, OF Poor glove could cost him some time if the NL doesn’t get the DH back 222 24 Austin Riley ATL 3B If you don’t mind taking on a poor AVG, it seems like 30 HRs is a lock 207 25 Andrés Giménez CLE 2B, 3B, SS Ran 9x in 49 gms and now joins tm w/4th-most SBs since ’18 169 26 Jean Segura PHI 2B, 3B Still good for a double-double & decent AVG, but 9 pt K% surge is alarming 187 27 Kyle Seager SEA 3B His ’18 now looks like a clear outlier; will remain solid if unspectacular 266 28 Willi Castro DET 3B, SS Not uber-concerned about 0 SBs in debut after 23 per 600 PA in minors (2608 PA) 242 29 Edwin Rios LAD 3B If LAD doesn’t re-sign Turner, he gets 5-7 spot boost 329 30 Joey Wendle TB 2B, 3B, SS With health, his ’18 is very much in play: 7 HR, 16 SB, .300 AVG… solidly boring 317 31 David Fletcher LAA 2B, 3B, SS There are skills here, but they’re leveraged best in very deep leagues 223 32 Ryan McMahon COL 1B, 2B, 3B Could get better, but nothing in his profile suggests a full-on breakout is coming 238 33 Jeimer Candelario DET 1B, 3B I want ’20 to be real, but a .372 BABIP won’t & he feels overpriced for ~.240/20 248 34 Carter Kieboom WAS 3B Still major upside for the 23 y/o and now priced to buy w/0 risk 501 35 Isiah Kiner-Falefa TEX 3B, SS What are we really buying if it doesn’t come w/that C-elig.? 284 36 Luis Urías MLW 2B, 3B, SS He’s just 24 y/o with a mere 422 PA on his ledger, don’t give up yet 417 37 Evan Longoria SF 3B A fine NL-only volume option as he should remain the starter 445 38 Maikel Franco FA 3B Needs a team but even a role can only push him into the early-30s at 3B 488 39 Chad Pinder OAK 2B, 3B Defensive improvements have opened up more PA, but bat still lags for most lgs 552 40 David Bote CHC 2B, 3B Perfect NL Only piece w/multi-elig. & able to do a bit of everything 529 41 Marwin Gonzalez BOS 1B, 2B, 3B, OF Has signed since 1B/2B rankings so he’s up a bit; could find PT in many spots 518 42 Yoshi Tsutsugo TB 3B, OF There’s an adjustment period to MLB & he only got 51 gms; could drop 25+ HRs 536 43 Matt Carpenter STL 3B If he can scrape some health together, could give it one last big hurrah 634 44 Mike Brosseau TB 1B, 2B, 3B Isn’t he just a better Diaz at this point? 457 45 Yandy Díaz TB 3B Oh Yandy… I didn’t see you there when I said that other thing….. 499 46 Isaac Paredes DET 3B Return of Schoop squeezes him out of obvious PT to start the season 584 47 Travis Shaw FA 1B, 3B Strong side platoon bat w/some defensive versatility; needs a team 634 48 Asdrúbal Cabrera FA 1B, 3B 35 y/o needs a team; don’t forget he had 91 RBI in 131 gms in ’19 587 49 Abraham Toro HOU 3B If the 24 y/o found some PT, he could be an legitimate waiver target 709 50 Brad Miller PHI 3B Always have a soft spot for him, but he’s best in NL-Only or even as a DFS play vR 689 SOURCE: NFBC ADP Since 1/9