Rankings Update: Third Base
I bet some of you fine folks are wondering where your catcher rankings are, right? Well, I am alternating weeks with catcher rankings and corner infield rankings. At this point in the year, rankings won’t change much week to week, so this is a much better option.
Big Four
Evan Longoria
Alex Rodriguez
David Wright
Ryan Zimmerman
In all of my updates, the top spot has changed hands. I mentioned before that I was tempted to move Longoria up to the top slot, and I finally worked up the stones to do so. Zimmerman has shown he deserves to be mentioned with what used to be the “Big Three.”
Medium Four
Mark Reynolds
Scott Rolen
Casey McGehee
Jorge Cantu
If I owned any of these guys, I wouldn’t feel too bad. Rolen’s injury history still scares me, but I hate predicting that a guy will get hurt. McGehee is showing that his power is for real, but how long will he sustain peak performance? He’s already 27, so he may not be able to improve anymore.
Surprised?
Pablo Sandoval
Michael Young
Pablo’s BABIP may be catching up with him, but his lowered line drive rate isn’t helping matters. Is the power he showed last year a fraud?
I Am Jack’s Third Baseman
Ian Stewart
Adrian Beltre
Jose Bautista
Now that Jack owns a catcher and a first baseman, he needs someone to man the hot corner. If Bautista was capable of hitting .250, he’d be in a higher tier.
Prospect Alert!
David Freese
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Pedro Alvarez
At first, it looked like Alvarez would be up during this very week, but now it looks like the Pirates are going to hold off. He will, however, be up by the end of the month. Freese needs to add some power to his game, but the batting average is still nice and shiny.
The Rest of ‘Em
Casey Blake
Chase Headley
Chipper Jones
Edwin Encarnacion
Chipper’s latest injury problem and lack of overall production forces him to the lowest tier. He still might be worth holding onto in OBP leagues, but should be on the waiver wire in standard leagues.
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
Prospect Alert? the Kouz??
I was just referring to Alvarez. Since it’s the only group with someone who hasn’t played in the bigs, I saw the name as appropriate.
Where would Youkillis rank? Big five?
Bottom of the Big Five, yes.
Why not include him here? How is anything improved by not listing people at positions for which they are eligible?
Alberto Callaspo?
Troy Glaus belongs in tier 2 or am I crazy?
Tough one. I’d probably put him in the second tier, but does he have eligibility at 3B in any leagues? I know Yahoo! has him as only 1B, but I’m not sure what the other sites policies are when it comes to seasons lost to injury.
Glaus is not 3B eligible in Yahoo at least… but by that logic I agree you should include Youk
In his last 50 games, Casey McGehee has hit .256/.318/.422. His ZIPS projection for the remainder of the season is .267/.324/.418.
McGehee has no minor league track record to back up his breakout season last year, and outside of a hot first 2 weeks, has hit fairly close to what we would’ve expected from him. His overall line is still buoyed by that hot start. He is clearly better than what we thought he was, but I can’t see a compelling reason to disagree with ZIPS assessment of his true ability level. He really doesn’t belong above Sandoval and he definitely doesn’t belong in the same tier as Rolen or Reynolds. I’d probably put those two alone in the second tier and rank the third Sandoval, Young, Cantu, McGehee.
lets hope you are wrong