RotoGraphs Consensus Rankings – May Update: Second Basemen
We’re making our way around the diamond with our updated rankings and today we reach the keystone.
If you feel we missed someone, please let us know in the comments.
The names we missed that are mentioned in the comments will be added by Friday, 5/29.
For this update, you’ll get the rankings of myself, Zach Sanders, and Mike Podhorzer. Jeff Zimmerman will return for the midseason update. Without further ado:
| Num | Player | Team | League | Paul | Zach | Mike | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Altuve | Astros | AL | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2 | Ian Kinsler | Tigers | AL | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.0 |
| 3 | Jason Kipnis | Indians | AL | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3.3 |
| 4 | Dee Gordon | Marlins | NL | 2 | 6 | 6 | 4.7 |
| 5 | Robinson Cano | Mariners | AL | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4.7 |
| 6 | Brian Dozier | Twins | AL | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5.7 |
| 7 | Kolten Wong | Cardinals | NL | 5 | 8 | 9 | 7.3 |
| 8 | Dustin Pedroia | Red Sox | AL | 9 | 11 | 10 | 10.0 |
| 9 | Mookie Betts | Red Sox | AL | 11 | 15 | 5 | 10.3 |
| 10 | Howie Kendrick | Dodgers | NL | 10 | 7 | 15 | 10.7 |
| 11 | Marcus Semien | Athletics | AL | 8 | 9 | 17 | 11.3 |
| 12 | Anthony Rendon | Nationals | NL | 12 | 14 | 8 | 11.3 |
| 13 | Neil Walker | Pirates | NL | 16 | 10 | 14 | 13.3 |
| 14 | Ben Zobrist | Athletics | AL | 15 | 13 | 13 | 13.7 |
| 15 | Devon Travis | Blue Jays | AL | 19 | 12 | 11 | 14.0 |
| 16 | Daniel Murphy | Mets | NL | 23 | 16 | 12 | 17.0 |
| 17 | Logan Forsythe | Rays | AL | 14 | 17 | 22 | 17.7 |
| 18 | Jimmy Paredes | Orioles | AL | 17 | 21 | 20 | 19.3 |
| 19 | Martin Prado | Marlins | NL | 24 | 19 | 16 | 19.7 |
| 20 | Steve Pearce | Orioles | AL | 21 | 20 | 18 | 19.7 |
| 21 | Alex Guerrero | Dodgers | NL | 13 | 30 | 19 | 20.7 |
| 22 | Delino DeShields | Rangers | AL | 18 | 22 | 28 | 22.7 |
| 23 | Joe Panik | Giants | NL | 22 | 18 | 30 | 23.3 |
| 24 | Luis Valbuena | Astros | AL | 20 | 29 | 21 | 23.3 |
| 25 | Chase Utley | Phillies | NL | 25 | 27 | 23 | 25.0 |
| 26 | DJ LeMahieu | Rockies | NL | 26 | 23 | 31 | 26.7 |
| 27 | Brandon Phillips | Reds | NL | 30 | 25 | 27 | 27.3 |
| 28 | Chris Owings | Diamondbacks | NL | 28 | 28 | 26 | 27.3 |
| 29 | Addison Russell | Cubs | NL | 29 | 32 | 24 | 28.3 |
| 30 | Jace Peterson | Braves | NL | 35 | 24 | 29 | 29.3 |
| 31 | Brett Lawrie | Athletics | AL | 32 | 31 | 25 | 29.3 |
| 32 | Aaron Hill | Diamondbacks | NL | 34 | 26 | 40 | 33.3 |
| 33 | Danny Espinosa | Nationals | NL | 33 | 35 | 35 | 34.3 |
| 34 | Rougned Odor | Rangers | AL | 27 | 34 | 46 | 35.7 |
| 35 | Yangervis Solarte | Padres | NL | 31 | 33 | 45 | 36.3 |
| 36 | Nick Franklin | Rays | AL | 36 | 44 | 33 | 37.7 |
| 37 | Omar Infante | Royals | AL | 37 | 44 | 32 | 37.7 |
| 38 | Stephen Drew | Yankees | AL | 41 | 42 | 34 | 39.0 |
| 39 | Tim Beckham | Rays | AL | 40 | 36 | 42 | 39.3 |
| 40 | Jedd Gyorko | Padres | NL | 39 | 37 | 43 | 39.7 |
| 41 | Matt Duffy | Giants | NL | 38 | 44 | 38 | 40.0 |
| 42 | Johnny Giavotella | Angels | AL | 47 | 41 | 36 | 41.3 |
| 43 | Carlos Sanchez | White Sox | AL | 43 | 44 | 37 | 41.3 |
| 44 | Scooter Gennett | Brewers | NL | 46 | 38 | 44 | 42.7 |
| 45 | Emilio Bonifacio | White Sox | AL | 44 | 43 | 41 | 42.7 |
| 46 | Cory Spangenberg | Padres | NL | 49 | 44 | 39 | 44.0 |
| 47 | Arismendy Alcantara | Cubs | NL | 42 | 44 | 50 | 45.3 |
| 48 | Jonathan Schoop | Orioles | AL | 48 | 40 | 49 | 45.7 |
| 49 | Micah Johnson | White Sox | AL | 45 | 44 | 51 | 46.7 |
| 50 | Tommy La Stella | Cubs | NL | 50 | 39 | 52 | 47.0 |
| 51 | Ryan Flaherty | Orioles | AL | 51 | 44 | 48 | 47.7 |
| 52 | Eric Sogard | Athletics | AL | 52 | 44 | 47 | 47.7 |
A few notes:
You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.
- Altuve kept a firm hold on the top spot from the spring rankings.
- Kipnis is tantalizing again and has jumped from 6 to 2 from the spring. I’m still eyeballing him a little skeptically as we’ve really yet to see that full season of star-level production. His June 2013 was a lot like this May and then he had a .724 OPS over the final three months.
- Gordon’s AVG is obviously going to come down some thanks to a .435 BABIP, but something in the low-.300s w/40 SBs the rest of the way is very do-able.
- I was the low guy on Cano at 7, but it’s less about being against him and more being favor of Wong and Dozier the rest of the way. The power concerns for Cano are understandable, but at the very least he should climb back up to last year’s power output.
- Rendon was a tough one for me. First off, we haven’t even seen him play so it’s really hard to assess what we might get, but I also think the SBs will be curbed severely which really chops his value. I think we’ll see a great AVG and some solid pop, but that speed element made him fantasy gold. He might just be fantasy silver in 2015.
- There is some depth to this position w/a lot of viable, though unspectacular vets populating the teens and early-20s.
- Odor had the largest disparity between two rankers with myself having him at 23 and Mike all the way down at 42 for the young Rangers 2B.
- Most of the largest disparities came in the backend of the rankings with Solarte (14 spots), Hill & LaStella (13), Infante (12), Franklin & Giavotella (11), and Valbuena, Peterson, & Spangenberg (10) all with double-digit splits between the high and low end.
- Semien was the highest ranked guy with a substantial disparity as I had him eighth to Mike’s 16th.
- Kinsler joined Altuve as the only other consensus ranking while Zobrist was one spot away from three 13s.
Next up: SS on Friday, 5/29
Rendon did steal a base in a rehab game, for what that’s worth.
And if he logs a couple off the bat upon returning, I’ll take that into consideration and there’s a chance he’ll rocket up my midseason 2B rankings. I’m a huge believer in his skill, just worry about the health piece (obviously).
JImmy Parades has 2B eligibility in some leagues. Where do you see him slotting?
mookie betts?
I am curious as to why Mike still has Cano at 2, given that his decline began last year and the peripherals suggest that he has actually undergone a skills decline.
Additionally, given Dozier’s power and OBP, I don’t see how he’s below Kinsler in everyone’s ranks. He was also pretty elite last year, and his BABIP is actually low so far on the year, and his production has been fantastic. Kinsler just doesn’t have the category juice anymore in comparison.
Thats all, thank you guys for the ranks.
I’ll speak for myself personally re: Kinsler. I don’t think his power is gone despite the 0 HR so far. So if that plays out as I expect, he’s an all-category guy again. He’s still pacing for about 100 runs, 70 RBIs, and 20 SBs w/a .280 AVG despite 0 HR. Still a top 10 guy in ESPN’s Player Rater at 2B despite 0 HR. So I think w/returned power, he’s up that high.
I’m a huge Dozier fan and didn’t want to sell him short. Honestly, the 3-6 group is ridiculously close for me. I had them in all different combos throughout my process.
Thanks for the response, Paul. I guess all Im saying is:
Dozier: .328 OBP, 37 R, 9 HR, 24 RBI, 3 SB, .247 ISO, .271 BABIP, .494 SLG
Kinsler: .352 OBP, 28 R, 0 HR, 21 RBI, 6 SB, .086 ISO, .325 BABIP, .366 SLG
The BABIP will probably even out the OBP difference over time, and at that point, I would argue that even if Kinsler regains some power (which isn’t supported by his ISO), Dozier will still likely be preferable on that front. And he seems to be at least as good at all the other categories, maybe save for SB.
Thanks again!
Here’s the thing, Kinsler has 0 HRs and is still 9th among 2B while Dozier is at a peak performance-wise and sitting 5th. I can’t see how ISO would support a power surge for Kinsler considering he has zero homers. That’s a clear outlier, though.
Even with his normal 7% HR/FB from the last two years, that’s four homers which also accounts for lowered FB%. I just can’t imagine any way he keeps a 0% HR/FB. I don’t think Dozier is any sort of auto-regression candidate, but even if he stays status quo, Kinsler will be on his tail as his power improves.
I’m fine with the pro-Dozier, but I think you might be a little too anti-Kinsler. For a guy with 0 HR to still register as a top 10 at his position says a lot.
Seems like a lot your rankings dependent on him returning to a power level at the very least on par with the last two years; so it is worth noting his distance continues to tumble (255 feet this year). Throw in the fact his babip is 40 points above his career avg, a 2nd overall ranking seems a bit ridiculous.
Also worth noting is he only hit 7 hrs in the final 85 games of last season. So now its 7 hrs in his last 132 games played. That seems significant to me.
Hey guys, forgot to rank me?
Also, please change the Positional Coverage rankings on the right to reflect an actual preseason rank of players. Its always nice to have a reference point for where players were ranked at the start of the year, and these were supposed to be a temporary rank before an update, which never actually came. Its also only 2 people doing those ranks, Id love to see Eno’s preseason ranks represented as well, for example. Thanks1
Not eligible some places. I know hes an OF only on CBS
So being not eligible in some places means he’s completely ignored and those of us who own him where he is eligible get no useful information about him?
Seems better to include him in the rankings and let those people who play in places where he’s not eligible just skip over his name.
Surprised to see Forsythe so far ahead of Daniel Murphy in your rankings Paul. Especially considering you can make an argument that Forsythe is being propped up by a career high BABIP and Murphy still has some room for improvement in his BABIP. Just curious if Forsythe is someone I should be taking a harder look at as a viable starter going forward.
A .330 BABIP isn’t all that huge. And he’s striking out a career low. His .180 ISO is also very impressive.
This may be true, but you can make the argument that Murphy has been a bit unlucky with the BABIP and has seen a drastic turnaround in his production since April ended. I see them as being much closer in production than what they are ranked here, Murphy and Forsythe, so seeing Paul’s large ranking gap was surprising.
Jay Harrison is 2B eligible in at least Yahoo.
*Josh
Currently have Russell starting in my 12 team points league. Should I hold trade for a Walker/Kendrick/Murphy type or look to add someone like Forsythe, BP, Pearce, or Alex Guerro? The only issue with adding someone is it’s a pretty shallow bench and I don’t have too many droppable pieces outside or maybe TDA and Wieters on my DL. Thanks!
Cano over Kolten? …. seems like the wong choice
Is DeShields not 2B eligible in all leagues? Pretty sure he is in Yahoo and ESPN. I’m holding onto him.
Check back tomorrow for added names. They could be in tonight, but I know Mike is at work and I’m heading to the Round Rock Express game later so I may not get to them until very late tonight.
Thanks for updating this Paul, I appreciate all 3 of you taking the time to go back and edit it.
Why is Semien listed with the 2b’s? He hasn’t logged a single inning at second base this year.
Yeah but 26 games there last year. The general tenor encourages inclusion so we’re going for that with the rest of these rankings.
Page on Mookie says he logged 122 innings at 2B last year. Care to rank him? Under Yahoo scoring he’s eligible.
No one expects Kipnis to keep this pace up, but you really think Kinsler is better than him? What more does Kipnis have to do to prove that he’s healthy again and can perform near previous healthy norms? Do you really expect Kinsler to just flip a switch and suddenly recreate his 2012 performance? What happens to him if his BABIP drops 40 pts? It’s one thing for him to be hitting near his career average, it’s another when there’s a spike in his peripherals that he’s never sustained before, the only other time he’s ever had an MLB BABIP over .300 was way back in 2010, and the last time he managed to steal 20 bases was 2012. Not to mention Kipnis is four years younger than Kinsler, and still in his prime years.
If I had to bank on one of these guys the rest of the way, it’s not Kinsler.
For me personally w/Kipnis, need to see more than a month. His big “seasons” are all built on a hot month. In 2012, it was a big May. In 2013, it was a June that looked a lot like this May we’ve seen (1.216 OPS) and then he was meh the rest of the way. I’ve just never seen him sustain anything so that’s where my skepticism comes from. And I understand it’s been health-related, but I’m not sure why I should necessarily believe he’ll just stay healthy this year.
And again, despite all the negatives about Kinsler, he’s still sitting 9th at 2B right now. There is some backing for his surge in BABIP, too. Third-highest LD% and lowest FB%. His batted ball profile is more conducive to a higher BABIP. He doesn’t need a miraculous power surge to be great, but I can’t imagine anyone truly believes his 0% HR/FB is legit in any way.
ZIPS has the pair almost even. 6 SB and 1 HR edge for Kip; 3 R edge for Kins. Adding in that I personally believe less in Kip’s hot May being a harbinger and don’t share concerns around Kins’ power output, I wound up with Kinsler over Kipnis.
We disagree, reasonable minds can do that. I think there’s merit in both sides.
Being able to discuss differences in opinion is part of what makes Rotographs so great, IMO. Part of my concern here though is that Kipnis is prone to having a big month, I think a lot of players are, but Kipnis is hardly a good month and nothing else. It’s obviously not the best analog for fantasy, but here are Kipnis’ wRC+ scores by month for 2013:
Mar/Apr 52
May 142
June 223
July 105
August 92
September 116
The sample is small, but he seems to be back on his 2013 track when everyone expected great things from him. But there are also reasons to point to Kipnis being able to sustain this on some level, like his 27.6 LD%, and while his 28.2 FB% makes you wonder about his power production going forward, it should help sustain his BABIP spike, and his 10.9% HR/FB rate isn’t screaming regression. Kipnis also isn’t pulling the ball as much as Kinsler, and the level of weak contact Kipnis is generating is 9% lower and below his career norms, while Kinsler’s is a bit above career norms.
While Kipnis can’t sustain his May, it seems like he’s capable of sustaining a solid clip going forward.
Alex Guerrero is 2B eligible in ESPN leagues. If you do add players, please include him. I have him in an NL-only league and have no idea what to think going forward with Turner, Van Slyke, Ethier, Crawford, and Olivera all playing roles in determining his playing time down the road.
I would love to see a crowd-sourced/FANs column added to these monthly rankings… Let the people vote!
What about Josh Harrison?
I really want to argue Forsythe should be higher on this list. A 146 wRC+ that isn’t propped up by a huge BABIP. A K rate which is way down. He hits cleanup behind Longo, an OBP machine. He’ll likely steal double digit bags. His ISO matches up with any 2b in the game. His fly ball percentage is up. Everything I see looks great!
But alas, I can’t. There are a lot, lot of good second baseman in today’s game. And the Rays offense is terrible.
I have semien at 2B and Castro at SS while Rendon is on the DL. Do you prefer Devon travis, Neil walker, or Simmons to castro?
Tuff decision, I have Kinsler and Panik. In my league head to head total points 7day matchup. Strikeouts are -.5. Singles 1.2, doubles 2.4, triples 3.6, Homeruns 6.8. I have Rendon ready to activated…do I drop Panik or Kinsler. Stats show Panik with power and avg. Has Kinsler slowed down this year? Or should I trust in Kinsler’s history.
CAno should be ranked 20th. Seriously, I wasted my first pick on the bum. And I thought he was “safe.”
Cesar Hernandez? So far, lots of steals, decent avg, and a supposedly guaranteed starting spot even after Utley is healthy