RotoGraphs Consensus Ranks: Third Base

by
February 25, 2014

Now we’re talking. You can keep my interest all the way down to the high twenties on this list of third basemen. I love Chris Johnson’s line drive game as much now as I used to distrust it. Todd Frazier grips it and rips it, but has power. Anthony Rendon is on the cusp. Matt Dominguez finished strong. Nolan Arenado makes contact and has power. Cody Asche even has something going in his favor — a little bit of everything.

I don’t even have many questions about the top six or seven. Sure, Josh Donaldson broke out, but most of his rates are right in line with his minor league numbers. Ryan Zimmerman has the health thing and the throwing thing, but otherwise, he’s good when he’s in.

Third base: worth the expense.

Rankings based on 5×5 roto, 12 teams, single-catcher with Middle Infield and Corner Infield spots, 13 hitters and 9 pitchers. Each ranker had their own mix of projections and intuition.

RG Name Jeff Zach Mike Eno
1 Miguel Cabrera 1 1 1 1
2 Edwin Encarnacion 2 2 3 2
3 Adrian Beltre 3 3 4 3
4 David Wright 4 5 2 6
5 Evan Longoria 5 4 5 4
6 Josh Donaldson 7 7 6 5
7 Ryan Zimmerman 11 8 7 13
8 Brett Lawrie 8 9 15 8
9 Pablo Sandoval 6 6 18 10
10 Pedro Alvarez 9 10 10 12
11 Matt Carpenter 16 14 11 7
12 Martin Prado 12 15 12 9
13 Kyle Seager 13 12 13 11
14 Jedd Gyorko 10 13 9 17
15 Aramis Ramirez 14 11 8 21
16 Chase Headley 15 17 14 14
17 Nolan Arenado 18 18 19 15
18 Manny Machado 20 16 20 16
19 Will Middlebrooks 17 21 17 23
20 Todd Frazier 19 19 16 24
21 Chris Johnson 21 26 21 18
22 Anthony Rendon 24 20 24 20
23 Matt Dominguez 22 30 22 19
24 David Freese 23 23 23 25
25 Mike Moustakas 26 22 27 27
26 Cody Asche 30 28 26 22
27 Trevor Plouffe 28 25 29 26
28 Kelly Johnson 27 24 25 38
29 Jose Iglesias 24 30 32 29
30 Lonnie Chisenhall 34 27 28 31
31 Juan Francisco 29 33 31 30
32 Matt Davidson 35 29 34 28
33 DJ LeMahieu 31 34 30 32
34 Juan Uribe 33 31 33 34
35 Alberto Callaspo 36 35 35 33
36 Danny Valencia 40 40 36 36
37 Marcus Semien 40 40 38 35
38 Luis Valbuena 40 40 37 39

Ranked by one analyst: Wilmer Flores, Ed Lucas, Conor Gillaspie and Donnie Murphy.

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With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.

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WormFace
11 years ago

Why no love for Alvarez? I have him ranked 7th/8th with Zimmerman. If he gets a tad lucky with AVG then he should be on par with Donaldson.

And why so much love for Lawrie and Sandoval? Neither of these guys have done anything recently.

-1
Grant
11 years ago
Reply to  WormFace

A tad lucky?

2
WormFace
11 years ago
Reply to  Grant

With a handful of more hits his AVG will go up to the .245 range. I wouldn’t consider that a huge change of luck.

Even if that doesn’t happen there is no reason he should be ranked behind the likes of Sandoval and Lawrie.

-1