Third Base 2026 Fantasy Rankings

There’s little that Ramírez is yet to accomplish in MLB, though winning MVP might forever be his white whale. (He’d also love to go 40/40 at least once, I’m sure.) His counting stats at the plate took a little bit of a step back as he had even more wear and tear than usual in 2025, but he’s showing no long-term signs of slowing down and continues to command the zone while not striking out as well as anyone.

At the onset of the 2025 season it looked like Caminero would be missing some valuable plate appearances as he was frequently replaced for defense, but he improved enough at third to actually play full games with the Rays leading as the season went on. The massive homer power is Caminero’s calling card and considering his precocious youth combined with a lack of big swing-and-miss, the sky is the limit. He was weirdly average away from Steinbrenner Field but I don’t have much concern there since his BABIP was a ridiculously low .197 on the road.

Enjoy the 3B eligibility while you can! Jazz won’t be sniffing the hot corner any time soon after couping DJ LeMahieu out of a roster spot so he could move back to second base, and he responded with a career year despite missing time with an oblique strain. Coming off back-to-back almost-fully-healthy seasons in which he proved he’s got star output to go with his star-level skills, here’s hoping we can finally see what 150 games of Jazz looks like.

Are Garcia’s gains at the plate legit? The Royals sure think so, rewarding his breakout with a five-year, $57.5 million extension. He’s got almost three years of service time but is still just 25 years old, so it’s entirely possible we haven’t seen the best of him yet. He’s more of a “jack of all trades, master of none” than a guy who will give you insane production in a particular category, but there’s .300/20/40 potential in there.

The very definition of borderline between the top tier and second tier, Machado continues to perform like a metronome. The only thing that concerns me is Father Time’s undefeated record, and Machado is entering his age-33 season. His bat speed is still excellent but it has been going down each year for the three years it’s been tracked by Statcast, so it’s not as if he’s completely ageless.

I want Riley to go back to being great, and I’ll concede that it’s entirely possible if not likely that injuries are part of the explanation for his wRC+ declining each year since his career-high in 2022. But we can’t just ignore that in 2025 he walked less and whiffed and struck out more. This is about as high as I’m comfortable putting him.

Suárez could not have signed with a better team. He’s familiar with the Reds, he’ll need fewer days off as a DH, and most importantly for fantasy, he’ll absolutely mash at GABP. He couldn’t figure out the Park Formerly Known As Safeco across his two stints in Seattle, and there was a worry in the back of my mind that he’d end up back there anyway. He’ll feature prominently in a Reds lineup that was starved for power all last year with Elly De La Cruz battling a quad injury throughout the second half.

Paredes would be higher on this list if I was fully confident that he’s (a) fully healthy after rushing back from a horrible hamstring strain and (b) definitely an Astro in 2026. So much of Paredes’ value comes from his elite ability to pull the ball in the air, and there’s nowhere better to do that than Daikin Park. But with the Astros probably needing to offload an infielder to open up DH for Yordan Alvarez and Paredes’ name being the most-often mentioned, I’m just wary enough to ding him a bit.

Muncy has been as good as ever on a rate basis in the last two seasons, but I’m conscious of his age (35) and the fact that he’s only played 173 games in the last two seasons. Plus, he had his worst showing ever against lefties, albeit in only 80 plate appearances, and he could continue to be shielded from them by Miguel Rojas and Alex Call.

I moved Bregman down just a tad because Wrigley isn’t an amazing ballpark fit for him. He’s not as dead-pull as Paredes (nobody is) but he still relies on pulling the ball in the air. Wrigley’s dimensions themselves aren’t a huge needle-mover for me; yes, left field is deep, but Bregman has the pop to hit homers there. The bigger concern is the wind, which will knock down would-be homers for even the most prolific of power hitters — something Bregman isn’t.

This is a pretty aggressive placement for a guy who’s yet to be fully healthy for a season, I’ll admit. But he’s been rock solid when he’s been able to play in 2024 and 2025, and his expected metrics in 2024 — slugging especially — were so good that I think there’s another level in there.

With Kazuma Okamoto in the fold, Barger’s going to be spending more time in right field than at third base, so enjoy that 3B eligibility while you can in 2026! The power has always been real, but getting to it in MLB games was a problem in 2024. No longer was that the case in 2025: Barger mashed 21 homers in 135 games followed by another three in 17 postseason games. With a fantastic hard-hit rate above 50%, I’m taking the over on 24 homers if he can get into 152 games this year. The biggest impediment to that will be solving lefties, against whom he had a wRC+ of 69 in 89 plate appearances.

Montgomery burst onto the scene in his rookie half-season last year, with 21 homers and 55 RBI in just 71 games. If you’re a fan of extrapolating stats out to 162 games and dreaming from there, that’s 48 homers and 125 RBI. No, I don’t think he’ll reach those heights in 2026, as his HR/FB was a ridiculous 26% and his hard-hit rate was a very good but not elite 44%. But he’ll be playing every single day at short (again, enjoy that 3B eligibility while it’s there!), and unimpeded playing time is important.

He’s streaky within seasons, but you ultimately know what you’re gonna get at the end of the year from Chapman: solidly above-average output and 20+ homers. His hand injury led to a career-low in games but he still got into 128 of them, and it didn’t seem to impact his hitting ability upon his return, unlike many hand injuries. In his age-33 season, we’ve got to be careful when considering the aging curve for Chapman, but he actually cut down the strikeouts in 2025 while continuing to walk a ton. I don’t see big concern here yet, the guy’s a grinder.

Well, Bohm is certainly a Steady Vet, just steady at a lower output than you’d like. But the ballpark he plays in and the lineup around him means he’ll rack up RBI in all likelihood, and his 2025 hard hit rate was his best since 2021. Does that portend better power output or just more frustration?

He’s in this tier because I wanted to rank him right about here, not because he’s actually particularly steady. Correa hasn’t been both healthy and very good at the plate since 2022. 2023 was healthy but below-average, 2024 was excellent over 86 games, and 2025 was 144 games of a 106 wRC+. Maybe a full season at third will keep him a little healthier, and Houston is certainly a better place to hit than Minnesota, but you just don’t know what you’re going to get from him. His mere presence on the roster also means Isaac Paredes may be playing elsewhere this year.

Murakami could hit 40 homers; he could hit 15. He could strike out a manageable 30% of the time; he could strike out an untenable 40%. There’s no player in the league, at any position, with as much boom-or-bust potential, and I think I’ve ranked him accordingly. Whatever you get from him — good or bad — don’t be surprised.

Okamoto doesn’t posess the upside that Murakami has (almost nobody on the planet does!) but he’s a much safer bet to produce for the Jays than Murakami is for the White Sox. That’s why he signed for $60 million with a contender and Murakami got just $34 million from the White Sox. Okamoto may have to earn time against tough righties but is widely expected to mash lefties, and his versaility — he should get some time at first base and maybe left field, too — will keep him in the lineup along with the bat.

Lewis’ career has been perplexing, to say the least. Much like the recent vintage of Carlos Correa, Lewis has struggled to be simultaneously healthy and good. 2025 was by far his healthiest season as a big-leaguer, but also by far his worst. Despite being around seemingly forever, though, he’s still just in his age-27 season and he’s got all the talent in the world.

We don’t know where exactly Durbin will be playing with the Red Sox between second and third, but what we do know is that he’s playing every day, and he may well maintain eligibility at both positions. He’s great at nothing but good at everything and if you’re in an OBP league, you have to love how much he gets drilled by pitches.

I’ll admit it: I love Ernie Clement, and it’s not just because he went nuclear in the playoffs. A solidly average hitter with the potential for more who doesn’t really walk or strike out? That’s the good stuff. He’ll play mostly second base this year but I’d expect cameos at third and short, at least, to continue.

The Mets did a lot this offseason, but they did nothing to displace Baty’s status as a starter. He’s ostensibly the “starting DH,” but what that really means is that he’ll be playing every day against righties, whether it’s at DH or spelling the starters at third, second, first, left, right, and perhaps even shortstop. The gains he made on offense look legit, too.

McKinstry broke out with an All-Star campaign in 2025 as the Tigers’ Swiss Army Knife. Something like the lefty version of Clement, he got way more playing time than was expected and ran with it, hitting 11 triples and 12 homers while playing all over. I’ve got him below Clement because his path to playing time in 2026 is a little murkier with Kevin McGonigle fast approaching.

The same playing time concerns I have with McKinstry apply to Keith, except that Keith is coming off a worse season. He did improve as a sophomore from his down-and-then-up rookie year, and his extension keeping him under contract through at least 2029 and as late as 2032 makes the Tigers committed to him. Here’s hoping he can tap into that pop he showed in the minors.

I moved Edman down because it’s now set in stone that he’ll miss Opening Day. I don’t want to react too much to that because it’s a long season, but I also expect the Dodgers to do plenty of load management with him as they try to have him fully unleashed for a threepeat in the playoffs.

Smith is the odds-on favorite to replace Marcus Semien as the Rangers’ starting second baseman, so it’s unclear how much positional eligibility he’ll maintain beyond that if Josh Jung stays healthy (a massive if). Something of a McKinstry Lite, Smith was bang average with the bat while playing all over last year.

Lux’s one season in Cincinnati didn’t go well, and the Reds gave up Mike Sirota for him, to boot. A 102 wRC+ doesn’t cut it when you’re as rough defensively as he was, especially in left field at third base. Now with the Rays, he’ll be the starting second baseman (at least against righties) and I wouldn’t expect him to get much time anywhere else, though it’s still possible.

Caballero will begin the season filling in for Anthony Volpe while the latter recovers from offseason shoulder surgery and end it as a superutility sparkplug who can play all over. Caballero runs with reckless abandon and if you’re in need of steals, there are few better options across the league.

Andujar picked a good team for playing time. His lefty-mashing ways will guarantee his presence in the lineup against all southpaws, and the Padres haven’t done much of anything to take away playing time from him against righties, either. He could still maintain eligibility at third with Manny Machado likely to get plenty of DH days sprinkled in.