Top 35 Third Basemen for 2020
The hot corner definitely carries some depth with some major names checking in a lot lower than you might expect. There is a lot of multi-eligibility at the position, though, so you could feasibly roster several 3B and put them elsewhere on your roster.
Other 2020 Rankings:
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Top 35 3B for 2020
| Rk | Player | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nolan Arenado | I know he doesn’t run… who cares? He’s a 40 HR/120 RBI lock |
| 2 | Alex Bregman | A brilliant Arenado-esque season could yield an MVP next month |
| 3 | Anthony Rendon | One of the steadiest bats in the game could have a new home in ’20 |
| 4 | Jose Ramirez | Brutal start, elite 2H stunted by inj.; hard not to buyback at a discount |
| 5 | Rafael Devers | Slimmed down, cut K%, & blossomed; solid investment regardless of ball |
| 6 | Max Muncy | Backed breakout ’18 with another great season; bankable power stud |
| 7 | Eugenio Suárez | 5th straight yr of adding HRs to 49; capable 30-100 bat w/neutral ball |
| 8 | DJ LeMahieu | Even if the HR dip, he’s a strong AVG/R bet w/triple elig. (2B & 1B, too) |
| 9 | Jeff McNeil | Essentially an NL-LeMahieu right down to the triple eligibility (OF & 2B, too) |
| 10 | Kris Bryant | Remains a solid producer, but hasn’t reached even 80 RBI in last 3 yrs |
| 11 | Yoán Moncada | Used a more aggressive approach to breakout, but .406 BABIP won’t last |
| 12 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Fell short of massive expectations, but .902 Jul-Aug OPS gave us a taste |
| 13 | Matt Chapman | Continues to cut a Donaldson profile meaning the MVP season is coming?? |
| 14 | Josh Donaldson | Health returned & so did .900 OPS; health will remain key driver to success |
| 15 | Manny Machado | Camden: .296/.353/.537; everywhere else: .267/.323/.449 |
| 16 | Justin Turner | Another solid injury-shortened yr; projections should live in 500 PA range |
| 17 | Tommy Edman | Elite speed drives this profile and AVG should remain strong, too |
| 18 | Eduardo Escobar | Likely won’t hit 35 HR again, but an ’18 repeat would work: 23 HR, 84 RBI |
| 19 | Mike Moustakas | A change in ball wouldn’t affect him much (32 HR per 600 PA in 2017-18) |
| 20 | Miguel Sanó | Premium power, poor AVG, and injuries are profile staples |
| 21 | Yuli Gurriel | No one will pay for huge ’19 primarily because of his age: 36 in 2020 |
| 22 | Scott Kingery | Useful pwr-spd bat avenged rookie flop w/19 HR & 15 SB in 500 PA |
| 23 | Ryan McMahon | Posted .811 OPS, 18 HR, 60 RBI, & 44 R in final 90 gms |
| 24 | Jon Berti | Top flight speed could make the 30 y/o utilityman a fantasy gem |
| 25 | Gio Urshela | Breakout wasn’t just the ball w/opportunity & real skill improvements |
| 26 | Tommy La Stella | Excellent plate skills make him a solid AVG bet even if pwr regresses |
| 27 | J.D. Davis | Blood red StatCast profile makes him a strong pwr bet w/any ball |
| 28 | Hunter Dozier | Profile improvements fueled breakout making him solid pwr bet for ’20 |
| 29 | Yandy Díaz | Hand, hamstring, and foot injuries curbed breakout; speculate in ’20 |
| 30 | Miguel Andújar | Torn labrum ate yr; should be 100% for ’20, but could have new position |
| 31 | Matt Carpenter | Foot & back issues drove worst season yet; will be 34 y/o in ’20 |
| 32 | Kyle Seager | Some health brought his bat back, though a 9 HR Aug. did a lot of work |
| 33 | Brian Anderson | Boring, solid production with added OF eligibility and gtd playing time |
| 34 | Starlin Castro | Final 80 games: .313/.344/.565, 17 HR, 53 RBI, 46 R |
| 35 | Renato Núñez | Continued to devastate lefties, but also had .202 ISO vR to aid breakout |
Honorable Mentions: Joey Wendle, Evan Longoria, David Fletcher, David Bote, Hanser Alberto, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jeimer Candelario, Travis Shaw, Marwin Gonzalez, and Ke’Bryan Hayes
Comically low on DJ
The guy he has ranked #8 who never hit more than 15 HR before this year?
You mean DJ Lemahieu ?? He almost won the batting title. Excellent hitter.
Comically? How so. I consider myself rather pro-DJLM, but let’s be realistic, his pwr will almost certainly drop with a neutral ball so are we really getting 26 HR in ’20, let alone another 100/100 R/RBI? So what is he next year? .300/17/95 R/80 RBI? That feels right at 8th.
I suspect that Arenado doesn’t get as much love because he isn’t head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. Nothing against him, more this group is full of high quality depth. I’ll “gamble” on Machado at 15 or Chapman at 13 any day given upside and relatively stable production. I’d try and capitalize on positions with less quality depth first.
I agree on Chapman, I wouldn’t touch Machado though. I mean his career projection seemed incredibly obvious once he got the big contract.
Go ahead and gamble on Machado, but with his sulking and his attitude, I would never bet on him. He will soon be known as an “albatros contract”
Nick Solak could crack the top 35 if and when he qualifies at 3B, which has not yet occurred.
Big fan and will do a quick hitter DH piece so I can cover the known DH-only guys, but also guys like Solak.
id put him top20 here if he ends up playing 3b next season
Yandi?
29th
JD Davis is way too low at 27. Right now JD Davis is basically 95% of JD Martinez without the name brand. Among players on this list only Rendon had a higher xwOBA in 2019. He also kept raising his launch angle as the year went on, which was the one thing holding him back in previous years.
definitely taking him late next year in every draft
Whole ton of depth at 3B this year. Although almost half of them are eligible at positions with less depth. So come draft day this might actually be only 20 3Bs and that definitely changes the picture.
If the Braves don’t re-up Donaldson and decide to roll with Austin Riley at 3B, where would you rank him? Lots of K’s but lots of HR and a great lineup.
Hey Paul,
Out of curiosity, what leads you to believe someone like Gio Urshela has made legitimate strides (enough to rank him ahead of Andujar for the Yanks)? Aside from finding more power and a raised hard-hit rate, something not exclusive to him in 2019 (his hard-hit rate nearly doubled on his previous career average, though, which is eye-popping), the rest of his batted ball profile and plate discipline profile are nearly identical to the rest of his career marks, suggesting to me that he’s still more or less the same slap-stick hitter he was with the Indians (and briefly with the Blue Jays) that did in fact benefit greatly from a juiced ball. Just curious, what leads you to believe otherwise?
And in the case of Brian Anderson, what do you make of the observable adjustments and changes he made over the course of the season? Had a strong stretch that ran June through August, during which he decreased his groundball rate from around 45% in March through May down to 34.5% in August; raised his fly ball rate from around 30% in March through May up to 45% in August; and began pulling the ball more (30.9% in March/April up to 40% in August) and hitting the ball harder (hard hit rate rose from 39.5% in March/April to 47.3% in August). Do you have reason to believe those aren’t signs of more to come rather than aberrations from the player Anderson has been to this point?
Should rephrase about Urshela: obviously doubling your hard hit rate doesn’t align with maintaining the “slapstick hitter” label, but the rest of his batted ball and plate discipline profiles to me still demonstrate someone who hasn’t made significant strides. Still chases pitches out of the zone at a very high clip, still hits a ton of ground balls, doesn’t walk hardly at all, and aside from the increased exit velocity looks much like he did previous to his stint with the Yankees.
Is Matt Chapman low purely on the Average not looking like the rest of the picture? He lowered his K rate, up’ed his walk rate, hit a lot more home runs and got BABIP’d hard. Sure his second half was a tough time but he still put up good numbers. Pity defense doesn’t play into it or he would be a early pick up.