Colorado Rockies: A look at MLB Network’s Top 10 Second and Third Basemen

This past weekend, MLB Network started their recurring offseason series of the Top 10 players at each positions and on Saturday, they started with second base and third base.

MLB Network released their list of the Top 10 second and third basemen right now on Saturday and for both lists, as per usual, the so-called “Shredder” had some peculiar picks and placements. Let us first start at second base.

At second here is the list that they had, per MLB Network on Twitter.

As you can see in the tweet, they have former Rockies second baseman (who just signed with the Yankees) DJ LeMahieu at number 10. Considering that he really does not hit for any power, I personally think that this is a fairly good ranking. You, the fans, put him at number 8, which I also don’t mind but I don’t think I could put him any higher. To me, it’s Jose Altuve and everybody else and each the Shredder, Brian Kenny, Harold Reynolds, and the fan list have him at number one.

For third basemen, this may upset some Rockies fans.

The Shredder’s list looked like this:

1.  Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians
2. Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Nolan Arenado, Rockies
4. Anthony Rendon, Washington Nationals
5. Alex Bregman, Houston Astros
6. Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
7. Matt Chapman, Oakland A’s
8. Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
9. Josh Donaldson, Atlanta Braves (was with Toronto and Cleveland in 2018)
10. Eugenio Suarez, Cincinnati Reds

I personally think, as you probably do, that Nolan Arenado was snubbed. Jose Ramirez, I get maybe (more on him in a second) but Justin Turner surprised me.

He did hit better than Arenado (150 OPS+ since 2017 compared to 131 OPS+ in the same span for Arenado and MLB Network considers the last two seasons and prediction for next year) but he also played half a season less (82 games) than Arenado. He is not as good of a defender (7 DRS since ’17 to 25 for Arenado). He is a slightly better baserunner, according to sprint speed via Baseball Savant. Turner also does have an extended postseason track record of excellence (49 games, .313/.420/.503 slash).

It’s closer than you might think but considering Turner’s injury history and defensive numbers, I think Arenado is better. He’s also 7 years younger than Turner, which is a big difference.

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I personally don’t agree with Jose Ramirez for one reason: season-long consistency. As much as I would like to see an Indians player at number one (full disclosure, I grew up an Indians fan as I live in Ohio; plus, you have to love their Twitter team especially when they and the Rockies Twitter start ribbing each other), Jose Ramirez is not that guy because he can’t hit his way out of a paper bag after the All-Star break. He might the best player since sliced bread was invented before the break but he’s awful after.

In 2018, he did hit .298/.408/.630 with 32 home runs and 78 RBI through July 31 but he only hit .210/.343/.387 in August and September with 7 home runs and 27 RBI. On top of that, he hit .166/.307/.290 with 3 homers and 16 RBI from August 15 through the regular season. He also completely layed an egg (0-for-11) in the postseason. He also went 2-for-20 in the postseason in 2017 (.100 AVG).

To me, that’s not good enough to be the number one third baseman in the entire sport.

Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh but after all, those are the three most important months of the season for a postseason team (August, September, and October) and he (and the Indians, in general, particularly in October) didn’t show up.

Nolan Arenado had his struggles in those months as well but he still hit 10 home runs and 31 RBI with a .279/.343/.500 slash line in August and September. In the postseason, he also struggled (.188 AVG) but he didn’t go hitless (all stats via Baseball Reference). He’s also a better defender than Ramirez.

Next Saturday, they will go over the Top 10 Catchers and Right Fielders so check back next week as we will go over their lists.