Colorado Rockies: Once again, Nolan Arenado not the top third baseman in baseball

On Saturday, MLB Network continued their series of the Top Ten Right Now at each position and, once again, Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado was not at the top of his position’s list.

The chagrin of Colorado Rockies fans, Nolan Arenado, once again, was not named the #1 third baseman in baseball, according to “The Shredder.” In fact, none of the people who had lists on the show as well, Arenado did not top any of their lists. The only list that Arenado was #1 on was the social media vote from fans.

“The Shredder” had Arenado as the third best third baseman in baseball entering 2020, which is the same spot he was in last offseason. However, he was leapfrogged by Alex Bregman (#1) and Anthony Rendon (#2) for this year’s list when they were #5 and #4 entering 2019.

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For Arenado, the highest he has ever been on the list was #2 in 2018 when he was second only to Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs.

However, heading into 2020, if you look at the 2019 stats, it’s a little bit easier to see why Arenado is not #1. He was not number one in any offensive or defensive stats among third basemen. The most frequent number that he came in was third.

You can look at those stats in this article when we discussed Buster Olney’s top 10 third basemen list entering 2020 that he released last month. Olney, like The Shredder and some of the other analysts on MLB Network, had Arenado at #3.

If you look at all of the lists since they started doing them in 2015 (which you can do that here), Arenado is the most consistent in his ranking, though.

For example, #1 and #2 entering 2019 were Jose Ramirez of the Indians and Justin Turner of the Dodgers and entering 2020, they were #9 and #7 on The Shredder’s list. Kris Bryant was #1 in 2018 and he didn’t even make the 2020 list. In 2017, Arenado was #4. Josh Donaldson, Kris Bryant, and Manny Machado were above him. Both Bryant and Machado were not on the list and Donaldson was #6.

So, in other words, season by season, Arenado is not the best third baseman but none of the #1 third baseman have been able to do it consistently. Arenado has been #2, #3, or #4 but he has done that in every season since the 2016-17 offseason.