Fantasy Baseball: Second Base

In the past, second base has typically been a pretty thin position in the fantasy world. However, over the last few years some of them have emerged among the top hitters in baseball. Two second baseman should go in the first round of the draft. Three more will be gone by round 5. It has become a very deep position and instead of a weak spot on your team, they can be a great source of stats just like any other player you draft. Burga and I compared our rankings, let’s see what we came up with.

Burga’s Rankings:
Robinson Cano
Chase Utley
Dustin Pedroia
Dan Uggla
Ian Kinsler
Brandon Phillips
Rickie Weeks
Martin Prado
Aaron Hill
Kelly Johnson

Key Points:
• It’s interesting that Joe and I have VERY similar rankings here. We both have the same first 7 people (with 6 and 7 switched), and he surprisingly ranked Kinsler as low as I did. Kinsler is as supreme talent as any second baseman in the game. But his health concerns make him a very high risk/high reward draft pick and I’ll stay away from him. I’d much rather skip on Kinsler in round 3 and take Uggla in round 5.
• Robinson Cano should repeat, if not improve last years numbers hitting in the middle of the studded Yankee’s lineup. Utley should be close, however, so don’t rule him out just because he was injured last year. Look for similar numbers with Cano getting an advantage in power and Utley an advantage in SBs.
• Aaron Hill should be available in the mid rounds, maybe 8 or 9, and if he can put last year behind him he may prove to be one of the steals of the draft. Is he really the 36 homerun, 108 RBI guy of ’09? Or is he the .205 hitter we saw last year? It’ll be interesting to see what Hill does this year.
• One person I left out was the Oriole’s Brian Roberts. When healthy, he’s a great source of Runs, SBs, and a solid average. However, he’s getting up there in age (33) and was limited to 59 games last year. However, if he’s healthy and bats atop the O’s studded new lineup featuring Mark Reynolds, Derek Lee, and Vlad Guerrero, he may be a top 5 second baseman again this year.

Average Joe's Rankings:
Robinson Cano
Chase Utley
Dustin Pedroia
Dan Uggla
Ian Kinsler
Rickie Weeks
Brandon Phillips
Brian Roberts
Martin Prado
Kelly Johnson

Key Points:
• The top 5 are definitely the elite players at second. Cano was tops in the AL last summer, while Uggla was the best in the National League. But you should expect Utley, Pedroia, and Kinsler to all bounce back from injury-plagued seasons.
• Weeks and Phillips could go either way (up or down) this list. Weeks had a breakout year last year, while Phillips did not drive in as many runs as in previous years. But they should both have solid campaigns, nonetheless.
• Kelly Johnson probably won’t hit as many home runs as he did last year. But he is young, so don’t expect a significant drop from his career year numbers of 2010. Martin Prado has showed steady improvement each year in the league (as the number of games he’s appeared in increases). Expect nothing different this year.
• Brian Roberts, when healthy, is a solid second baseman. With a bunch of new faces in Baltimore, I expect him to have a solid season, rebounding from injuries in 2010, and to help this new Orioles team have a chance in the AL East.