There are three ways to handle drafting the second base position on draft day:
- You can invest. Grab one of the big bats and give all those fantasy cheap-skate owners the finger when your middle infield can actually help in more than one category.
- You can just punt the position and either stream in healthy options each week or Tebow your way to helping Mike Fontenot find a way to string together 400 useful plate appearances.
- You can study your tail off to find some of those hidden gems, either sitting around on a major league roster on Opening Day, or find yourself a mid-season call up like Dustin Ackley or Jason Kipnis.
However you decide to handle manning the second sack, here’s how we see the fantasy baseball rankings at second base:
- Robinson Cano, NYY
- Dustin Pedroia, BOS
- Ian Kinsler, TEX
- Dan Uggla, ATL
- Brandon Phillips, CIN
- Ben Zobrist, TB
- Chase Utley, PHI
- Rickie Weeks, MIL
- Howie Kendrick, LAA
- Dustin Ackley, SEA
- Danny Espinosa, WAS
- Jason Kipnis, CLE
- Ryan Roberts, ARI
- Jemile Weeks, OAK
- Neil Walker, PIT
- Aaron Hill, ARI
- Kelly Johnson, TOR
- Jose Altuve, HOU
- Gordon Beckham, CWS
- Brian Roberts, BAL
- Daniel Murphy, NYM
- Omar Infante, MIA
- Ryan Raburn, DET
- Sean Rodriguez, TB
- Orlando Hudson, SD
- Mark Ellis, LAD
- Ruben Tejada, NYM
- Maicer Izturis, LAA
- Darwin Barney, CHC
- Jamey Carroll, MIN
- Mike Aviles, BOS
- Jeff Keppinger, TAM
- Taylor Green, MIL
- Alexi Casilla, MIN
- Freddy Sanchez, SF
- Juan Uribe, LAD
- Johnny Giavotella, KC
- Jose Lopez, COL
- Stephen Lombardozzi, WAS
- Carlos Guillen, DET
- Matt Antonelli, BAL
- Chris Getz, KC
- As a group, we couldn’t solve the issue of Robinson Cano or Dustin Pedroia. Both are top-notch fantasy options with Cano giving you more power and Pedroia giving you more stolen bases. If you have a dog in the Red Sox – Yankees argument, choose that way. If not, I’m taking the power option and I’ll go find a base stealer late in the draft.
- I mentioned Ackley and Kipnis earlier as mid to late-season call ups. As great as they did in 2011, do not bid or draft on their pace numbers. Kipnis is not going to hit 30 dingers if he gets 600 at-bats. Ackley won’t hit .275 (he started striking out more frequently as the season progressed) or put up 12 homers and 12 stolen bases if he reaches 600 at-bats. Still, finding these guys at a value is the key this year. If not, let some other mouth-breather pay too much.
- Imagine what Dan Uggla can do with a full season of the kind of progress he made in the second half last year. Uggla brought his average up 111 points after the All-Star Break and went from hitting a home run in every 22.66 at-bats to one in every 12.38 at-bats.