Second Baseman Keeper Rankings
Thursday, August 18, 2011
This year's final set of Strike Zone player rankings focuses strictly on 2012 and beyond. I'm looking mostly at the next two years in these keeper rankings, though I am providing a little credit for 2014 and '15. As always, there are position rankings with notes and an overall top 250 list.
Click to see other Keeper rankings:
Top 250 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DHI think the top three is pretty clear cut. Utley's playing well enough since returning from his knee injury to stay ahead of the next group. Some will take issue with me placing Kinsler at the top of the second tier, but even with his disappointing batting average this year, he leads all second basemen in runs scored and he has 18 homers and 21 steals.
I had a pretty difficult time separating the guys ranked between Nos. 10 and 22. In regards to the newcomers, I'm going with the power of Kipnis over the batting average and steal potential of Altuve and Giavotella. I still believe in Beckham enough to place above the latter duo, but I'm not as confident in a rebound as I was a year ago. A change of scenery might be necessary for him. Hill is another due for a change, though I wonder if it will really do him any good. Toronto would seem to be a very good situation for him.
There isn't much in the way of young second basemen after Giavotella. Neither of the Rockies listed, Young and Nelson, is a sure bet to turn into a regular. In fact, the Rockies will probably make a bid to re-sign Ellis for 2012. Young, with his huge steal potential, had to be ranked in the top 30 anyway. He could be an asset in NL-only leagues playing once or twice per week. Phelps got the last spot. He's probably going to be more of a utilityman than a regular, but he could be a very good one.
This year's final set of Strike Zone player rankings focuses strictly on 2012 and beyond. I'm looking mostly at the next two years in these keeper rankings, though I am providing a little credit for 2014 and '15. As always, there are position rankings with notes and an overall top 250 list.
Click to see other Keeper rankings:
Top 250 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DHI think the top three is pretty clear cut. Utley's playing well enough since returning from his knee injury to stay ahead of the next group. Some will take issue with me placing Kinsler at the top of the second tier, but even with his disappointing batting average this year, he leads all second basemen in runs scored and he has 18 homers and 21 steals.
I had a pretty difficult time separating the guys ranked between Nos. 10 and 22. In regards to the newcomers, I'm going with the power of Kipnis over the batting average and steal potential of Altuve and Giavotella. I still believe in Beckham enough to place above the latter duo, but I'm not as confident in a rebound as I was a year ago. A change of scenery might be necessary for him. Hill is another due for a change, though I wonder if it will really do him any good. Toronto would seem to be a very good situation for him.
There isn't much in the way of young second basemen after Giavotella. Neither of the Rockies listed, Young and Nelson, is a sure bet to turn into a regular. In fact, the Rockies will probably make a bid to re-sign Ellis for 2012. Young, with his huge steal potential, had to be ranked in the top 30 anyway. He could be an asset in NL-only leagues playing once or twice per week. Phelps got the last spot. He's probably going to be more of a utilityman than a regular, but he could be a very good one.
Matthew Pouliot is the Executive Editor of RotoWorld.com and has been doing the site's baseball projections for the last 10 years. Follow him on Twitter at
matthewpouliot.
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Matthew Pouliot