Howdy again y’all. After a little hiatus due to some life stuff (moving is a pain!), I’m back again and have a bright, sparkly new set of second baseman rankings. Unlike previous articles, as a little treat to you for the time away, I’m going to take time to write a little blurb about each player in the top 10 and give you some reasoning as to why I think they belong there. Let’s get to it!
1. Mookie Betts
I don’t think I need to talk too much about Mookie. Consensus #1 overall second baseman leading into the season, and he has delivered everything we could ask of him so far. The power numbers have taken a step back, but with offense down across the league this year, I think we can give this one a pass. Also, striking out less than 10% of the time while walking nearly 15% of the time is just nutty stuff.
2. Ketel Marte
Despite ranking him number eight on my preseason second base rankings, it would seem that I did not respect Ketel enough. Based on the digging I did on his Savant page it looks like he’s made a conscious choice to up the aggression at the plate; even so, his strikeout rates are still sitting at a below-league-average rate. Based on the gains he’s made in barrel rate and… well, literally every expected stat, this is more than a fair trade-off.
3. Jordan Westburg
He’s petered off a bit since his blazing hot start, but that petering has fortunately left him firmly in the camp of ” better than average” based on rolling xwOBA for second basemen. I would describe his petering as Framptonesque, because baby, I love the way he’s provided steady value for fantasy managers.
The contact he makes is consistently loud, he has maintained his improvements in K%, and outside of sweepers, he has done a pretty incredible job doing damage on pitches of all varieties.
4. Marcus Semien
After a hot start, Semien had a bit of a cold stretch in the back half of May, but he’s got two homers in the first few days of June and hit safely in all but one contest. His iron man status remains intact, and I can’t envision a world in which he doesn’t steal a few more bases moving forward considering his sprint speed is still at a respectable level.
5. Jose Altuve
It’s funny, because if you were at portions of Jose Altuve’s Baseball Savant page and wonder how he can still produce in a meaningful way for fantasy teams. So much so that I had to tweet about it.
I know that Savant sliders don't capture the full context, but it's really wild that someone like this remains a perennial steady producer for fantasy teams. pic.twitter.com/Bx5fxg2Tfl
— Jordan White, Pending Review (@BuntSingles) June 10, 2024
Then you look at his spray chart and which stadium he plays half his games in and it all makes sense. As long as he gets a full season of plate appearances he’ll be worth rostering.
6. Bryson Stott
Stott and Turang offer a lot of the same stuff, but I am giving Stott the benefit of the doubt for a couple reasons;
- The offense surrounding him is more prolific;
- He has a longer track record of major league success
Can he continue walking an a career-high rate? I have my doubts, and I may regret not pushing him down a tiny bit, but for now he’s earned this spot.
7. Brice Turang
After hitting .218 last year in his first (mostly) full major league season, Turang has dinked and dunked his way to a .306 average to start the 2024 season. His value is almost exclusively derived from the fact that he’s nabbed the most bases in the league among 2B eligible bats, and he’s been surgical in his stolen base attempts, only having been caught once so far in 24 attempts.
I have my doubts about the batting average holding up, but something is interesting about Turang’s success as an opposite-field, contact-oriented hitter in a pulled fly ball world.
8. Nolan Gorman
This is like the nega-Turang. Despite running a whiff rate in the literal bottom percentile of the league, Gorman has been an absolute nightmare for opposing pitching over the past month, ranking as the most valuable second baseman according to the Razzball Player Rater. That’ll happen when you hit .298 with 10 taters.
Looking at his Baseball Savant Page reveals all we need to know about him: He barrels the ball at an elite rate (18.2%, 98th percentile), walks a whole bunch (11.2%), and strikes out a lot (34.5%, 2nd percentile).
He’s so Max Muncy-coded, it’s unreal.
9. Ha-Seong Kim
Kim has proven valuable with his continued improvements in pitch recognition and swing decisions, and his excellent strikeout and walk rates reflect that. And that .220 average that he’s currently carrying? I don’t think that’s sticking.
Despite being behind his pace from last year, I still think Kim is a 30-stolen-base candidate and stands as one of the more valuable utility guys you can roster.
10. Ozzie Albies
This one hurts because I had more shares of Ozzie than any other second baseman this year. And I still think it might be foolish of me to rank him this high, since his quality of contact has taken a nosedive.
Fortunately, his batting average has remained respectable and his playing time isn’t in jeopardy, so there’s still hope that he can right the ship.
11. Andres Gimenez
12. Gleyber Torres
13. Nick Gonzales
14. Jake Cronenworth
15. Thairo Estrada
16. Ryan McMahon
17. Joey Ortiz
18. Luis Arraez
19. Abraham Toro
20. Jose Caballero
