We already went over the top 20 catchers and the top 20 1st basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball. Today, we dip our big toe into the top 20 2nd basemen pool. In the preseason, 2nd base looked hella deep, and now it looks relatively shallow. Not making this recap, due to disappointing me and/or you, is Jurickson Profar, Matt Carpenter, Robinson Cano, Jonathan Schoop, Daniel Murphy, Brian Dozier, and, last and least, Travis Shaw. Other guys stepped up obviously, but the last six names on this ranking are gonna leave something to desire. To recap this crap (rhyme points!), this final ranking for last year is from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater with my comments. The Player Rater allows me to be impartial while looking at how I ranked them in the preseason. Anyway, here’s the top 20 2nd basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:
1. Jonathan Villar – Was also the 4th best bat in the American League, and a guy I called a preseason sleeper. Didja listen? Well…didja? Don’t you dare bring up my Daniel Palka sleeper! Don’t. You. Dare. Villar goes back to the point I have made repeatedly in the past and will make repeatedly again and will overemphasis with this awkward sentence setting up what I’m about to say: When a guy gets speed and power, he is crazy valuable. Think of it like this, Dannys Antana was more valuable than Gleyber Torres because of added speed. I guarantee you, most people who play fantasy baseball and don’t grasp this concept would think Gleyber was way better than Antana. Preseason Rank #9, 2019 Projections: 84/16/67/.267/48 in 549 ABs, Final Numbers: 111/24/73/.274/40 in 642 ABs
2. Ketel Marte – There were some people who fully trusted Marte this year, so I’m taking an L. This wasn’t out of nowhere, but it was for me. Actually, it wasn’t out of nowhere for me either. I heard the reasons why people liked him, but I chose to either ignore or naysay like Bojack Horseman. I could say with some confidence that the people drinking the Ketel Kool-Aid were not drunk enough to think he was capable of this year. Preseason Rank #32, 2019 Projections: 73/13/45/.252/8 in 564 ABs, Final Numbers: 97/32/92/.329/10 in 569 ABs
3. DJ LeMahieu – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
4. Ozzie Albies – Pretty much nailed Albies’s preseason projections. One other note about Albies that’s not a bank note much to his chagrin, he’s a great example of why you shouldn’t look at spring training lineups and think someone is going to bat 8th all year. Preseason Rank #5, 2019 Projections: 77/21/86/.270/18 in 578 ABs, Final Numbers: 102/24/86/.295/15 in 640 ABs
5. Eduardo Escobar – Couple thoughts here, around July of this year, I started to talk about how I was going to write a schmohawk, overrated post for Escobar in 2020, and then he had his 2nd half (.236; 3 HRs in September), and he might’ve already disappointed. Another note is I was way higher on him last preseason and grabbed him everywhere and enjoyed owning him this year. Third note, there’s no third note. Preseason Ranked #15 for Shortstops, 2019 Projections: 81/25/90/.270/5 in 589 ABs, Final Numbers: 94/35/118/.269/5 in 636 ABs
6. Whit Merrifield – Fantasy baseball needs an influx of young guys who can steal bases so badly. Praying hands emoji with a vape pen between my index and middle fingers that Fernando Tatis Jr. is the guy. Preseason Rank #10 for 1B, 2019 Projections: 82/10/59/.291/28 in 597 ABs, Final Numbers: 105/16/74/.302/20 in 681 ABs
7. Danny Santana – One of the biggest waiver wire pickups in any league this year. To add butter to the already melted cup of butter served with the world’s largest lobster is looking at Antana’s ABs. One after the other above him have a shizzton of ABs, but Antana didn’t even qualify for the batting title. If a guy, let’s call him Ternando Fatis Jr., goes 25/25 next year with no runs or RBIs or average, he’s going to be a top 30 bat. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 81/28/81/.283/21 in 474 ABs
8. Gleyber Torres – My preseason ranking isn’t that far off, but I pewed the scrooch on Gleyber calling him overrated in the preseason. Sure, 37 of his 38 homers were against the Orioles and he didn’t do that well for fantasy because of a lack of steals and–Holy crap, could I write back-to-back overrated posts for Gleyber in 2020? Man, I hate guys who give no speed at MI, rely on runs and RBIs and aren’t huge average contributors. Preseason Rank #11, 2019 Projections: 75/24/84/.252/8 in 565 ABs, Final Numbers: 96/38/90/.278/5 in 546 ABs
9. Javier Baez – He ended up missing about 70 ABs, due to injuries, so he wasn’t quite the bust this end-of-season ranking seems to hint at, but I was expecting a huge step forward and it didn’t materialize. I did see something interesting the other day from another ‘pert who will remain nameless because I legit don’t remember who it was. They said the days of hitters not taking pitches and it being a negative are behind us. I’ve been saying that for years. Pitchers all suck and groove plenty of pitches, even if a guy like Baez doesn’t lay off of pitchers’ pitches. Preseason Rank #1, 2019 Projections: 102/35/109/.281/18 in 590 ABs, Final Numbers: 89/29/85/.281/11 in 531 ABs
10. Max Muncy – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
11. Yoan Moncada – His .406 BABIP never came back to haunt him because he was injured when he should’ve regressed. If there’s something strange in your average and your BABIP should regress…Who ya gonna call? Fantasy Bust-busters! There’s somethin’ weird and your peripherals don’t look good. Who ya gonna call? Fantasy Bust-busters! Preseason Rank #16, 2019 Projections: 86/19/59/.230/14 in 589 ABs, Final Numbers: 83/25/79/.315/10 in 511 ABs
12. Jose Altuve – I ranked Altuve outside of the top 20 overall and I think I was the only ‘pert to do that. Was I? Not sure, but as long as I’m thinking it, that’s all that matters! “Did someone say ladders?” No, Altuve, but I can get that cereal for you. Preseason Rank #4, 2019 Projections: 92/15/82/.309/21 in 582 ABs, Final Numbers: 89/31/74/.298/6 in 500 ABs
13. Jeff McNeil – For fear of backlash from PETA, I don’t want to beat this dead horse, but look at where McNeil ended up vs. Antana. Speed and power is l’chaim. By the by, I want to do a kosher seafood restaurant called L’chaim Jumper. All seats will be levitating like they’re in The Horah dance. Preseason Rank #28, 2019 Projections: 2019 Projections: 56/17/59/.269/8 in 454 ABs, Final Numbers: 83/23/75/.318/5 in 510 ABs
14. Mike Moustakas – This is going to sound like a fairy tale I’m not telling you through revisionist history, but we were actually happy at one point that Moistasskiss gained 2nd base eligibility. In all seriousness, Moistasskiss feels like the type to fall off a cliff next year. Power guys go bye-bye real quick. Preseason Rank #17 for 3B, 2019 Projections: 71/30/98/.253/3 in 567 ABs, Final Numbers: 80/35/87/.254/3 in 523 ABs
15. Rougned Odor – From Moistasskiss to Stankasskiss. I could sit here and lie telling you I didn’t like Odor that much in the preseason, but I’m not sitting and I projected him for a .258 average. El oh dubya tee eff. Yo, January Grey, lay off the hooch! Preseason Rank #10, 2019 Projections: 74/25/82/.258/12 in 555 ABs, Final Numbers: 77/30/93/.205/11 in 522 ABs
16. Kolten Wong – From Stankasskiss to That-ain’t-my-ass-kiss. In the preseason, I was like Wong F.U., but I should’ve been yelling Wong Fu, which is a great Asian compliment — to add Fu to a name. It means they kick ass. With the bankrupt steals shituation in MLB, his 24 steals were a welcome addition to my teams where I owned him. In fact (Grey’s got more? Oh damn right!), where I owned Wong it was one of two leagues I won this year. When Scott White of CBS sent out congrats to me for beating him, he mentioned I had no stars on my NL-Only team, but Wong was one of many guys who I owned that were sneaky valuable. Was Wong Fu for shallow mixed leagues? Nah, F.U. Preseason Rank #51, 2019 Projections: 39/9/45/.255/6 in 302 ABs, Final Numbers: 61/11/59/.285/24 in 478 ABs
17. Kevin Newman – Hello, Newman! If it wasn’t clear, after Moistasskiss, there was a big drop off, and another drop off after Newman, i.e., Odor, Wong, Newman were their own tier, and a movie with Wesley Snipes in drag. Preseason Unranked Final Numbers: 61/12/64/.308/16 in 493 ABs
18. Cesar Hernandez – As you’ll see as I recap the next positions, but should be clear already, these end of the road 2nd basemen were not good, in the big picture. The bottom of the shortstops and 3rd basemen were much better than this. 2nd base was weak sauce that did not slap or anything else the kids are saying. Preseason Rank #25, 2019 Projections: 71/16/64/.256/16 in 532 ABs, Final Numbers: 77/14/71/.279/9 in 612 ABs
19. Starlin Castro – Something I don’t mention much, but the Player Rater has a value per game category. It shouldn’t be surprising that Castro has easily the worst value per game after the Marlins sent him out for 636 ABs and 162 games. He averaged one run every 2 1/3 games after seeing roughly five at-bats in every game. Ha! Yo, Miami, stop embracing Castro, because he sucks and 95% of your fans escaped Cuba. It’s a bad look. Preseason Rank #39, 2019 Projections: 82/17/43/.264/5 in 607 ABs, Final Numbers: 68/22/86/.270/2 in 636 ABs
20. Ryan McMahon – As bizzonkers as the Marlins are playing Castro for every possible at-bat, Bud Black didn’t even start McMahon to qualify for a batting title at 511 ABs, because Black had to get at-bats for the corpse that is Daniel Murphy. Colorado should move on from Black, but they obviously like the Bud tie-in to attract fans. Preseason Rank #61, 2019 Projections: 29/12/38/.249/1 in 289 ABs, Final Numbers: 70/24/83/.250/5 in 480 ABs
