We already went over the top 20 catchers and the top 20 1st basemen for 2022 fantasy baseball. Today, we dip our big toe into the top 20 2nd basemen pool. Make sure to go feet first here, because it’s shallow and I don’t want you cracking your medulla oblongata all over the place. 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 2022 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:
1. Trea Turner – Treat Urner was indicative of the entire 2nd base position. Only eight made the top 100 overall. Guys like Ty France appeared five spots later in the top 20 1st basemen and Drury appeared three spots later. Treat Urner was also down this year. He finished 1st for 2nd baseman for the 2nd year in a row, and I ranked him 1st for 2nd basemen, but you can see from his projections to his end-of-the-year stats that there was a come-down. Not a huge come-down, but it wasn’t a come up. Speaking of coming up or down, let’s move on to Semien… Preseason Rank #1, 2022 Projections: 114/26/81/.312/33 in 584 ABs, Final Numbers: 101/21/100/.298/27 in 652 ABs
2. Marcus Semien – You could split this guy’s season into two parts. First part was when he had one homer thru June 1st, and the 2nd part was Semien’s explosion not seen since a teenager’s tube sock. If I’m being real with you, I was 100% concerned, and fine with selling low in May. Premature ejaculating Semien from your team? Oopsie! Preseason Rank #4, 2022 Projections: 93/27/69/.253/12 in 607 ABs, Final Numbers: 101/26/83/.248/25 in 657 ABs
3. Jose Altuve – From Semien to “Someone you can hold in your pocket,” and two guys I kinda goofed up on. I figured Altuve was done, especially when it came to his steals. Three years prior, he had failed to steal more than six bags. Granted, one year was 2020, but still I never would’ve guessed this much speed would return to him at age 32. Steals are so hard to account for, and they should be super easy. A guy is either fast or not. Or in Altuve’s case, a guy either needs twenty-seven hundred steps to get to 2nd base or not. Preseason Rank #13, 2022 Projections: 92/27/87/.268/5 in 577 ABs, Final Numbers: 103/28/57/.300/18 in 527 ABs
4. Tommy Edman – Finally, a guy who I actually rostered in leagues. Even he was far from a straight shot of “great to great and call it a wrap on a great year.” July was brutal time to have The Man of Ed, and so bad that it seemed like the Cards might try other guys in the leadoff spot, which ended up hurting Edman’s final counting stats. In the end, man, Edman was about as steady as they come from year to year. He’s even got a rich man’s Khris Davis thing going with his batting average. Call him Khris Jenner Davis. Preseason Rank #11, 2022 Projections: 105/15/63/.276/26 in 604 ABs, Final Numbers: 95/13/57/.265/32 in 577 ABs
5. Brandon Drury – Already went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2022 fantasy baseball.
6. Andres Gimenez – Great season from And-Gim, and the first great season from someone who is Pam’s plus one at The Office events, but I don’t think this will be And-Gim’s last good season. I’m a big fan. With that said (yup, here it comes), his runs and RBIs were so lousy. You give him runs and RBIs of Drury, and Gimenez becomes the 3rd best 2nd baseman. Preseason Rank #33, 2022 Projections: 47/8/43/.263/15 in 402 ABs, Final Numbers: 66/17/69/.297/20 in 491 ABs
7. Gleyber Torres – I wrote a sleeper post for him; I pretty much nailed his projections. Yet — again with some stank — YET! I had him ranked at 17 and he ended up here. There was a severe lack of 2nd basemen this year. Missing from here: Albies, Polanco, India, Jazz, Ketel, LeMahieu, and Urias. Just a ton of landmines at this position, that Princess Di would’ve struggled to navigate. Preseason Rank #17, 2022 Projections: 83/25/87/.283/11 in 542 ABs, Final Numbers: 73/24/76/.257/10 in 526 ABs
8. Thairo Estrada – Continuing the thought from the previous blurb: A ton of guys missed, and Thairo and Drury are the only guys to come out of nowhere. Scanning the Player Rater, and only Christopher Morel is in the next ten too to be totally out of nowhere. Not great, Bob! Any hoo! Estrada is the kind of guy that the Giants usually invent by the truckload. This year there was a severe lack of turn out from the Giants Invent-A-Player Factory. Show me a Thairo, and I’ll say, “Great HBO miniseries, and that’s about it from the Giants’ Invent-A-Player Factory.” When you see Thairo’s minor league numbers, his season doesn’t seem as Invent-A-Player Factory manufactured as you might think. He kinda appears to be a 15/20/.260 player, which has value. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 71/14/62/.260/21 in 488 ABs
9. Jake Cronenworth – Already went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2022 fantasy baseball.
10. Ty France – Already went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2022 fantasy baseball.
11. Jeff McNeil – I couldn’t explain to you how little batting average matters any more succinctly than seeing McNeil and Arraez next to each other this low in the 2nd basemen, an admittedly weak position. From this list, the top values for a category was Edman’s steals generating $11.80 in value, then McNeil’s $10.10. The problem is McNeil only had a little less than $2 from all categories combined. Preseason Rank #50, 2022 Projections: 41/9/42/.262/4 in 386 ABs, Final Numbers: 73/9/62/.326/4 in 533 ABs
12. Luis Arraez – Already went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2022 fantasy baseball.
13. Josh Rojas – My projections for Rojas suck. Haha, I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess it was his lack of steals in 139 games the year before (only 9 steals), but he’s got speed. Again, as I was saying in the Altuve blurb. Steals are so hard to account for, and they should be so easy! Wait until 2023, when it’s like this: Do I give everyone extra steals because of the pickoff attempts or not overblow how much that will matter? Fun stuff! Preseason Rank #34, 2022 Projections: 55/9/38/.251/9 in 408 ABs, Final Numbers: 66/9/56/.269/23 in 443 ABs
14. Nico Hoerner – This is supposed to be about this year, so I’ll say this year by Hoerner makes me so Hoerny for next year. Ooh, me so Hoerny! Ooh, me so–Sorry, what was I saying? Hoerner makes insane contact, has surprising power, could hit .320 with 30 steals, ugh, he’s such a trap. Preseason Rank #48, 2022 Projections: 50/8/37/.282/6 in 361 ABs, Final Numbers: 60/10/55/.281/20 in 481 ABs
15. Ryan McMahon – Prolly the closest I came to nailing the projections and ranking for a 2nd baseman, and it was for a guy I didn’t want. Can we talk about how the Coors effect has become a bit overblown? I mean, yes, all the Rockies players are better in Coors, sometimes by a lot, but they’re all unrosterable in away games. Prorating McMahon’s away games out for a whole year and he’s a 12-homer, .230 hitter. Lowercase yay. Preseason Rank #18, 2022 Projections: 73/24/82/.256/5 in 509 ABs, Final Numbers: 67/20/67/.246/7 in 529 ABs
16. Whit Merrifield – Finally! Been predicting this guy’s end for years, and missed out on about six years because of that, but the glory of finally being right is so so sweet (no, it’s not). Another guy who missed on projections for his steals, but I had the general sense of what was going on with him. That was him slowing, to Whit. Preseason Rank #12, 2022 Projections: 94/12/72/.271/26 in 643 ABs, Final Numbers: 70/11/58/.250/16 in 504 ABs
17. Kolten Wong – Since objects in mirror are closer than they appear, let’s put away the mirror and take out the microscope for Wong — that’s what she said! The one nice thing about Hoerner, Rojas and Wong is: With more counting stats, they actually would’ve finished much higher, and there’s more — that’s what he tried to say! Wong’s been crazy consistent from year to year. No growth for Wong, sadly, but, as you tell the ladies, it’s what you’re working with Wong-wise, and it’s not bad, I think. Preseason Rank #26, 2022 Projections: 71/9/51/.261/16 in 412 ABs, Final Numbers: 65/15/47/.251/17 in 430 ABs
18. Trevor Story – Can I get the world’s longest woof? Just a long woof with a side of boo? Not boo like you’re a ghost, but boo like you’re watching one of the worst athletic performances of the last year. Put your back into that boo. A full-throated boo, young man! Let’s hear it! Incredibly, I look at Story’s year and I don’t see terrible as much as I see opportunity for next year. Oh, boy, I’m gonna do it to myself again, aren’t I? Preseason Rank #4 for shortstops, 2022 Projections: 93/27/81/.269/19 in 554 ABs, Final Numbers: 53/16/66/.238/13 in 357 ABs
19. Javier Baez – With a late surge, Javy pushed himself up onto this list, that’s not meant to point out how good he was at the end of the year, but to point out how awful he was for the first five months. Maybe the Tigers should move in the fences about 150 feet. It won’t be good for their pitching, but who cares? You care about Bryan Garcia? No, no one does. Let’s make every Tigers hitter a threat to hit 60 homers! Preseason Rank #7, 2022 Projections: 84/25/91/.257/14 in 541 ABs, Final Numbers: 64/17/67/.238/9 in 555 ABs
20. Wilmer Flores – His end-of-the-year stats are so bad that he even made the top 20 is an indictment of this whole list. Do better 2nd basemen or I will make Wilmer cry! Preseason Rank #43, 2022 Projections: 51/16/55/.271/1 in 378 ABs, Final Numbers: 72/19/71/.229 in 525 ABs
