We already went over the top 20 catchers and the top 20 1st basemen for 2026 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. The good news is it’s not the worst position, the bad news is it’s not much better. 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 (or at least the appearance of impartiality). Anyway, here’s the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:
1. Fernando Tatis Jr. – I didn’t have Fun The Jewels as my number one 2nd baseman, but no one did because he didn’t have that eligibility. If he had, he would’ve easily been my top 2nd baseman, ahead of Jazz (who was my 1st ranked 2nd baseman). Fun ended up absolutely perfect while doing nothing perfectly normal. He had zero homers through May 29th and only five homers in the 1st half. Then eight homers in September. Figured a 30/30 season was incoming, but a 25/38 season is just as welcome. Tatis also made all of our jobs so much harder for future seasons, because he’s the prime example why you don’t give up on a star who is struggling early and then you end up with a Vlad Jr. season. Preseason Rank #5 for OF, 2026 Projections: 103/31/83/.273/27 in 567 ABs, Final Numbers: 96/25/83/.289/38 in 626 ABs
2. Brice Turang – Here’s a fun little thing with Turang: I predict he’ll steal more bags every year because he has speed and every year he steals fewer. Also, Turang is a complete riddle to me while ranking him correctly every year. Runs and RBIs are hard to account for, but thirty extra RBIs is a lot for a guy who lost 20 points in average year over year and only hit 21 homers, batting mostly from the 1st and 2nd spot. When Turang, uh, rang, the iPhone caller ID said, “Possible Scam.” Preseason Rank #2, 2026 Projections: 96/15/71/.277/31 in 571 ABs, Final Numbers: 102/21/100/.268/19 in 582 ABs
3. Otto Lopez – Funny thing about preseason rankings vs. end-of-the-year ones is I have feelings on players that don’t always align. For unstints, Ketel Marte is ranked 3rd in the preseason, but I was never drafting him so him being 14th here feels like a win for me. Meanwhile, I had Otto ranked 16th and loved him, so this feels like a win too even though there’s 13 spots difference. Mean’s while, I hated Lowe in the preseason (maybe not hated, but wasn’t interested) so him at fourth overall here feels like a loss, while LuGaJu is someone I’ve liked for a while, so him ranked at 15th in the preseason feels like a win again. As for Otto, he led the majors in hits with 191, while having under 100 runs, which feels like a record and not in a good way, and it’s not even close to a record. Joe Torre had 230 hits in 1971 and 97 runs. Yeouch! Wait, it gets dumber! Luis Arraez had 203 hits in 2023 and 71 runs. Ha! Preseason Rank #16, 2026 Projections: 61/14/64/.267/21 in 554 ABs, Final Numbers: 94/11/71/.305/34 in 627 ABs
4. Brandon Lowe – This guy feels like one of those where the less you knew going into your draft the better. He was the 7th best 2nd baseman after last year, but that was in Big Stein and going to Pittsburgh felt like an easy avoid, and that was advice that I wish I avoided. Trying to make this about this past year, but now he’s had remarkably similar years back-to-back, and feels closer to a top ten 2nd baseman going into next year, and almost assuredly will disappoint. Lowercase yay! Preseason Rank #18, 2026 Projections: 58/21/62/.246/3 in 437 ABs, Final Numbers: 94/35/96/.260/2 in 584 ABs
5. Luis Garcia Jr. – See his recap at the top 20 1st basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
6. Jazz Chisholm Jr. – Thing a lot of people don’t understand about his 50/50 preseason prediction for himself is it was for runs and RBIs. He easily cleared that! Don’t know if this math works, but I’m going to say the math is mathing for the purposes of Jazz. If a player has 15+ homers (to exclude straight steals guys) and 40+ steals but less than 60 RBIs and 70 runs, they’re stealing bags in game-time positions when they shouldn’t be running and are only interested in their own numbers. Closest guys I found since 2000 were Jean Segura, B.J. Upton, and Starling Marte, but no one else matched those Jazz stats. Preseason Rank #1, 2026 Projections: 85/34/91/.252/30 in 541 ABs, Final Numbers: 69/19/55/.231/41 in 471 ABs
7. Kody Clemens – See his recap at the top 20 1st basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
8. Brooks Lee – Clearly, a huge year for Be Water but also it looks very much in line with previous years, and just like, “What’s the best Brooks we’ll see?” And after people listed Robinson and the old-timer from Shawkshank, it was Lee. Preseason Rank #29, 2026 Projections: 61/17/66/.247/4 in 534 ABs, Final Numbers: 72/24/83/.253/8 in 586 ABs
9. Ceddanne Rafaela – In the preseason, I said, “If one hits the same batting average three years in a row, it allows you to sleep with Khris Davis’s wife (if she consents), then Ceddanne’s about to have a threesome with her, Khris and their mail carrier. He’s like trip-cherries on a slot machine every year. 15/19/.246, then 16/20/.249. That was in 544 ABs then 546! (Crazy thing is his 28 game sample his rookie year prorates out the same shizz too.) Yo, does Ceddanne have OCD? Each year, that’s around 140th best player, and for that I’ll pay around 140th draft price overall!” And that’s me quoting me! He finally broke out and only did his HRs, RBIs, and ABs the exactly the same as every other year and hit for a better average. Preseason Rank #10, 2026 Projections: 81/16/72/.247/21 in 548 ABs, Final Numbers: 67/16/70/.283/17 in 541 ABs
10. Ezequiel Duran – See his recap at the top 20 1st basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
11. Zack Gelof – Gotta remember he was coming off a season where it wasn’t clear he was staying in the majors, and the A’s went out and got Jeff McNeil. If anyone told me in the preseason that Gelof was about to get nearly 400 ABs, I would’ve asked, “KBO?” Instead that KBO was the King of Bing bOng. (Not forced at all.) Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 76/22/55/.256/16 in 394 ABs
12. Chase Meidroth – There’s misses and then whatever it was I thought Meidroth would do vs. what he did. Still not really sure where this came from. He was a seven-homer guy in 2024 in 122 games of Triple-A and stole 13 bags that year. Guys grow into more power, but to completely flip-flop from a 8/15 guy to a 15/8 guy and become the leadoff hitter is hard to understand, if you catch Meidroth. Preseason Rank #30, 2026 Projections: 63/8/41/.263/16 in 506 ABs, Final Numbers: 90/16/63/.276/4 in 566 ABs
13. Luke Keaschall – This guy was a preseason sleeper of mine and snooze indeed. The average was there and the “no reason to not steal because the team absolutely sucks” was there, but the motivation to run and his ability did not handshake emoji. Preseason Rank #6, 2026 Projections: 74/16/71/.283/32 in 547 ABs, Final Numbers: 86/10/52/.282/20 in 528 ABs
14. Ketel Marte – One number that isn’t showing up in Ketel’s end-of-the-year stats is the number twelve, which is the number of burn books he filled with why he hates the DBacks. [writing in chicken blood] “Santeria Gods, please make The Real World/Road Rules Torey Lovullo get on a flight to the Bermuda Triangle.” Preseason Rank #3, 2026 Projections: 94/29/84/.278/7 in 509 ABs, Final Numbers: 78/22/76/.249/4 in 562 ABs
15. Ozzie Albies – I will say this for the Braves, they have no problem playing their guys every single day. Even if it looks like they needed a nap for the last three months of the season. Albies’s 2nd half: 24/8/22/.194/3 in 248 ABs. Maybe a day off wouldn’t have been a bad idea. Preseason Rank #8, 2026 Projections: 71/21/76/.254/15 in 587 ABs, Final Numbers: 85/23/73/.237/4 in 615 ABs
16. Luis Arraez – See his recap at the top 20 1st basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
17. Bryson Stott – I joked around for about five years that Cody Bellinger and Yelich were always next to each other in the preseason and end-of-the-year rankings. Then this year I said that Stott is always next to Hoerner, but not this year. Well, Preseason Grey, I have a surprise for you… Preseason Rank #12, 2026 Projections: 71/12/54/.261/27 in 508 ABs, Final Numbers: 71/10/67/.256/27 in 536 ABs
18. Nico Hoerner – That I ranked Hoerner fifth overall in the preseason seems crazy, even in retrospect. Was I on quaaludes? No, Hoerner was on BABIPludes. Some of the worst luck with average and that would’ve gave him more chances to steal. Then again, sigh, alas, he is older and if his new BABIP is forty points below his career norm, then this might be the new normal. Call him Josh Naylor with less power or just call Naylor, Thicco Hoerner. Preseason Rank #5, 2026 Projections: 93/7/63/.284/31 in 587 ABs, Final Numbers: 62/8/72/.263/23 in 628 ABs
19. JJ Wetherholt – He was preseason ranked 24th for shortstops, but 17th for 2nd baseman if you were to slot Wetherholt in where he was overall, so basically same as end-of-the-year. Yet, this feels like a massive disappointment. More runs (and at-bats) were nice, same power numbers and nine less steals all feels relatively close, but I thought there was more upside. All about expectations, men and six ladies. Preseason Rank #24 for shortstops, 2026 Projections: 64/16/61/.272/23 in 477 ABs, Final Numbers: 89/17/51/.242/14 in 537 ABs
20. Brayan Rocchio – A guy who goes 15/20 and is only dragged down by his counting stats because of where he sat in the lineup is a good place to look for a sleeper. Love Rocchio for next year, and will talk about him much more, I’m sure, so let me take this opportunity to say I think this is the first time Altuve’s been out of the top 20 in 15 years (excluding 2020). To think, Altuve’s whole brand was coming up short, and now he finally did. Preseason Rank #48, 2026 Projections: 51/9/48/.248/10 in 361 ABs, Final Numbers: 66/15/73/.253/20 in 534 ABs
