For those looking for pictures of ballplayers taking off their ballcap and recapping themselves, you’re in the wrong place! Something I’ve noticed from recapping each position is not every hitting position was deep. Outfielders? Crazy deep. 1st basemen? Surprising awful. 2nd basemen? Solid. Shortstops? Sneaky sexy — snexy? 3rd basemen? Stacked until the end, then there’s a huge dropoff. Eduardo Escobar is 12th for shortstops (17th here), but Camargo is 19th here and 20th at shortstops, i.e., there’s a drought at the tail end of this like a reverse Wet Tail. Also, there’s about three guys who don’t have other eligibility. Managers are using 3rd basemen like utility men. This recap ranking is from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater with my comments. The Player Rater allows me to be impartial while looking at how I ranked players in the preseason. Now, let’s get this, young money. Anyway, here’s the top 20 3rd basemen for 2018 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Jose Ramirez – Went over him in the 2nd basemen recap.
2. Manny Machado – Went over him in the shortstops recap.
3. Nolan Arenado – My tea cup spilled. Don’t worry! It was empty. The tea leaves spelled out “Contact the Dalai Lama, you’re the chosen one,” which seems important, so I’m going to leave those leaves there, but it’s getting stuffy in here. Let me just open this window–NOOOO!!! Torenado!!! Arenado damn near hit my projections exactly, but, and this is hard for me to say, he was disappointing, and his shoulder injury in the 2nd half has me a little shook. Maybe his 3-homer August is nothing, and he did bounce back with power in September. August was his worst month in three years for power, but maybe I’m reading too much into it. Like these tea leaves. Preseason Rank #1, 2018 Projections: 2018 Projections: 105/39/126/.291/3 in 602 ABs, Final Numbers: 104/38/110/.297/2 in 590 ABs
4. Alex Bregman – Went over him in the shortstops recap.
5. Freddie Freeman – Went over him in the 1st basemen recap.
6. Matt Carpenter – Went over him in the 2nd basemen recap.
7. Eugenio Suarez – Two things go through my mind when I’m recapping. First thing, where did I rank and project a guy? Second thing, even if I missed on rankings and projections, did I still like him to draft him? First part of Suarez is way off on rankings and projections, but the second part tells me I had no problems with him when it came to drafting him at his draft price, because I owned him in multiple leagues. The funny thing (not funny), if you look at his last three years of homers — 21, 26, 34 — it seems predictable that he would do the season he just did, and that he’d hit 45 homers next year. I’m an Eugenius! Preseason Rank #18, 2018 Projections: 83/21/90/.262/5 in 552 ABs, Final Numbers: 79/34/104/.283/1 in 527 ABs
8. Scooter Gennett – Went over him in the 2nd basemen recap.
9. Anthony Rendon – Random prediction alert! The Nats lose Harper this offseason and end up making the playoffs next year with Rendon leading the way. Rendon is so overdue for a 30+ homer season that has people saying, “Where on earth did that come from?” While I say, “I’ve been saying that for years.” Then I sip on a Capri Sun pouch and add, “Okay, for at least a year.” Rendon started too late to make a serious run at 3,000 hits, but he feels like a guy who can rattle off ten productive seasons like Beltre, only less power than in-his-prime Beltre. I am a Rendon stan. A Standon? Preseason Rank #6, 2018 Projections: 92/31/108/.298/9 in 544 ABs, Final Numbers: 88/24/92/.308/2 in 529 ABs
10. Miguel Andujar – *waves orange batons like a ramp agent on tarmac towards what I said in Suarez’s blurb* I didn’t rank Andujar anywhere near here, but I drafted him and, until he was briefly sent to the minors, had him much higher in my rankings, i.e., Andujar was ‘and u are’ great. Preseason Rank #48, 2018 Projections: 46/10/52/.273/3 in 356 ABs, Final Numbers: 83/27/92/.297/2 in 573 ABs
11. Nicholas Castellanos – For those keeping track, I wrote a Castellanos sleeper post last preseason. As for who are ‘those keeping track,’ me. That’s who. The Greek God of Hard Contact didn’t quite explode on the scene with the power I envisioned. Speaking of exploding, he did win that lawsuit brought by Gloria Allred when it was revealed that was in fact tzatziki. That puts the ew in whew! Preseason Rank #15, 2018 Projections: 81/29/103/.283/5 in 588 ABs, Final Numbers: 88/23/89/.298/2 in 620 ABs
12. Max Muncy – Went over him in the 1st basemen recap.
13. Joey Gallo – Went over him in the 1st basemen recap.
14. Matt Chapman – He cut his strikeouts by 5% and held a near-10% walk rate, but what really propelled his uptick in average from projections to this year was his combined hard and medium contact, while cutting down his swings outside the zone. As Tom Emanski always said, “Swing at better pitches and you’ll be better, ain’t that right, McGriff? Oh, that’s right, I have him locked in my trunk and he won’t be able to answer right now.” Creepy Emanski! Preseason Rank #30, 2018 Projections: 61/26/72/.232/2 in 481 ABs, Final Numbers: 100/24/68/.278/1 in 547 ABs
15. Travis Shaw – One quick word about guys who are not here. I said to avoid Justin Turner, Miguel Sano and Josh Donaldson. Turner ended up being obvious because he broke his wrist in the preseason, but Donaldson was a bonafide checkmate, which is what one says in Washington Square Park when they want to be beat up. Sano wasn’t far off being just as prescient. All of those guys seem equally obvious to avoid, as I’ve said numerous times, they were not obvious last preseason. As for Shaw, his OBP .345, which I point out because he had 498 ABs in 152 games. In other words, he wasn’t walking so much that he missed ABs, Shaw was regularly pulled from games or pinch hitting. He missed about twenty games worth of ABs and prolly five homers and 15 RBIs, so thanks a lot, Counsell. By the by, doesn’t it look like Yelich went into a time machine, went twenty years into the future and is now pretending to be as Craig Counsell? No wonder why Yelich is playing so well, he’s playing with himself. Hmm, that sounds weird. Preseason Rank #10, 2018 Projections: 77/30/91/.267/8 in 515 ABs, Final Numbers: 73/32/86/.241/5 in 498 ABs
16. Mike Moustakas – Moistasskiss’s AB/HR went down after his trade, which is bizarre because he went from Kauffman to Miller. Feels like a small sample size thing — that’s what she said condescendingly! Unlikely to matter next year, assuming the Brewers only re-sign two to three 3rd basemen rather than their penchant for having 18 players at each position with no starting pitching. Looking at Moustakas’s stats something jumped out at me. His batted ball profile remained pretty consistent, but his homers came way down. Any guesses what happened? For those of you that guessed his average distance on home runs is abysmal. You got it! You won a brand new Lamborghini! Just put your address in the comments*. *While supplies last**. **Supplies are gone. Preseason Rank #11, 2018 Projections: 78/30/90/.264 in 531 ABs, Final Numbers: 66/28/95/.251/4 in 573 ABs
17. Eduardo Escobar – Went over him in the 2nd basemen recap.
18. Asdrubal Cabrera – Went over him in the 2nd basemen recap.
19. Johan Camargo – Went over him in the shortstops recap.
20. Brian Anderson – As I said in the opening, the 3rd basemen dried up quick. Here’s your only example of that, because it’s more about the guys who didn’t make this list — Donaldson, Turner, Devers, Maikel, Healy, Beltre, Sano, Tim Beckham, Josh Harrison and Jake Lamb. 3rd basemen fell off a cliff late. Anderson is the top 20th best 3rd baseman and hit eleven homers. I will now laugh myself into a corner until I’m sobbing uncontrollable. B.A. Brokeass, this is not the A-Team. Preseason Rank #40, 2018 Projections: 54/15/67/.255/1 in 513 ABs, Final Numbers: 87/11/65/.273/2 in 590 ABs
