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Fantasy Baseball 2012: AL-Only & NL-Only Third Base Rankings

Ray, Jason, and I are in the process of releasing our league-specific ranks, and today the unenviable task of ranking 40 major league third basemen falls on me. Before moving on, why not take some time to check out the other ranks? Feel free to leave your comments and questions in the comments section and I'll do my best to respond.

Fake Teams League-Specific Ranks

Catcher | First Base

Second Base | Shortstop

Fake Teams Third Base Coverage

Mixed League Ranks & Profiles | Points League Ranks & Profiles | Prospect Ranks

Wright vs. Rodriguez | Wright vs. Lawrie | Moustakas vs. Lawrie | Longoria vs. Beltre

Brett Lawrie | Hanley Ramirez

AL-Only Third Basemen

1. Jose Bautista, TOR

2. Evan Longoria, TB

3. Adrian Beltre, TEX

4. Alex Rodriguez, NYY

5. Kevin Youkilis, BOS

The rest of the ranks after the jump:

6. Brett Lawrie, TOR

7. Michael Young, TEX

8. Mark Reynolds, BAL

9. Mike Moustakas, KC

10. Edwin Encarnacion, TOR

11. Brent Morel, CWS

12. Danny Valencia, MIN

13. Alberto Callaspo, LAA

14. Lonnie Chisenhall, CLE

15. Scott Sizemore, OAK

16. Chris Davis, BAL

17. Kyle Seager, SEA

18. Eduardo Nunez, NYY

19. Mike Aviles, BOS

20. Kevin Kouzmanoff, KC

We start off with a decent-sized group of top-shelf guys, then follow that up with a bunch of uncertainty. Bautista stays at #1, despite some movement from Longoria supporters to install him at the top. Bautista's teammate, Brett Lawrie, stays out of the top 5, which is harsh, but I maintain that he is a risk being treated like a sure thing in mock drafts. The bottom half of this list is full of high-upside guys, most of whom will not reach their potential. One thing that was apparent to me as I put together these ranks is that the position seems to be moving away from power and toward speed.

NL-Only Third Basemen

1. Hanley Ramirez, MIA

2. Ryan Zimmerman, WAS

3. David Wright, NYM

4. Aramis Ramirez, MIL

5. Pablo Sandoval, SF

6. Ryan Roberts, ARI

7. David Freese, STL

8. Chase Headley, SD

9. Chipper Jones, ATL

10. Martin Prado, ATL

11. Daniel Murphy, NYM

12. Emilio Bonifacio, MIA

13. Placido Polanco, PHI

14. Casey McGehee, PIT

15. Pedro Alvarez, PIT

16. Scott Rolen, CIN

17. Ian Stewart, CHC

18. Mat Gamel, MIL

19. Jimmy Paredes, HOU

20. Blake DeWitt, CHC

Hanley Ramirez vaults right into the first spot, as both Wright and Zimmerman have flaws that keep them from being considered elite options. Hanley will not be eligible to start the year, so you'll have to improvise for a short time if you pick him. The quality falls off quite a bit after Ryan Roberts, who gets the #6 spot by virtue of being a serviceable major leaguer (by comparison, take a look at who #6 is on the Junior Circuit). By the time I got to the end of this list, I almost felt as if I would have been better off making up player names and seeing if anybody noticed. There were several players that I originally eliminated from consideration, only to come crawling back once I realized how dire this position is in the National League. Several of these players (like Bonifacio and Gamel) are switching positions, so those in keeper leagues will want to devalue these guys even more.