Fake Teams Consensus 2013 Second Base Rankings: Part 2

I published Part 1 of our Consensus Second Base Rankings for 2013 on Monday morning, and today, I bring you Part 2 of our rankings. Included with our rankings is a short player profile on each player, along with my 2013 projections and guesstimate for when to draft each player.

Part 2 includes a few guys who are looking to break out in 2013-Gordon Beckham, Jemile Weeks and Chris Nelson, a few guys looking to bounce back from a dreadful 2012-Dustin Ackley and Howie Kendrick and one guy looking to establish himself as a top 10 hitter at the position-Jurickson Profar. Profar has the potential to be one of the best at the position before long, but he will be hard pressed to unseat Robinson Cano as the top dog at the keystone in the next few seasons.

Now let's take another look at our Consensus Second Base Rankings for 2013:

Rank	Player	Team	Ray	Bret	Jason	Craig	Score
1	Robinson Cano	NYY	1	1	1	1	108
2	Dustin Pedroia	BOS	3	2	3	2	102
3	Ian Kinsler	TEX	2	3	2	3	102
4	Aaron Hill	ARZ	5	4	4	6	93
5	Ben Zobrist	TB	4	5	5	8	90
6	Jason Kipnis	CLE	7	7	6	4	88
7	Brandon Phillips	CIN	6	8	7	5	86
8	Chase Utley	PHI	9	6	13	9	75
9	Jose Altuve	HOU	12	9	8	10	73
10	Rickie Weeks	MLW	13	10	12	7	70
11	Danny Espinosa	WSH	11	11	9	14	67
12	Dan Uggla	ATL	10	13	10	12	67
13	Neil Walker	PIT	8	12	18	11	63
14	Dustin Ackley	SEA	14	15	14	13	56
15	Howie Kendrick	LAA	16	16	16	15	49
16	Kelly Johnson	TOR	15	18	15	19	45
17	Jurickson Profar	TEX	18	14	19	17	44
18	Marco Scutaro	SF	20	19	11	20	42
19	Omar Infante	DET	25	17	17	18	35
20	Daniel Murphy	NYM	17	22	24	22	27
21	Gordon Beckham	CHW	19	23	20	NR	22
22	Jemile Weeks	OAK	21	20	NR	25	18
23	Jeff Keppinger	TB	NR	NR	23	16	17
24	Chris Nelson	COL	NR	21	22	NR	13
25	Cliff Pennington	ARZ	NR	24	21	NR	11

Player Profiles for Second Baseman ranked 14-25:

14. Dustin Ackley, SEA

Ackley will be looking to bounce back after struggling in his first full season in the big leagues. Thought to be a solid pick to hit for a high average, Ackley hit just .226-.294-.328 with 12 HRs, 84 runs, 50 RBI and 13 stolen bases. The drop in batting average was mainly caused by a drop in his BABIP from .339 to .265, so a return to a .300 BABIP or better will lift his batting average accordingly. He surprised with the double digit home run total in 2012, so maybe there is more power in his bat than originally thought. I look for Ackley to have a bounce back year in 2013.

2013 Projection: I see Ackley hitting .280 with 15 HRs, 95 runs, 55 RBI and 18 stolen bases in 2013. He should be a late round pick in mixed leagues and a mid-round pick in AL only leagues.

15. Howie Kendrick, LAA

After a power breakout in 2011, Kendrick returned to normalcy hitting just 8 home runs in 2012.. Kendrick hit .287-.325-.400 with 8 HRs, 57 runs, 67 RBI and 14 stolen bases, and the drop in power was a result of an extremely low fly ball rate of 20.8% last season. Kendrick provides fantasy owners with a good batting average and double digit steals on an annual basis, as he has stolen 14 bases in each of the last three seasons. There isn't much risk in drafting Kendrick, but there isn't much ceiling either.

2013 Projection: I see Kendrick doing what Kendrick does in 2013: hitting around .280-.285, 8-10 home runs, 80 runs, 55 RBI and 14 stolen bases. He is a very late round pick in deeper mixed leagues and a late round pick in AL only leagues.

16. Kelly Johnson, FA

Johnson put up double digit home runs and stolen bases for third straight year, but hit below .230 for the second straight season. Johnson hit .225-.313-.365 with 16 HRs, 61 runs, 55 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 2012, but he struck out in more than 27% of his at bats. His 71.4% contact rate and 13.3% swinging strike rate were the 11th and 12th worst, respectively, in baseball, so he has a big problem making contact. Johnson is a free agent this offseason and I will be interested to see if he lands a starting job somewhere.

2013 Projection: I see Johnson hitting .225, with 14 HRs, 60 runs, 50 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 2013, and he should be a very late round pick in mixed and AL only leagues due to the batting average risk.

17. Jurickson Profar, TEX

Some have said he is a game changer, in the mold of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, which surprised me. There is a strong belief that Profar will be the Rangers starting second baseman in 2013, with Ian Kinsler playing some first base and left field. Profar has the talent to hit for a solid batting average, with double digit power and stolen bases in 2013. For a look at what his projection ceiling is, all we need to do is take a look at Bill James projection over at FanGraphs: 16 HRs, 80 runs, 67 RBI and 20 stolen bases with a triple slash line of .264-.341-.425.

2013 Projection: I see Profar playing regularly in 2013, hitting .270 with 13 HRs, 75 runs, 50 RBI and 15 stolen bases. The hype on him will probably grow heading into draft day, so I could see him being draft in the 12th round in mixed leagues and 5th-6th round in AL only leagues next season.

18. Marco Scutaro, FA

Scutaro is fresh off an unbelievable post season where he hit .500 in the NLCS series vs the Cardnals. Scutaro hit .306-.348-.405 with 7 HRs, 87 runs, 74 RBI and 9 stolen bases in 2012, setting career highs in batting average and RBI in doing so. Depending on where he lands, Scutaro should provide a good batting average, runs scored and RBI with little power and speed.

2013 Projection: I see Scutaro hitting .280 with 5 HRs, 70 runs, 55 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 2013, and he should be drafted in the very late rounds of mixed and only leagues.

19. Omar Infante, DET

Where did the 17 stolen bases come from? Infante stole as many bases (17) in 2012 that he stole in the five previous seasons combined. Infante is very similar to Marco Scutaro in that he provides nothing more than a solid batting average and decent runs and RBI. I would not expect a repeat of 17 stolen bases in 2013.

2013 Projection: I see Infante hitting .265 with 10 HRs, 60 runs, 50 RBI and 8 stolen bases in 2013, and he is a very late round pick in both mixed and AL only leagues.

20. Daniel Murphy, NYM

Murphy moved to second base on a full time basis in 2012, hitting .291-.332-.403 with 6 HRs, 62 runs, 65 RBI and 10 stolen bases. Just like a few others listed ahead of him in these rankings, Murphy provides fantasy owners a solid batting average, some stolen bases, and not much more.

2013 Projection: I see Murphy hitting .285 with 8 HRs, 65 runs, 65 RBI and 7 stolen bases in 2013. Murphy is draftable in only the deepest of mixed leagues and all NL only leagues.

21. Gordon Beckham, CHW

I guess we can label him a bust now, huh? Beckham has never lived up to his solid rookie season back in 2009 when he hit .270 with 14 HRs, 58 runs and 63 RBI in 103 games played. Last season, he hit .234-.296-.371 with 16 HRs, 62 runs, 60 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 151 games. He makes plenty of contact, but too much of it is of the infield fly ball variety, as his double digit IFFB% indicates. His IFFB% has ranged from 11.9% to 21.0% in his four seasons in the big leagues.

2013 Projection: I see Beckham hitting .240 with 18 HRs, 65 runs, 70 RBI and 7 stolen bases in 2013. He is a late round pick in mixed leagues and AL only leagues.

22. Jemile Weeks, OAK

Weeks started the 2012 season as the A's starting second baseman, but ended the season watching from the bench as his teammates pulled off an improbable last few weeks to win the AL West. Weeks hit .221-.305-.304 with 2 HRs, 54 runs, 20 RBI and 16 stolen bases. His triple slash line suffered from a .256 BABIP. He has solid plate discipline skills as he walked in just under 10% of his plate appearances last season and struck out in just 13.7% of his plate appearances. He also knows what to do when he does connect, as he hit almost 50% of his batted balls on the ground.

2013 Projection: Assuming he is the A's starting second baseman in 2013, I project him to hit .260 with 3 HRs, 70 runs, 35 RBI and 30 stolen bases. He should be drafted in the very late round in mixed and AL-only leagues.

23. Jeff Keppinger, FA

Keppinger had the best season of his career in 2012, and he picked a good year to have it, as he is a free agent this offseason. But, the broken leg he suffered a few days ago doesn't help his case. In 115 games last season, Keppinger hit .325-.367-.439 with 9 HRs, 46 runs and 40 RBI. He doesn't provide much value to fantasy owners except for a solid batting average. He is the guy you want to pick to offset a low batting average hitter chosen earlier in your draft.

2013 Projection: I see Keppinger hitting .290 with 5 HRs, 40 runs, 40 RBI and 2 stolen bases in 2013. He is a late round draft pick in mixed and AL only leagues.

24. Chris Nelson, COL

Nelson is eligible at second and third base in 2013, and could be the Rockies opening day third baseman due to the presence of Josh Rutledge, who more than likely will man second base next season. Nelson hit very well filling in at third base last season, hitting .301-.352-.458 with 9 HRs, 45 runs, 53 RBI and a 84-27 strikeout to walk ratio. His triple slash line benefitted from an extremely high .374 BABIP, so we should see some regression in 2013. Out of the second baseman ranked 14-25 here, I think Nelson, along with Ackley and Profar, has the best chance for a breakout in 2013, and I am not sure why I did not rank him.

2013 Projection: Assuming he gets regular playing time, I see Nelson hitting .270 with 15 HRs, 75 runs, and 50 RBI in 2013. There is a good chance he goes undrafted in mixed leagues, but is a late round pick in NL only leagues.

25. Cliff Pennington, ARI

Pennington was traded to the Diamondbacks this offseason, so there is a good chance he hits for a better BA in 2013 than he did in 2012. Pennington hit .215-.278-.311 with 6 HRs, 50 runs, 28 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 125 games played. Pennington doesn't offer fantasy owners much value, with the exception of steals. Pennington also suffered from a low .259 BABIP, so he should hit a bit better next season as his BABIP normalizes to around the .300 range.

2013 Projection: I see Pennington hitting .265 with 10 HRs, 65 runs, 45 RBI and 20 stolen bases. He will probably go undrafted in mixed leagues and is a late round pick in NL only leagues.